THE CHASE. 363 



THE WOODLAND CAHIBOU. 



The endowments of this animal render its pursuit a work of 

 care and labor in those regions where it has been much hunted, 

 and so the excitement of the chase is enhanced in a corresponding 

 degree. Indeed none other of the deer family abhors civilization 

 so much as this, and none so quickly desert a country upon its 

 approach. While it occupies the range jointly with the moose, 

 they are by no means social neighbors, and the Caribou hastens 

 away, whenever it finds itself in close contact with its larger 

 cousin. 



Except in unfrequented regions it is only found in timbered 

 lands or in the bushy barrens, where it can find safe covert from 

 its pursuers. If once alarmed by the hunter, it flees away in 

 continued alarm, nor stops to rest or feed, till it has gone so great 

 a distance that pursuit is quite out of the question. If the ex- 

 perienced hunter wounds the Caribou, he makes no attempt to 

 follow him, unless he believes him so disabled that he lacks the 

 physical strength to escape to any great distance, for he knows 

 lie will never stop till compelled by absolute exhaustion, or a per- 

 fectly safe distance has been attained. 



If, like the other deer, it does not readily recognize objects b}'- 

 sight alone, its senses of hearing and smell are acute and discrim- 

 inating, and this must be ever borne in mind by the successful 

 hunter. The habits of this deer vary very much in different 

 localities, so they must be specially studied under varying circum- 

 stances. The mode of pursuit which may be very successful, in 

 remote seclusion, where it is rarely alarmed, might be quite 

 fruitless where it is frequently pursued, and so has become ever 

 watchful and vigilant. 



Although the Caribou is nearly voiceless, yet it is not wholly 

 so. During the love season the male expresses his desires, and 

 invites a mate, by a short deep note, something approaching a 

 bellow, but the Indians, of the present day at least, do not at- 

 tempt to imitate it and so' attempt to call the deer within range 

 of the rifle, as we have seen they do the moose, though they claim 

 that in former times this was successfully practiced by their an- 

 cestors. Stalking or creeping is the only resource left to the 

 sportsman in regions at all accessible to him, whei'e the deer 

 have been rendered cautious and wary by pursuit. In the interior 

 of Newfoundland and the sterile regions of Labrador, where the 

 country has not been harried by the white man, the case is quite 



