246 HUNTING CAMPS. 



had shot the stag on the first day of hunting, and as 

 there were several tracks crossing and re-crossing this 

 spot, I sat down in the lee of a spruce out of the cold 

 wind. 



I had hardly been there more than five minutes when 

 my eye was caught by the brownish-grey form of a doe 

 caribou heading towards me out of a patch of woodland 

 lying to the north. She came forward at a good pace, 

 follo^red by a second doe, and presently a stag emerged. 

 At first it seemed the deer would come right up to where 

 I was waiting, but while still several hundred yards away 

 the leading doe changed her course and began to trot rapidly 

 in a direction that within a very short distance would bring 

 her to leeward. There was nothing for it but to change my 

 position ; fortunately a deepish gully offered good cover, 

 and I ran down it for about a quarter of a mile, expecting 

 every moment to see the deer in full flight. As soon as 

 I was sure that I had crossed the front of the advancing 

 caribou and was safely to windward of them, I crept out 

 of the gully and under the shelter of a bulky hummock. 

 The two does and the stag had, however, now disappeared, 

 and, after watching for a few minutes, I began to go for- 

 ward up-wind, purposing, if possible, to cut their trail. I 

 had not gone more than fifty yards before I saw the flank 

 of one of the deer disappear behind some trees about two 

 hundred yards ahead, and the next instant the does walked 

 out into the open. They were no more than a few yards 

 from my trail, and as I knew, once they got wind of it, 

 they would be scared away, I sat down and made ready 

 to shoot if, on seeing the stag, I should think it worth 

 while to do so. 



Before many moments had passed the stag advanced 

 slowly from the trees. He looked very big to my eyes, 

 for these mainland caribou are larger and heavier in the 

 body than their Newfoundland cousins, though their horns, 



