,8o REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



the Adirondack winter is no longer or more severe, and the snow no deeper, than in 

 Maine, Michigan, and Canada where no dead deer are found at this season ; that the 

 winters in the Adirondack^ are no worse than years ago when the deer wintered with- 

 out any noticeable loss of this character; and that at the same time and under the same 

 climatic conditions not one dead dear was observed in Essex county and other large 

 areas of Adirondack territory. Deer have been closely observed in the vicinity of 

 lumber camps, feeding on fallen tree tops, which were thin, weak, and sickly in appear- 

 ance, evidently suffering from some distemper ; and it was noticed that these animals 

 died afterward although an abundance of hay and other food was purposely placed 

 within their reach. 



It has also been suggested that this great mortality among the deer in winter may 

 be due to an epidemic, some kind of contagious distemper or epizootic. The deer 

 are a species of ruminants so closely allied to certain of our domestic animals that 

 there is nothing improbable in the idea that they may be affected with some cattle 

 disease similar to that which often kills our cows and sheep. In reply it has been 

 urged that the deer die only in winter, whereas, if they perished from some form of 

 cattle disease the epidemic would manifest itself at other seasons as well as in winter; 

 at least, its appearance would not be confined exclusively to that one season. 



Another theory, suggested probably by the restricted territory within which the 

 deaths occurred, is that the deer have found there some noxious, deleterious weed, 

 or vegetable growth of a poisonous nature which they eat and which enfeebles them 

 so that they die from its effects. The local character of the epidemic is advanced as 

 warranting this idea. The indications of poison were so strong that it was broadly 

 hinted in those localities that some guides, enraged at their exclusion from certain 

 large preserves, had sought revenge by making salt-licks on which Paris green had 

 been sprinkled. There is no ground for the latter assumption, and it is an unwar- 

 ranted imputation on the good reputation of the guides. If the death of these 

 deer was caused by poison, it resulted from natural causes. 



Still another theory has been advanced by intelligent, observant residents in the 

 forest — old experienced hunters — who assert that the deer which are found dead are 

 animals that were hounded too hard ; that these deer became overheated in some long 

 race with the hounds, and then plunged into the cold waters of the lake to escape the 

 dogs ; and that they thereby contracted lung disease or some other serious ailment 

 that either enfeebled them so that they were unable to withstand the winter, or else 

 induced some form of acute disease that was the direct cause of their death. But 

 this plausible and reasonable explanation is weakened by the fact that hounding is 

 followed everywhere in the Adirondacks, except in St. Lawrence county, while the 

 mortality is confined to a comparatively small territory. 



