Big Game Aiiliiials of I lie YcUoivstonc 447 



roads throughout the Park. At Alammoth in the fall the mule deer 

 .reigns supreme. He and his family take possession of the deserted 

 lawns and carefully crop the grass as short as any lawn mower could 

 . (figs. 81, 82). Deer are browsers, also, but to see a band of them 

 at work on the lawns of Mammoth one would never suspect them 

 of any food habit other than grazing. 



About September 12 they began to appear on the hillsides near 

 Mammoth either singly or in family parties. At this time they vis- 

 ited the lawns only at night, spending the daytime in the adjacent 

 woods and pine forests. After the Park season closed, September 

 20, they grew bolder and visited the lawns during the day. Later 

 they became actual residents and remained about the houses day and 

 night. Often I saw them lying down at night on the lawns, some- 

 times actually in front of the doorsteps of the occupied houses of 

 the Yellowstone Park staff. 



When the permanent snows came in mid-November there were 

 some fifty individuals about the houses and lawns of Mammoth vil- 

 lage. Many of these deer were the offspring of such famous old 

 beggars^as "Ash Can Pete"' and "AloUy the First" (fig. 83), familiar 

 to airthe villagers in winter. The old bucks in mid-Xovember car- 

 ried fine large antlers ( figs. 85, 86 ) and were then engaged in social 

 pursuits, flirting and fighting. There was remarkably little fighting, 

 however, so far as could be seen. Nearly every buck knew his place 

 in the social scale, and the lesser bucks simply moved away, and kept 

 out of range of the stronger when they appeared. Feeding bread, 

 apples, and other food to deer by hand- was a pleasant and usually 

 a harmless pastime at Mammoth. Feeding several deer at once was 

 slightly dangerous, owing to the possibilit}'' of one of them suddenly, 

 in a fit of jealousy, striking out at another and at the donor with 

 his fore feet. 



The fawns are timid little sprites and retain the racial fear of 

 man. They never show the confidence in him that is displayed by 

 their parents, which forget their fears and feed freely from his hand 

 with the coming of autumn. The mule deer are a pleasure to all the 

 Park residents. ' During the long winter months they are daily visi- 

 tors to the snow-bound community at [Mammoth. The only other 

 Park animals that approach the mule deer in popularity are the cub 

 bears who entertain summer A-isitors with their droll antics. The 

 mule deer appear to be safely holding their own in the Yellowstone 

 Park; but we have learned that with every one of these big game 

 species appearances are liable to be deceiving. Year by year they 



