SEALS AND SEAL SHOOTING 135 



after taking a look, it will go down and reappear 

 a little further, or if tame, possibly in the same 

 place. The shooter, in the meantime, having 

 raised his gun to his shoulder, gets a shot. When 

 "harps" are on cakes of ice small pieces they 

 are very shy, but on large fields they are easily ap- 

 proached by walking. The most favorable time 

 for seal shooting of "harps" is in very cold 

 weather and early in the morning. At that time 

 they come nearer shore to feed, and the dense va- 

 por arising from the water makes them less wary. 

 One must be clad as lightly as compatible with the 

 temperature, and covered with a light white cot- 

 ton overall. The exercise of working the canoe 

 keeps one warm enough, and the light clothing al- 

 lows of quicker movements, which are often neces- 

 sary, not only in shooting, but in avoiding mis- 

 haps. The dangers attendant on harp seal shoot- 

 ing are getting upset by a wounded seal or in 

 hauling a dead one aboard the canoe, getting nip- 

 ped among pieces of moving ice, or stuck in slush 

 ice or snow, breaking through ice while walking 

 on it, getting frost-bitten, and the usual danger of 

 handling firearms, with the additional risk of be- 

 ing hit by some stray pellets of SSG from other 

 canoes. No fatal accident has ever happened 

 at Point des Monts that I know of, but some 

 hunters have been wounded. The weather has 

 also to be watched with care to avoid being caught 

 by snowstorms or gales of wind. So my readers 



