THE MULE AND WHITE-TAILED DEER 
The other great enemies of the mule deer are deep snow and the puma. 
Being a good forager, especially on trees which are not always covered, 
even when snow lies deep on the ground, he will stay with the rest of the 
band in some secluded valley, and here comes his second great enemy, 
the cougar. These large cats are very fond of the mule deer and will take 
toll of a band until not one is left. They settle down in a locality and kill at 
least one deer a day and often more from sheer love of slaughter. 
In the deep snow the cougar can rush for a short distance far faster than 
any deer, so that escape is impossible in most cases. Wolves, too, hunting 
in bands in winter, destroy enormous numbers of mule deer, as they are 
able to single out and run down bucks or does with comparative ease, 
provided the snow is deep. Coyotes, lynxes and eagles also kill a certain 
number of fawns, but their depredations are not serious compared with 
those of man and the cougar. 
Like all the other deer, even moose, this species indulges in spring 
gambols and will enjoy a romping chase, sometimes continued for hours. 
I have seen every deer I am acquainted with take part in these romps in 
spring. Even old stags are not above such childish amusements, just before 
horn shedding takes place. They dance, box and buck about as if they 
enjoyed the sport as much as children, and then go for long chases, 
winding in and out of the trees in a sort of follow-my-leader game until 
they are quite exhausted. Mule deer are fair swimmers, and, like the 
white -tail, sink low in the water, but not so low as the Japanese deer, 
which are so heavy that they only show the tops of their heads and noses 
above water. Mule deer do not make a wallow in autumn but bare places 
are scratched by them and are known as “scrapes.” They come to salt- 
licks freely, and can do without water for a very long time, more so, I 
think, than any other deer. Mule deer live in places, in the “ bad -lands ” of 
Wyoming, where there is hardly any water in August and September, and 
what there is is heavily impregnated with alkali. 
Every species of deer make beds in which they lie during the hot hours 
of the day, but these are formed as a rule quite at haphazard, just as the 
animal desires to rest, and whenever there chances to be a soft spot. The 
first of a herd, being full of food, becomes drowsy as the heat of the day 
increases and, after nosing about a little, drops lazily in the first place in 
the grass or soft moss that offers a dry and comfortable couch. Day after 
day a fresh lying ground is chosen and they seldom affect the same bed 
except by chance. The mule deer and the caribou in summer, when growing 
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