BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA 417 



bulls is in the rutting season, when they are a little less cautious 

 than usual, and when there is generally a good ' tracking snow ' 

 to help the hunter, who requires all the help he can get in his 

 match with the keenest-scented beast on earth. Dull-witted 

 the caribou may be, and I very much doubt whether his eyes 

 are any better than a man's, but his nose is, as our neighbours 

 say, a ' holy terror.' I have seen a caribou allow a man to 

 walk almost up to him in very thin covert, and have had his 

 congener, the Spitzbergen reindeer, walk straight back to me 

 when I crouched (after ' jumping ' him) to see what I was. I 

 shot him at ten paces to save myself from being run over by 

 the inquisitive fool. The last caribou shot by friends of mine 

 out here were killed by the lazy one of the party, while satisfying 

 an inordinate appetite at the unreasonable hour of mid-day, 

 and in camp. Captain L., like an honest hunter, was scouring 

 the hills ; Major P. was feeding contentedly in camp. L., of 

 course, never got a shot during the expedition, but three cari- 

 bou walked up to lunch with P. and were shot. 



But if the eyes of caribou are not very trustworthy, their 

 ears are about as good as the ears of other forest beasts, and 

 their noses are matchless. I have known a herd strike the 

 track of a man in the snow a day old, and turn as if their noses 

 had touched hot iron ; and once a caribou has satisfied himself 

 that there is a man about, he will not stop travelling for half a 

 day ; good feed won't tempt him, deep snow won't stop him, 

 snow-shoes can't catch him in fact, the hunter had better look 

 for another, and keep on the right side of him when he finds 

 him. 



Caribou feed upon very much the same food as the moose, 

 browsing for the most part, and depending largely during the 

 depth of winter upon beard moss and other lichens for support. 

 Caribou hunting in British Columbia is sufficiently fascinating 

 in itself, but for some of us it has an added charm from the 

 fact that the best chance of getting a grizzly occurs when the 

 bones and offal of two or three of these deer are lying about in 

 the upland forest. Where the caribou are, there also are the 



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