DEER AND DEER-HUNTING IN TEXAS, 467 





















_ the manner in which he is hunted, so is his cautiousness in- 
= creased. If he is chased, the voice of the dog, though at a 
distance, rouses him from repose to seek safety in flight. 
- When hunted by men on foot, as in the Indian country, he 
_ becomes wary of footmen, but will allow a rider to approach 
him quite closely. Just the reverse takes place when the 
ordinary mode of hunting is on horseback. It is also a prev- 
alent belief that, where Indians are the principal hunters, 
he learns the difference, and becomes comparatively fearless 
of a white man. This is akin to the notion that the crow 
ein distinguish a man with a gun from one who has only a 
_ Stick, though it may resemble a gun. 
The old bucks consort together most of the year; the does 
and young bucks go in herds by themselves. When the 
_ does have their fawns in the spring, they separate from the 
_ young males, and from each other, and remain for some 
= months with no companion but the fawn, until it is pretty 
_ Well grown. If a fawn, quite young, be met by a man on 
_ dorseback, it will follow the horse as if it were its mother. 
o One caught within the first few days after its birth becomes 
Mite tame in an hour or two, and makes no effort, after- 
E Wards, to escape. Yet, it never becomes domesticated like 
the dog or cat ; and, though it will stay in and around the 
se, and among the cattle, dogs and people, it runs away 
to the woods within two or three years. 
Deer are very silent animals. Only two sounds that can 
Perhaps be called vocal have been heard by me. One is a 
wy: of terror or of pain. The fawn, when caught, bleats 
like a lamb or kid in like circumstances, and the grown 
ts when the backbone is hit by the bullet, falls in its 
Ks and often emits a similar cry of pain, or it may be o 
terror, for it is sometimes repeated when he is seized by the 
3 iter, or even when the latter is seen approaching. 
. “nother sound is a kind of snort, —a forcible emission of 
ut ftom the nostrils. The hunter says he “blows ;” it may 
bea note of anger or defiance. At the season when the doe 

