NEWFOUNDLAND CARIBOU HUNTING 



By WM. ARTHUR BABSON 



Illustrated by the Author 



TRETCHING from 

 Eastern Newfound- 

 land westward to the 

 extremity of the 

 Alaskan peninsular, 

 and from the bord- 

 ers of the United 

 States, northward to 

 the ice-bound Arctic 

 Sea, lies a vast ex- 

 panse of territory 

 'containing within its 

 boundaries what to- 

 day is the grandest 

 and wildest wilderness of the world. 

 It is a land whose population is less per 

 square mile than in any other region 

 of equal area. Many of its rivers teem 

 with salmon, in numbers unequalled. Its 

 higher latitudes afford a summer home 

 for millions of water fowl. It contains 

 the only refuge of the musk ox and 

 wood bison. It produces the largest 

 land carnivora in the world — the Kadiac 

 bear ; and in the forests of Alaska, 

 Alces gigas, the mightiest representa- 

 tive of the deer family. Of all game 

 animals, however, the one essen- 

 tially characteristic and typical of the 

 northern half of the North American 

 Continent is the caribou, which is, ap- 

 parently, in its Barren Ground form, 

 identical with the reindeer of Europe 

 and Asia. 



I say this advisedly, and for two rea- 

 sons ; first, because of its almost unin- 

 terrupted distribution throughout the 

 whole area ; and, second, because, with- 

 out it, thousands of Indians in the 

 northern interior and Labrador could 



not exist. Few white men have wit- 

 nessed ''la foule," the great migration 

 of Barren Ground caribou, when mul- 

 titudes of the animals cross the treeless 

 tundras of sub-arctic America to the 

 protection of the forests. Many of us, 

 however, have hunted the larger and 

 more accessible woodland species or its 

 allied races, all the way from the Frazer 

 River in British Columbia to the island 

 of Newfoundland. 



The woodland caribou, scattered as 

 it is over such a broad expanse of terri- 

 tory, presents naturally enough, varia- 

 tions sufficiently marked to warrant its 

 division into several varieties or sub- 

 species. That of Newfoundland (Rang- 

 ifcr Terranovce, Bangs) is easily dis- 

 tinguished from the others by a lighter 

 color, and the formation of the antlers, 

 the latter being comparatively short and 

 massive, with prongs pointing forward 

 and slightly inward. They are also often 

 quite erroneously credited by sports- 

 men as possessing greater size, both 

 in body and antlers, than Rangifer Car- 

 ibou (Gmel.) of Ontario and Eastern 

 Canada. I believe this impression is 

 due to the fact that on the island the 

 animals are extremely numerous, they 

 may be hunted on the open barren hills, 

 and consequently, if well posted, an in- 

 different shot may select from many 

 the very largest and finest specimens. 

 On the other hand, throughout the 

 dense timbered forests of the mainland, 

 a hunter's choice is limited. He must 

 take what he sees, and that quickly. 

 The very first bull presenting a pass- 

 able head gear is worthy game. The 



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