THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
cannot be struck. The battle usually consists of the two males pushing 
each other about for a time until the stronger forces the other down hill 
and then chases him away. 
The season at which the males seek the society of the females seems to 
vary between the beginning of October and November. The young doe 
at first flies from the buck and the male follows her scent like a hound 
on a trail. In fact, nearly all deer are alike in their habits at this season. 
In time the doe gives in and the male stays with her for a short time, 
often running after fresh charmers. Late in the season the buck may obtain 
a second or third wife by force of horns, but he seldom gets more than 
five or six. Like red and other deer the old buck often permits the associa- 
tion of a single one or two-year-old buck, and the liberty enjoyed by these 
depends much on the temper of the master buck. At any sign of danger 
the buck will leave the doe and in no sense protects her, either from man 
or wild animals. At the end of the rut the bucks are exhausted and poor 
in condition, but never so miserable as wapiti or red deer. Mule deer seem 
to feed up and get into better condition before the severity of winter comes 
on than other deer and they are often quite fat again before Christmas. 
Only rarely do the horns of these deer become interlocked, and there are 
few examples in collections. When this occurs both participants in the 
fight are starved to death. During the winter mule deer consort together in 
bands which, in favourite localities, amount to big herds. In Colorado and 
in the Okanagan very large herds have been seen together, and Mr E. J. 
Duchesnay mentions (“ Life Histories of Northern Animals,” p. 131) 
having seen in the latter country as many as 400 to 500 in one day. 
Their principal food consists of grass and the twigs of many deciduous 
trees, whilst the various tree -mosses and lichens are especially enjoyed. 
Like other deer they will stand up on their hind legs to reach such delicacies. 
The chief enemy of this deer is, of course, man, and it is a sad fact that 
so beautiful a creature does not learn the meaning of the new danger that 
has come with high powered rifles and explosives. Some few animals 
have learned the lesson. The grizzly bear, the pronghorn, and the mountain 
sheep of the middle west, have all gathered an advancing knowledge with 
the improved precision of rifles, even though the two last named are verging 
on extinction, but the mule deer is not mentally the equal of these creatures. 
His curiosity and confidence are just the same as ever, and by the time 
civilization has spread a little further, he will have vanished from all his 
old haunts, except in strictly protected areas. 
306 
