fish into small ponds, where they die and float to the surface 

 and are then retaken and eaten. 



GREAT BEASTS 



These forests teem with life, but as in equatorial jungles the 

 great part of it remains carefully concealed. The spmce stands 

 are more or less impenetrable to man, the trees standing so 

 close together in many places that, even if they were devoid of 

 their endless intertwined tangle of stiff dead branches at lower 

 levels, a man of normal girth would be hard put to it to squeeze 

 between their trunks. The wildlife here has a habit of playing 

 possum, but at the same time, some of the larger animals may 

 be approached closely; or they will approach you closely and 

 seemingly through lack of experience combined with extreme 

 inquisitiveness. In fact, they may approach far too close and be 

 far too inquisitive. Such encounters usually occur in the open 

 muskegs, though the new roads are veritable show strips. 



The commonest large animal of the country is the Moose. 

 They are numbered in the hundreds of thousands in Canada as 

 a whole, and over three thousand were counted from the air in 

 one area of British Columbia alone in a few days during a game 

 survey. The Moose is a very large animal, not just the largest of 

 the deer, and the largest of all are in the Northwest Territories. 

 A big bull encountered at close quarters is as impressive as 

 anything short of a lone elephant and appears to tower above 

 you. If he has a full rack of horn, his head seems to fill your 

 whole vision, and in this country of comparatively small trees 

 the effect is little short of overwhelming. Bull moose are also 

 rather aggressive and it is advisable to retreat promptly and at 

 fair speed if you meet one on land unexpectedly, for they do not 

 like being stared at and they seem to be able — unlike many 

 animals, and notably the big cats — to detect man just as well 

 when he is standing still as when he is moving. They may take 

 off after a prolonged look, but they are just as apt to charge, and 

 they can cover the tangled ground cover in gargantuan strides, 

 or jump over it with an agility that is most unexpected. They are 

 one of the very few animals that will do this when completely 

 unprovoked; and, if you are hunting, you will need a powerful 

 weapon to protect yourself because, as any north woodsman will 

 tell you, small-caliber bullets have no effect upon them what- 

 soever. They will even charge automobiles and trucks, with 

 devastating effect on the former and usually appreciable on the 

 latter. I once met a huge bull in a little glade among tall fir and 

 spruce standing belly deep in moss and stunted bushes. It was 

 near evening and 1 had thought it was a large tree stump till it 

 moved its head and its vast spread of amber-colored antlers 

 became disassociated from the dead branches. I made the reflex 

 actions of precipitate retreat, but about five pounds of clay had 

 adhered to each of my feet, so I had to stand there more or less 

 immobile, longingly eyeing the nearest climbable tree. Fortu- 

 nately, the huge brute turned with a snort and went off up a 

 steep incline at a pace that would have done credit to the best 

 horse. What amazed me was its stride, which was a sort of 

 monstrous prance with a jog-trot gait so that its enormous 

 hoofs came up level with its belly, alternately front right and 

 back left and front left and back right, and so were clear of the 

 thick underbrush. 



This strange prancing gait is typical also of the other deer of 

 this country — the White-tailed (which, contrary to popular belief, 

 is not uncommon right up to the Great Slave Lake) and the 

 Woodland Caribou. These latter are wondrous beasts. There are 

 very great numbers of them throughout the province. In summer 



they wander about in family parties, but in winter they join up 

 in considerable herds and push in under the trees and the snow 

 blanket to grub for mosses and other winter food. Yet, 1 have 

 met people born and raised in these areas who have never seen 

 one. I was more fortunate, having walked right into a large 

 family party on one occasion. Caribou, as mentioned, are rein- 

 deer. There are three distinct kinds, indigenous to this conti- 

 nent — the little Arctic or Island species already described; a 

 very large mountain form in Alaska and the Yukon; and these 

 Woodland animals. The last are intermediate in size but can 

 stand a good four feet at the shoulder and have the most pal- 

 mated and comparatively the largest horns of all. Their ap- 

 pearance in life is quite different from any stuffed specimen 

 or picture of them I have ever seen. They are shaped like large 

 rectangular boxes with a bull neds, small head, and the huge 

 antlers stuck on in front. When they run they look quite 

 mechanical, their prancing legs forming right angles and the 

 whole creature bouncing along so that you automatically say 

 "chup-chup-chup-chup" as they go. They are of a very dark 

 brown almost to black in summer, and they have very long tails 

 which they carry stiffly erect as they run and which stand up 

 almost as high as the tops of the antlers of the largest adults. 

 These tails bear an enormous sort of fan of stiff white bristly 

 hair which far surpasses both in actual size and in proportion 

 to its bearer anything displayed by a White-tailed Deer. 



THE WOODLAND BISON 



It is in this country also that the last remnants of our largest 

 land animal still survive. These are the great Woodland Bison, 

 which are now preserved in a huge area west of the Peace 

 River just south of Great Slave Lake. Unfortunately, a number 

 of the "ordinary" Plains Bison were shipped up into this region 

 some years ago and interbred with the Woodland species so 

 that the latter are no longer all entirely of pure blood. However, 

 the plains animals do not stand the cold and appear to have 

 died off. while there are still pureblooded Woodlanders. In 

 1960 a whole herd of pure-breeds was found some distance 

 to the west of the refuge, the most exciting big-game discovery 

 since that of the mighty Coupray, also a kind of ox, in Indochina 

 in 1938. These are magnificent beasts, more like the European 

 Bison, without a hump, with very close and tightly curled wool 

 all over the head and shoulders, horns that are much stouter at 

 the base, and with two other conspicuous characteristics. As 

 Dr. George G.Goodwin of the American Museum of Natural 

 History, who made a study of them during both summer and 

 winter, once described them to me: "Their heads are not sort 

 of stuck on like the Plains animals but are carried higher like 

 normal cattle, and they have rather big eyes that never show 

 any of the white." These great beasts scratch down through the 

 snow with their hoofs in winter and then browse on the mosses. 

 However, there are sort of "lakes" of prairie with good lush 

 grasses scattered through the forest right up to the latitude 

 where they live, and the animals graze on these in summer. 

 There are also many salt licks, and it is around these that they 

 prefer to stay. 



One of the many species of weasels found all over this con- 

 tinent. They are rarely seen elsewhere hut in this province 

 are very numerous and hunt by day as well as by night. 

 Though primarily terrestrial, they can climb well and rob 

 the nests of birds in trees. 



