154 The Wilderness Hunter. 



many others. The snow reveals, as nothing else does, 

 the presence in the forest of the many shy woodland 

 creatures which lead their lives abroad only after nightfall. 

 Once we saw a coon, out early after its winter nap, and 

 following I shot it in a hollow tree. Another time we 

 came on a deer and the frightened beast left its "yard," 

 a tangle of beaten paths, or deep furrows. The poor 

 animal made but slow headway through the powdery 

 snow ; after going thirty or forty rods it sank exhausted 

 in a deep drift, and lay there in helpless panic as we 

 walked close by. Very different were the actions of the only 

 caribou we saw a fine beast which had shed its antlers. 

 I merely caught a glimpse of it as it leaped over a breast- 

 work of down timbers ; and we never saw it again. 

 Alternately trotting and making a succession of long 

 jumps, it speedily left us far behind ; with its great splay- 

 hoofs it could snow-shoe better than we could. It is 

 among deer the true denizen of the regions of heavy 

 snowfall ; far more so than the moose. Only under 

 exceptional conditions of crust-formation is it in any 

 danger from a man on snow-shoes. 



In other ways it is no better able to take care of itself 

 than moose and deer ; in fact I doubt whether its senses 

 are quite as acute, or at least whether it is as wary and 

 knowing, for under like conditions it is rather easier to 

 still-hunt. In the fall caribou wander long distances, and 

 are fond of frequenting the wet barrens which break the 

 expanse of the northern forest in tracts of ever increasing 

 size as the subarctic regions are neared. At this time 

 they go in bands, each under the control of a master bull, 



