NEWFOUNDLAND CARIBOU HUNTING 



239 



wolves arc at present extremely rare. 

 Only once has the writer found signs 

 of wolves, and that was up among' the 

 very sources of the Exploits River. 

 These are a few of the natural causes 

 which combine to offset the disastrous 

 results of that relentless midwinter 

 slaughter by the fisherman. This great 

 annual killing takes place during Feb- 

 ruary and March, when the wind-swept 

 snow fields are packed hard and firm 

 for traveling. It is a deplorable event, 

 but almost without remedy even by 

 legislative enactment. People who are 

 well nigh destitute must live, and plenty 

 of venison solves a problem vital to 

 their very ex- 

 istence. The 

 worst fea- 

 ture however, 

 is not the 

 number o f 

 animals actu- 

 ally killed and 

 "packed out" 

 for use. Vast 

 numbers o f 

 poorly nour- 

 ished carcas- 

 ses are left 

 untou c h e d 

 and thou- 

 sands escape 

 to die of their 



wounds. The fishermen's fire arms are 

 archaic in design, loaded with a varied 

 assortment of projectiles, ranging all 

 the way from buckshot to iron balls. 

 When a volley is fired into a fleeing 

 herd of caribou — well, the reader may 

 imagine results. 



Good guides in Newfoundland are at 

 a premium and the sportsman who suc- 

 ceeds in engaging one may be reason- 

 ably certain of a successful trip. The 

 great majority, however, are neither 

 guides by occupation nor hunters by 

 instinct, but cod fishermen from the 

 coast, who know little of the country 

 beyond the immediate horizon of their 

 homes, and absolutely nothing of the 

 art of big game hunting. Lacking in 

 alertness, intensity and enthusiasm ; 



THE HEAD OF HEADS 



dull, phlegmatic, mentally dwarfed, the 

 fisherman possesses few of those finer 

 sensibilities so essential to a true hunter. 

 But give him a dollar a day and some 

 tea, pork, flour and "baccy," and he 

 will carry your heaviest pack without 

 a murmur. He will wade the iciest 

 river without a grumble. He will 

 smile while facing the greatest hard- 

 ships of the wilderness. His strength 

 is that of endurance and his very best 

 efforts are offered with a cheerful will- 

 ingness rarely equalled. If the fisher- 

 man makes but an indifferent hunter, as 

 a faithful companion, and as a man, 

 he has won my lasting respect. The 



reader will 

 a p p r ec iate 

 this slight tri- 

 bute to the 

 N ewfonnd- 

 lander should 

 lie ever be lost 

 in the interior 

 without food 

 and the blind- 

 ing sleet driv- 

 ing across the 

 barrens. It is 

 danger which 

 draws togeth- 

 er the hearts 

 of men. 



Realizing 

 his guide's limitations, before landing 

 on the island a sportsman should 

 know something of the caribou, be- 

 yond a general knowledge of hunting 

 moose or deer ; for the former is an ani- 

 mal of totally different habits. Moose 

 and deer are semi-aquatic during the 

 heat of the summer time, and may be 

 seen right in broad daylight in num- 

 bers along almost any wild waterway 

 in Maine or New Brunswick. New- 

 foundland caribou, on the other hand, 

 seek the protection of thick spruce for- 

 ests during fly time, emerging at dusk 

 to browse over the barrens. The cool, 

 dark shades of the woods afford for 

 them the same protection from flies as 

 do ponds and waterways for deer. 

 Many failing to realize this, journey to 



