CHAPTER VIII. 



A SEPTEMBER TRIP UP THE GANDER, NEWFOUNDLAND. 



HAVING already made two October, or second season, 

 hunting-trips to Newfoundland, I determined in 1906 

 to spend the early or September season in that country, 

 for caribou hunting in September is carried out under 

 entirely different conditions from those which obtain 

 later in the year. In October ah 1 the hunter's efforts 

 are directed towards intersecting the line of migration 

 of the herds, which are then moving south ; whereas 

 during the earlier month migration has hardly begun, 

 and the chance of sport lies in finding and hunting 

 " summering " stags, that is, stags that have spent the 

 summer in defined districts, generally in the near neigh- 

 bourhood of some river or lake. A stag, while growing 

 his horns, seems to remain within the limits of a com- 

 paratively small area, from which he does not move 

 until he goes out to meet the does late in September, 

 or more generally in October. Stags invariably rub in 

 their favourite summer haunts. The horns of the best 

 stags are generally free of velvet by the 7th of Sep- 

 tember, or even earlier. Trees torn and broken by 

 rubbing are to be seen occasionally during the last days 

 of August, but in an ordinary year the bulk of the stags 

 seem to rub between the 5th and 12th of the following 

 month. This applies to the country lying south of the 

 railway. 



The shooting of good stags in September is, in many 



