DECOYING CARIBOU 143 



long range, but neither brought any down. A 

 little later a young buck, which had become 

 separated from the main herd, came back past 

 us, and this I shot for the night's dog-feed. 



At the narrows between Sand Lake and the 

 nameless lake beyond it, Philip and Eaglefoot 

 chose a base camp, and the sleds were run into 

 cover on a well-timbered low point of land. We 

 were in good Caribou country, and it was intended 

 to spend some time here and prepare unobtru- 

 sively to influence the direction of Caribou travel, 

 so that they might come to pass before the 

 camera. 



Our procedure was this : to cut from the 

 forest on the shores armfuls of spruce boughs and 

 lay them, at widely spaced intervals, on the white 

 lake surface of the upper lake to form a thin 

 boundary line. This fence was laid after the 

 tracks on the forested shores had been examined, 

 and the wind considered, and Philip and Eagle- 

 foot had decided that Caribou would possibly 

 come from the west on the morrow. Where 

 Caribou were expected to come on to the lake from 

 the forest a few boughs were placed very close 

 to shore, so that when our quarry stepped on to 

 the lake the strange objects would not be observed 

 until the animals looked back or tried to return 

 by the path they had come. As will be seen 

 shortly, Caribou will not pass near any suspicious- 

 looking object. Along both shores the fence was 

 carried out, making short cuts across the bays ; 

 and after the shores were laid the slim enclosure 

 was completed by running a line of boughs from 

 shore to shore across the centre of the lake. 



