THE WHITE-TAILED DEEE 



129 



coloration" amongst animals. Indeed, so very 

 flag-like is this creature's waving tail that in the 

 West many hunters call it the Flag-Tailed 

 Deer. 



There are two points in which this deer differs 

 from all others, and by which it can easily be 

 recognized. 



1. Its antlers rise a short distance from the 

 forehead, then suddenly drop forward, with the 

 beam almost horizontal, and from the beam three 

 long, sharp tines rise perpendicularly. The ant- 

 lers of nearly all other deer point backward as 

 they rise. 



2. The tail is very long, pointed at the end, 

 bushy near the body, and white underneath, as 

 described above. 



The White-Tailed Deer is the best known of 

 all our hoofed animals except the buffalo, be- 

 cause it is the one most widely distributed, and 

 has been longest known. Generally speaking, 

 it is a United States species, for it inhabits at 

 least a portion of every state and territory save 

 Delaware, Oregon, Nevada, California and Ari- 

 zona. To-day it is most abundant in the Adiron- 

 dacks, Maine, Vermont, northern Minnesota and 

 Michigan. Closely related forms of White-Tailed 

 Deer are fairly abundant in Florida, on the Lower 

 Rio Grande, and in northeastern Washington. 



As might naturally be expected, this wide dis- 

 tribution, throughout such a diversity of country 

 and variety of available food, has produced such 

 vaiiations in size that several subspecies have 

 been described. Of the latter, the most impor- 

 tant is the dwarf Arizona White-Tailed Deer, 

 extending from southern Arizona southeastward 

 into Mexico to Latitude 25°. This animal, like 

 the Florida White-Tailed Deer, seems to be 

 nothing more than a diminutive race of the more 

 robust northern type, with very small antlers, 

 and the short, scanty pelage which is necessary 

 to the comfort of deer in the tropics. 



In such forests as those which cover the Adi- 

 rondack Mountains of northern New York, where 

 small lakes are numerous, there are three methods 

 of hunting deer. 



Hounding deer consists in beating through 

 the forest surrounding a body of water, with a 

 pack of hounds, and chasing the deer until they 

 leap into the water, where they are shot at very 

 short range by men in boats or posted on the 

 shore. It is no credit to anyone, save an invalid 



or a cripple, to kill a deer in this manner, any 

 more than to kill a buck out of season, whose 

 antlers are in the velvet. Any person, no matter 

 how stupid, can be paddled up to a swimming 

 deer anc 1 . permitted to blow its head to pieces at 

 short range. Pot-hunters have even been known 

 to catch swimming deer, and cut their throats. 

 In forests like the Adirondacks, frequented by 



TAILS OF AMERICAN DEER. 



1. Columbian Black-Tail. 



2. Mule Deer. 



3. White-Tailed, or Virginia Deer. (Small specimen.) 



a great many people, hounding deer never should 

 be permitted; and in the wilderness mentioned 

 it is now prohibited by law. In the West Vir- 

 ginia mountains, the hunters are posted on the 

 runwavs of the deer, and are obliged to kill them 

 on the run. This requires good judgment and 

 excellent marksmanship, and is legitimate sport. 

 Jacking or fire-lighting is a very picturesque 

 and romantic method of hunting deer, but inas- 

 much as it gives the game no chance, and calls 

 for very little skill or exertion on the part of the 

 hunter, it is by some considered unsportsman- 

 like. In the prosecution of this plan the hunter 

 requires a canoe, a skilful paddler, and a good 

 light. With a flaring jack-light held aloft in the 

 bow, the paddler, or guide, sits in the stern of the 

 boat, and noiselessly paddles it through the dark- 

 ness, around the shores of lake or river. The 

 hunter sits under the light, and waits for its 

 beams to emblazon the eyeballs of deer standing 



