82 BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA. 



the fusillade went on, until eight of the splendid animals 

 were laid low. The ninth, warned by the tongue of the 

 approaching dog, fled and escaped. The eight Deer were 

 killed in probably riot more than three minutes, from a dis- 

 tance of one hundred yards, the hunter not having had to 

 move from the spot on which he stood to discharge the first 

 shot. 



While still-hunting on another occasion, Macnab dis- 

 covered a herd of about eighty Woodland Caribou feed- 

 ing on a large, open plain. After considerable strategic 

 maneuvering on difficult ground, he managed to approach 

 within three hundred and fifty yards of the herd, and, from 

 a well-concealed covert, opened fire. After discharging 

 three or four shots fruitlessly, he' finally got the range, and 

 in a short time dropped seven of the largest bucks, and 

 then discontinued firing. He assured me that had he desired 

 slaughter alone, and not legitimate, honest sport, he could, 

 with little difficulty, have killed the entire herd, for they 

 could not see him, and so made no effort to escape. In 

 accounting for his success, I may say that Macnab is an old 

 and expert target-shot, who, with either the shotgun or the 

 rifle, takes rank as one of the most accomplished sports- 

 men in Canada. 



I have never been able to learn, from any authentic 

 source, that Caribou, hunted by dogs, will take to water, as 

 is the habit of the Oervus Virginianus. I imagine, how- 

 ever, that when pursued by dogs, silent or otherwise, they 

 will swim across any river or lake in the direct line of their 

 flight. Aided by their stout legs and broad, concave hoofs, 

 they are rapid swimmers; and from their natural capacity 

 for enduring cold, suffer little, even from protracted immer- 

 sion in cold water. 



The Woodland Caribou is a large and powerful animal, 

 nearly, if not quite, double the size of the Virginia Deer, and 

 possessing great speed and immense vitality., It requires a. 

 strong, paralyzing shock to kill, suddenly, such formidable 

 .game. Consequently, taking for granted the expertness. 

 and nerve of the hunter, a repeating-rifle of not smaller 



