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BLACKTAILED DEER IN CALIFORNIA It is generally conceded that the California Na ¬ tional Forest contains a larger number of black tailed deer than any other locality of equal size and that the conditions in the forest for propaga ¬ tion and protection are unequaled in the West Embracing as it does large areas of heavy brush which provides protection from natural enemies and almost unlimited forage during the entire year large glade areas which remain practically snow less during the winter months providing an abundance of winter feed when not fed too closely by domestic stock and large hreas of open timber well stocked with succulent weeds and grasses it can well be said to bo ideal as a locality adapted to the perpetuation of this valuable game species speciesThe The mating season for deer in this forest ranges from late September in the1 foothills to November at the higher altitudes The bucks shed their horns from January 15 to March 15 and the new growth is noticed by June 1 The horns become hard about August 1 although at the higher ele ¬ vations they are still found in the velvet during the latter part of August and even up to Septem ¬ ber 10 Tlie fawns appear from June 1 to the end of July and in most cases are in pairs pairsThere There are few black and brown bear in the for ¬ est but they can hardly be taken seriously as a game animal In fact they are used by unscrupu ¬ lous hunters as an excuse to go into the mountains with packs of hounds during the winter season when there is no doubt that many violations of the game law are committed These bears are often troublesome to sheep permittees and settlers within the forest who raise hogs as the older ones fre ¬ quently develop predatory tendencies It is prob ¬ able also that they are responsible for many of the kills of deer made by panthers as they feed on the deer killed by the panthers and disturb it iu such a way that it is no longer palatable to the panther which makes a new kill killTlie Tlie most important game bird in tlie forest is the mountain quail It is found in all parts of the forest above the brush line which surrounds the forest on tlirce sides and during the past two years have shown a gratifying increase This is attributed in part to the destruction of ground squirrels and other small eggeating animals by the United States Biological Survey SurveyValley Valley quail are common at the lower elevations and they also are on the increase
