HUNTING IN BRITISH COLUMBIA 



neck as it started to plunge along the edge of the timber. At 

 this the caribou, which unfortunately proved to be a young 

 bull with a comparatively small head, turned a complete somer- 

 sault and expired with a few spasmodic kicks. We were further 

 chagrined to discover, from tracks in the snow, that the animals 

 we had jumped were a few younger bulls, driven from a large 

 band which had been in the next barren, four hundred yards 

 distant, and had promptly left the country at the noise of 

 firing. 



All the next day we followed the broad trail left by the 

 departing band, which by the tracks included two large bulls, 

 but failed to overtake them, reaching camp much exhausted 

 after darkness. While crossing a small barren during the day 

 we passed a two-year-old bull and young cow at a distance of 

 about a hundred yards, but allowed them to trot off into the 

 timber unharmed. In travelling along a narrow, winding 

 meadow we also met a small but aggressive skunk, which, 

 after being struck by several snowballs, came toward us at a 

 run with unmistakable intentions. We were obliged to re- 

 treat down the barren until we reached the stony bed of a 

 small stream, when we buried the oncoming little beast under 

 a shower of rocks. 



We had hardly rolled up in our blankets that night when 

 Dell awakened me by whispering that there was a grizzly 

 nosing about among our pots and pans, but we found the in- 

 truder to be an inquisitive old porcupine, which we promptly 

 dispatched with an ax. During a dense fog about daylight the 

 next morning a bull caribou came up to within a few feet of 

 the tent door, and, when it scented the camp, instantly woke 

 both of us up by giving a series of loud grunts. Without 

 pulling on my boots I followed it over the marsh for several 

 hundred yards, guided by the noise it made in splashing through 

 the water; but although the caribou was at times only a few 

 yards distant, I was unable to see it on account of the mist. 



281 



