The Mule-deer 213 



still higher up and farther back into the hills than 

 ever before. The day when one could wander 

 about at random among our hills is past. For 

 any approach to certainty one must now locate 

 the general whereabouts of the game by its tracks 

 — no easy matter when we are limited to bucks, 

 a law we now respect because of its rigorous 

 necessity. By the time this is done it is apt to 

 be too late to find his especial whereabouts of that 

 day. The only way is to be there at or near day- 

 light the next morning, on the highest ridges that 

 will give you a view of the situation. Or you 

 may stay and wait until evening brings them again 

 to their feet. But there is some danger they will 

 have discovered you, and you will be quite certain 

 not to see one. Being there in the morning early 

 enough often means camping very near, and some- 

 times on the high ridges without water, so that 

 the pursuit of the mule-deer is no longer the joy 

 of the tenderfoot who wants to kill a deer. An 

 old fool deer yet remains here and there that the 

 tenderfoot may stumble over, but the " picnic " 

 part of the hunting is gone forever. But he who 

 loves hunting for its own sake and not for count 

 or heads enjoys the chase as much as ever. The 

 mule-deer will outlast all his enemies, for there is 

 too much wild country that can never be cleared. 

 Yet much of the future hunting will be in pre- 

 serves, and most of it mere murder ; for the mule- 



