FIGHTING AMONG DEER 65 
Men who have charge of deer herds must keep the bucks 
in a perpetual state of fear. Do not make a pet of any male 
member of the Deer Family after it is two years old. It is 
dangerous. In the autumn or winter never enter an enclosure 
containing deer, elk or caribou unless armed with a pitchfork, 
or a long pole of tough wood, with an iron spike in the end. 
If a buck threatens to attack you, strike him across the nose; 
for that is his tender spot. When angry he can take any 
amount of punishment on the forehead, neck and shoulders, 
without its diminishing his energy in the least. 
Solitary bucks in small corrals are most dangerous. Where 
deer run in a large herd, the danger is much less; but if a 
herd-buck begins to approach people with the slow stride of 
a pugilist, lips and nose turned up, ears laid back, and snort- 
ing defiantly, shut him up at once, or saw off his antlers close 
to his head, before he does mischief. 
Ficutinc AMona Drer.—Even among themselves deer 
are murderous brutes. It is quite a common thing for one 
buck treacherously to assassinate another; and some are 
such thorough degenerates that they will murder their own 
does and fawns. The largest and handsomest bucks are not 
always the best fighters, for they often lack the activity and 
youthful vigor which give supremacy to a younger animal. 
Judging by the number of pairs of deer that have been 
found dead with their antlers tightly locked, wild deer are 
much given to fighting during the rutting season. It is to 
be remembered, however, that male deer are in the habit of 
playfully sparring with their horns, and it is very likely that 
many a death-lock has been due to a pushing-match rather 
