262 HUNTING CAMPS. 



yards of the caribou, and to this I accordingly made my 

 way, and from it achieved a good sight of the tops of 

 the antlers. They looked magnificent and much finer 

 than any I had yet seen. As the stag's body was 

 hidden I rose behind the spruce and, taking a rest 

 against it, pressed the trigger. The animal was lying 

 with his head towards me, and at the impact of the 

 bullet his legs flew up into the air, then came to earth 

 again and he never moved afterwards. The head carried 

 twenty- six points, and though one bay was completely 

 missing, the tops made up for that, and in fact the 

 antlers were most remarkable. 



Ross and Ed were delighted, Ed saying, " That's 

 the best tops in Canada," which I believe to be 

 very nearly true, at least as far as that part of Canada is 

 concerned. Before skinning the head, we all went down 

 to drink water from a stream that ran under the hill to 

 our right. I happened to be leading, and we had not 

 gone a hundred yards before I caught sight of a couple 

 of does coming over the crest of the ridge ahead. These 

 were quickly followed by others ; they had been dis- 

 turbed, no doubt, by the sound of my shot. The does 

 came running in our direction, and were quite close to 

 us, though still unconscious of our presence, when a stag 

 appeared. As he moved across at about a hundred yards 

 Ross fired, killing him instantly. He proved to have a 

 nice symmetrical head of twenty-seven points. As the 

 does fled, they ran almost over the body of the first stag, 

 which lent them new wings of fear, so that they soon 

 vanished among the trees. 



We were naturally very pleased with such a beginning 

 to our trip, and after removing the two heads and per- 

 forming the usual rites, we went on. We had luck with 



