Artemisia tridentata typica forms one of the most widely distr. winter deer forages throughout the West. When fed to mule deer confined in digestion cages or running free in pens, it failed to maintain the wt. of the animals tested. The total digestible nutrients yielded by it exceed that of alfalfa or Kentucky bluegrass. Mule deer do not, however, consume sufficient amts. of forage to sustain themselves when they are forced to subsist solely upon it. Certain plants of sagebrush appear to be much more acceptable to deer than do others. The reasons for this variable palatability were not established.