2 



CIRCULAR, 8 2, U. S. DEPARTMEITT OF AGRICULTURE 



pastures. In the choice of summer pastures such pests as mosquitoes 

 and flies play an important part, as these insects cause the reindeer 

 to seek the wind-swept areas adjoining the beach along the coast or 

 the wind-swept ridges and low mountain tops in the interior. 

 During the summer they move around a great deal over the range 

 in nervous feeding, but in winter they graze more quietly and remain 

 in one general locality. The rutting season is during September. 



Unlike the horse, the reindeer moves against the wind and, especi- 

 ally durin;^:the height of the fly season and when a strong wind is 

 blowing, will sometimes travel as much as 15 or 20 miles during a 

 day. In grazing the reindeer feeds two or three hours and then 

 lies down for about the same period of time. Beginning in the fall 

 and continuing during the winter, the animal prefers to feed almost 

 wholly on lichens. In summer it feeds and fattens largely on green 

 herbaceous vegetation. In the evening an^ early in the morning the 

 animals are more inclined to travel than during the heat of the day 

 and may be driven then more easily. When bunched and being 

 handled, the reindeer mill a great deal, the individual herd always 

 milling in one direction, either clockwise or counterclockwise. 



Herding reindeer is now done entirely on foot with the aid of dogs. 

 The introduction, however, of some such hardy animal as the Ice- 

 land pony for use in herding is deemed feasible and in time will no 

 doubt be accomplished. The range unit in Alaska is usually from 

 500 to 750 square miles in extent, the maximum being as much as 

 1,500 square miles. Consequently, herding over such large areas on 

 foot presents no easy task, and is further complicated by the nature 

 of the range, much of which is wet, hummocky tundra. To hike over 

 this sort of ground for long distances with a pack is grueling work. 

 Formerly, when the herds were small, close herding was practiced, 

 and the reindeer were confined near the villages to make the job 

 easier. With the enlargement of the herds, however, close herding 

 became impracticable, and a new scheme of handling had to be 

 adopted, under which numerous camps were scattered about over the 

 range as centers about which herding was done. As the seasonal 

 shiftings of the herd required, the herders moved from camp to camp. 

 The present practice with the best-handled herds is to construct, in 

 place of temporary tent camps, numerous herding cabins on the range 

 for permanent use, where supplies and equipment can be conveniently 

 stored. The ideal arrangement is to build these cabins near enough 

 together for the herder on any part to be within a day's walk of a 

 cabin and to place them so that convenient patrol of the range 

 boundaries will be possible. 



Other aids to better handling of the larger herds will be the con- 

 struction in some cases of short drift fences, the adoption of a system 

 of salting on interior areas, and particularly the more extensive em- 

 ployment of pack and sled reindeer in hauling supplies and getting 

 over the range. The herder who must carry his own pack is limited 

 in the time he can spend out on the range, and consequently, if the 

 range is large, he may fail to bring in all the stock at round-up time. 

 Furthermore, the difficulty of hiking with a pack over much of the 

 Alaska tundra is not productive of efficient results. By using pack 

 reindeer to carry his supplies, therefore, the herder makes his task 



