82 HUNTING CAMPS. 



however, in the interior. But if the bears have dwindled 

 in numbers, the great deer still wander there. 



The inland solitudes of forest and marsh give sanc- 

 tuary to huge herds of woodland caribou. The caribou 

 of Newfoundland carries the finest antlers of any local 

 variety of the woodland reindeer family. These antlers, 

 while they lack the beautiful length and curve of the 

 Barrenland divisions that inhabit the high field of 

 Norway or the uplands and barren lands of Arctic 

 America, are remarkable for a weight and density of 

 horn which places them among the most desirable 

 trophies that can still fall to the hunter. 



Nor can set-up specimens do more than indicate the 

 beauty of the animal as he appears in his native wilds. 

 The symmetry of his mighty body and limbs, the dark 

 face contrasting with the white-maned neck, the broad 

 brow antlers clasped together like hands in prayer, the 

 palmated bays and lofty tops, must be seen in their 

 proper environment to be appreciated. This is, no 

 doubt, true of all the deer family, but it applies in a 

 rather special way to the caribou, if only for the reason 

 that the grime of cities quickly tarnishes the sheen of 

 these white-necked stags. 



The game laws of Newfoundland allow two seasons 

 to the sportsman. The first covers two months, from 

 the 1st of August to the 30th of September inclusive, 

 after which it closes for twenty days, during which the 

 rut is at its height ; it opens again on the 21st of October 

 and extends to the 1st of February of the following year. 

 As a matter of fact, however, only the very early days of 

 the long second season are of value to anyone in search 

 of a trophy, as the stags begin to drop their horns as 

 early as the 1st of November, and by the 10th of that 



