234 HUNTING CAMPS. 



summering deer had taken their departure, in which case 

 our prospects of further success were poor. 



The first snow, which in the case of moose and white- 

 tail is the hunter's greatest opportunity, is, as regards 

 caribou, of less aid. It is of course possible, by systematic- 

 ally following caribou tracks, to come up with deer from time 

 to time, but as a rule, in open country it is hardly worth the 

 trouble to do this. The reason is that caribou are such 

 insatiable travellers at this season when they are migrating 

 that, in eleven instances out of twelve, the hunter gains 

 nothing by tracking them but a good appetite and an 

 extended knowledge of the country. 



Next day we at first hunted separately, and Ed saw, 

 but did not shoot at, a young stag of nineteen or twenty 

 points, while I had to be content with watching a small 

 herd of nine does. About three in the afternoon, however, 

 having once more joined forces, we were shivering in the 

 lee of a rock upon the Second Look-out, when a stag appeared, 

 moving through the bmlee at a distance of about a mile 

 and a half. A transient .gleam of sunshine showed up his 

 horns, and after making a detour to clear the wind, we set 

 about the business of the stalk. The country in which we 

 had seen him was tolerably thick, that is, one might pass 

 within fifty yards of a stag and remain quite unaware of 

 his presence. As we had a long round to make, we were 

 lucky to see anything of him again, and in all probability 

 should not have done so had he not been accompanied by 

 three does and two fawns, one of which gave us the line 

 just as we were on the point of getting to windward of 

 them. As it was, a doe with her fawn became alarmed, 

 and made off, followed by the rest. The stag, however, 

 happened to have wandered some two hundred yards away 

 from the herd, which just enabled me to run across, cut 

 him off, and fire a bullet which broke his shoulder. He 

 carried a nice even head of twenty-five points, and had a 



