106 HUNTING CAMPS. 



A few flakes of snow came floating down, and I began 

 to wonder whether it would not be wiser to take a shot from 

 where I^then was, but decided against doing so as my hands 

 had almost lost feeling, owing to the long, cold crawl through 

 the marsh. Between me and the stag, but partly in view 

 of the young stag and does, was a ridge with little rising 

 hummocks. I crept slowly to the shelter it afforded, and, 

 having rubbed some warmth into my hands, prepared to 

 fire. I was afraid to make the stag stand up, as he had 

 cover on all sides of him, so I had to shoot him as he lay. 

 He never moved at all, for the bullet, entering his neck, 

 severed the spinal cord. He was a truly splendid fellow, 

 carrying forty-three points, a white stag with a brown 

 back, but unusually white face, ears, and mane. I found a 

 small abscess in his forehead, caused probably by the horn 

 of a rival. 



With the death of this stag I had killed the outside 

 number allowed to the holder of an ordinary licence, but 

 finding myself in the centre of the migration I resolved to 

 remain a few days longer and make use of the extra permit 

 kindly granted me by the Government. On the following 

 day, therefore, we broke camp at Doctor's Pond, where 

 we had been so fortunate, and moved on in a westerly 

 direction to the head of Island Pond ; there we camped 

 in a drogue of spruce which stood in a dominating posi- 

 tion. 



At this time, and during the rest of my stay in the 

 country, I saw deer in great numbers every day. At first I 

 counted as accurately as I could, but later I came across 

 so many that I only numbered the stags which I clearly 

 distinguished to be shootable. 



There seems little reason to doubt that from the 2yth 

 of October to the 5th of November I was in the middle of at 

 least a portion of the migrating deer. The following is the 

 table of the caribou I saw on the trip : 



