A FALL HUNTING TRIP. 83 



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 September. 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. 



There are, it may be mentioned, a certain number of 

 individuals who never attempt to reach the interior, 

 whose ambition is satisfied by what may be called the 

 " railway sport," and who possibly deserve any dis- 

 appointments that fall to their lot. The term " railway 

 sport " needs elucidation. Twice a year the caribou in 

 Newfoundland migrate ; in the spring they move from 

 south to north, and in the autumn travel back from 

 the north to their winter feeding-grounds. It happens 

 that the railroad from St. John's to Port-aux-Basques 

 intersects a main route of migration, and immense 

 numbers of deer cross the line, the bulk of them 

 reaching it near a station called Howley. This is 

 the spot haunted during the earlier part of the shooting 

 season by the " railway sports," for it is often possible 

 to shoot the three stags allowed by law without walking 

 out of sight of the metals. Yearly, as might be 

 expected, a multitude of immature stags are slaughtered 

 in this way, and the ears of passengers in the passing 

 trains may be filled with the report of guns, as if a small 

 skirmish were taking place ! 



From this form of shooting all the chief elements of 

 true sport are eliminated. The numbers of the hunters 

 (who camp in groups), their method of sitting down 

 until the deer come to them, and the ineradicable spirit 

 of competition which leads some men to shoot at 



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