104 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



enee upon grass and weed range and the inability to subsist on browse 

 alone introduces some important elements into the problem of the 

 permanent protection of elk which are not prominent in relation to 

 the other big game of the Rockies. 



The elk is the largest round-horned deer in the world and, except 

 in the Yellowstone park and possibly in Alberta and British Columbia, 

 where closed seasons have been established just in time, it is rapidly 

 following in the wake of the buffalo and antelope. Only very drastic 

 measures taken at once will save the elk from total extermination in 

 Canada. 



The mule deer is the largest game animal commonly 

 Mule Deer called deer. It is found throughout the Canadian Rock- 



ies and also across northern Alberta and Saskatchewan 

 into northern Manitoba. The range of the mule deer had not been no- 

 ticeably restricted, but its numbers have undoubtedly been very greatly 

 reduced. Unlike the white-tail deer, tne mule deer has an almost 

 insatiable curiosity, and this trait has contributed considerably to its 

 decline. When alarmed, a white-tail deer will generally make away 

 from the source of danger and put all the country possible between 

 itself and its enemy. The mule deer, on the other hand, will quite 

 frequently circle around so as to get another look and by taking 

 advantage of this characteristic it is often possible to shoot a deer 

 which otherwise might have escaped. Moreover, the mule deer as 

 found in the Rockies is essentially an open-ground animal. The dry, 

 open grassy valleys which border most of the rivers and creeks, the 

 grass-covered south slopes, and the park-like country with a scattering 

 growth of pine and poplar are the favourite haunts of this deer. It 

 is this preference for a dry, park country that has enabled the mule 

 deer to spread across the northern prairies into Manitoba, while in 

 the States it is not found east of the Rockies. A striking characteristic 

 of the mule deer is its ability to climb. In this respect it is not far 

 behind the big-horn, and in many places in the mountains these deer 

 are found in the high alpine meadows grazing along the borders of the 

 forests in somewhat the same situations as those in which the big-horn 

 occurs. 



Closely allied to the mule deer, but differing markedly 

 White-tail jn j^e branching of the horns and in many of its habits, 



is the white-tail or Virginian deer. This is the most 

 widely distributed game animal in North America. It is not by any 

 means common, as yet, in the Canadian Rockies, but is increasing and, 

 judging from experience in other regions, it should be able to hold its 



