A HUNTER'S PARADISE 107 



had then resumed his journey down stream without altering 

 his pace from a walk. 



It may seem to the reader, if he only knows a little 

 about big-game hunting, that to shoot such tame animals 

 is almost devoid of sport, and in many cases he would be 

 right in the case of the caribou. It is the other chances 

 that produce the necessity of quick decision, with long and 

 sometimes difficult shots, which make the chase of the caribou 

 a fascinating one. The object of the hunter in new ground 

 where game is abundant is naturally to secure the best heads, 

 and an exceptional trophy may sometimes be obtained in 

 the easiest manner. On the other hand, I had several times 

 seen a stag rush out of the forest with a clatter of stones, 

 scamper into the river as if in fun, stand a minute or two 

 in the stream and drink, and then gallop or swim across 

 to the farther bank, where he will only glance round for a 

 second before disappearing for good up some lead. They 

 are not frightened, but are perhaps in a hurry to reach 

 some favourite feeding ground in a secluded glade back 

 from the river. In such a case you may be five to eight 

 hundred yards from the stag when you first view him, and 

 have to strain every muscle to run that four or five hundred 

 yards which brings you within a long shot. Then, tem- 

 porarily blown, you must sit at once to take your shot, and 

 have no time to hunt out a good position. The wind may 

 be wrong, or the stag may just walk to the water's edge, 

 drink for a second or two, and then turn again into the 

 forest. During these few minutes, too, you must have 

 your glass handy to see whether his head is good enough 

 (and I do not know any deer whose horns are so difiicult 

 to judge in a short period of sight. Sometimes at one 

 angle they look splendid, and at another quite poor, so 



