242 NEWFOUNDLAND 



wild animals will change with different seasons. In 1903, when 

 I hunted on the Gander, all the big stags were constantly 

 to be seen standing out on the river or crossing it during 

 the morning or evening. By 20th September they were 

 ready to move out, collect does and travel south with 

 them. I explain this by the fact that the winter of 1902-3 

 had been an exceptionally mild one and the stags had early 

 come into fine condition. Now in 1905 a different state of 

 affairs prevailed. The winter of 1904-5 had been one of 

 the severest on record, and when the spring came, the deer 

 were reduced to the most wretched condition. As a rule 

 they can get at the caribou moss in April by scraping in the 

 snow with their feet, but in this season the frost continued 

 to pack the snow into a hard block which could not be pene- 

 trated, and the deer were forced to subsist on the " maldow," 

 a bearded moss which hangs in the fir-trees and which 

 is only capable of supporting life. The result was a very 

 backward season, in which the animals, with few exceptions, 

 grew poor heads and were in no condition. In consequence 

 the rut was deferred for a period of nearly three weeks, 

 an almost unheard-of event in Newfoundland, and the big 

 stags were still keeping closely to the timber as late as 

 25th September. 



I saw, therefore, if I was to obtain a first-class head or 

 two, I must adopt a different method of hunting, and search 

 for the bearers of antlers amongst the timber itself Now to 

 hunt the caribou stag in its home of dense woods, such as 

 stretches on the south bank of the Gander from Burnt Hill 

 to the Gander Lake, was quite out of the question, owing 

 to its great density, and the fact that deer would hear the 

 advent of man before he could catch a glimpse of one of 

 them. Some thousands of stags inhabit this great forest. 



