252 HUNTING CAMPS. 



in beam, which would certainly be probable were he 

 recovering from a wound sustained during the previous 

 year. 



That evening heavy snow fell, and I proceeded to 

 improve the occasion by losing our only axe. I was 

 cutting wood, and foolishly struck the axe into a log 

 before carrying another back to the camp half a mile 

 away. Being delayed there by some task, it had become 

 too dark when I returned to find the axe, and by next 

 morning it was buried under a foot of snow. We 

 experienced a difficulty in getting our fire started, and 

 indeed were quite as cold as was comfortable before we 

 succeeded in making a blaze. By great good fortune 

 I found the axe after breakfast. The snow, which 

 overlay the country, was, of course, an open advertise- 

 ment of the daily and nightly movements of the game 

 in our neighbourhood, but the results of inspection 

 were disappointing. A cow and a calf moose, a large 

 number of doe caribou, and only two sizeable stag- 

 tracks were all that a hard day's travelling showed us. 

 Judging by the large number of rubbing-trees, there 

 must have been many stags in the valley earlier in the 

 year, and it seemed probable that the summering deer 

 had taken their departure, in which case our prospects 

 of further success were poor. 



The first snow, which in the case of moose and white- 

 tail is the hunter's greatest opportunity, is, as regards 

 caribou, of less aid. It is of course possible, by syste- 

 matically following caribou tracks, to come up with deer 

 from time to time, but as a rule, in open country it is 

 hardly worth the trouble to do this. The reason is that 

 caribou are such insatiable travellers at this season 

 when they are migrating that, in eleven instances out of 



