The buck of the mule-deer evidently has not sense enough to spend, for safety's sake, some of his time in watching from cover, and because of this his trail leads along without stopping, except where he did so to feed. Moreover, he does not vent his anger at a rival by pawing the ground as the white-tail buck does. As the rutting season of mule-deer is later in the year, the drag in the buck's trail is a most prominent feature, when in the case of the Virginia deer it has ceased to connect the individual tracks.
In determining whether one stands before the trail of a mule-deer or some other kind, the locality where the track is found has to be considered, which often solves the question. Their natural habitat is usually higher mountains, and even the treeless breaks where no white-tailed deer are to be found. The possibility of confounding a big mule-deer track with a small elk track is not remote; however, if one observes closely, mistakes will not occur often, as the young elk places his feet nearer the center line under the body than an old mule-deer buck, and never makes any drag. Then again a full-grown elk always makes a track at least twice the size of that of the mule-deer.
The signs of the mule-deer buck are:
| 1. | Drag; |
| 2. | Blazing of trees; |
| 3. | Distance of tracks from center line; |
| 4. | Pointing outward of toes. |
THE WAPITI OR ELK
IN the pursuit of Cervus canadensis the aim of the tracker is to distinguish the signs of the bull from those of the cow. As the number to be killed per season by each hunter is limited by law to one or two bulls, the pursuer is naturally interested in knowing how to tell the signs of the old ones.
They are:
| 1. | Size of track; |
| 2. | Distance of track from center line; |
| 3. | Pointing outward of hoofs; |
| 4. | Hillock in track; |
| 5. | Lagging back with hind legs; |
| 6. | Closeness of track; |
| 7. | Roundness of toes; |
| 8. | Blazing of trees; |
| 9. | Pawing of ground; |
| 10. | Size and roundness of dew-claws. |
