AN OLD-TIME CARIBOU HUNT 159 



noon and that some had even come out not a hun- 

 dred yards from his barn. His farm was about 

 two miles distant and we could drive right up in 

 the morning, when he would show us the tracks. 

 Preparations were consequently made for a very 

 early start. We had breakfast at four a.m. and 

 drove up, reaching the farm house at the first ap- 

 pearance of daylight. The fellow had not exag- 

 gerated, for there, in plain sight from his house, 

 was the caribou track. On going up to it I saw 

 it was a large one. The animal had been feeding 

 around there and in doing so had crossed the road 

 several times, and what the farmer had believed 

 was the track of five or six animals, was in real- 

 ity that of one only. I was simply astonished. 

 Here was a caribou crossing men's tracks, wood 

 roads, and poking around farm yards without 

 the least appearance of alarm. Truly this was a 

 " civilized caribou." I picked up the freshest 

 track and we were off. Mr. Hamel gave us an 

 idea of the lay of the land. In a southwesterly 

 direction there was an unbroken stretch fourteen 

 miles, and seven or eight miles due west of the line 

 of the Grand Trunk Railway. The general 

 trend of the trail was westerly. We made sever- 

 al short cuts on it. The walking was still very 

 bad, and though owing to the very large size of 

 my snowshoes I did not feel it as much, my break- 

 ing of the road was of very little help to my 

 friends. About ten a.m. Mr. Methot pulled up 



