266 The Caribou 



chances being so very few of the deer in those 

 vast marshes coming where the sportsman has 

 located himself, and if it does draw near, the 

 hunter's presence is likely to be detected in time 

 for the animal to make its escape. 



Another method, and one that savors much 

 more of true sportsmanship, is stalking. In many 

 parts of eastern North America, vast tracts of 

 treeless land, covered with rocks and moss, are 

 found within forest districts, called " barrens." 

 To these the caribou resort, sometimes in herds 

 of hundreds of individuals, while in the forest only 

 a comparatively few animals are found together. 

 The hunter from some point of vantage sweeps 

 the ground before him with a powerful glass, and 

 when some fine " head " is discovered, methods 

 for getting within shot of the animal, possibly a 

 mile away, are considered and a plan of approach 

 determined upon. Then follows an exhibition of 

 a hunter's skill and sagacity against the natural 

 attributes of the deer, whose powers of scent and 

 sight, with those of its companions, are to battle 

 with man's experience and fertility of resource. 

 As the stalk proceeds every rock and inequality 

 of the ground is seized upon as a point of vantage, 

 every breath of air considered lest an unwelcome 

 scent be carried to the trembling nostrils ever 

 ready to detect its presence. As the distance 

 between pursuer and pursued lessens, redoubled 



