A FALL HUNTING TRIP. 83 



tuary to huge herds of woodland caribou. The caribou 

 of Newfoundland carries the finest antlers of any local 

 variety of the woodland reindeer family. These antlers, 

 while they lack the beautiful length and curve of the Bar- 

 renland divisions that inhabit the high field of Norway or 

 the uplands and barren lands of Arctic America, are re- 

 markable for a weight and density of horn which places 

 them among the most desirable trophies that can still fall 

 to the hunter. 



Nor can set-up specimens do more than indicate the 

 beauty of the animal as he appears in his native wilds. 

 The symmetry of his mighty body and limbs, the dark 

 face contrasting with the white-maned neck, the broad 

 brow antlers clasped together like hands in prayer, the 

 palmated bays and lofty tops, must be seen in their proper 

 environment to be appreciated. This is, no doubt, true of 

 all the deer family, but it applies in a rather special way to 

 the caribou, if only for the reason that the grime of cities 

 quickly tarnishes the sheen of these white-necked stags. 



The game laws of Newfoundland allow two seasons to 

 the sportsman. The first covers two months, from the 

 ist of August to the 30th of September inclusive, after which 

 it closes for twenty days, during which the rut is at its 

 height ; it opens again on the 2ist of October and extends 

 to the ist of February of the following year. As a matter 

 of fact, however, only the very early days of the long second 

 season are of value to anyone in search of a trophy, as the 

 stags begin to drop their horns as early as the ist of No- 

 vember, and by the loth of that month many, if not most, 

 of the finest antlers have fallen, for it is always the monarchs 

 of the herds who are the first to lose them, as they are the 

 first to rub the velvet from them in the opening of Sep- 

 tember. The hunter should therefore choose the month of 

 September or the first three weeks of the later season for 

 his campaign into the interior of the island. 



