ARMS AND EQUIPMENT 155 



In Newfoundland a number of years ago, while 

 looking for ptarmigan with a .22-caliber rifle I 

 came across two caribou. They were on the 

 opposite side of a deep ravine, and about seventy 

 yards distant. Our supply of fresh meat was low, 

 and ptarmigan were scarce, so I pointed the 

 slender gun barrel in the direction of the smaller 

 caribou's vital organs and pressed the trigger. 

 Both animals pricked up their ears and looked 

 about as if uncertain from what direction the 

 feeble report had come. I slipped in a fresh car- 

 tridge and fired again. They appeared to be 

 nervous, and nothing more. I was repenting that 

 I had fired at all, and was in doubt what course to 

 pursue, when my caribou turned around. As he 

 did so his legs gave way, and he slid down the 

 side of the ravine in a lifeless heap. Two hollow- 

 point bullets, each weighing 35 grains and pro- 

 pelled by grains of black powder, had killed a 

 yearling caribou — but I am not prepared to defend 

 the .22-caliber rifle as a fit weapon for caribou 

 hunting. 



A leading firearm manufacturing company rec- 

 ommends a cartridge the bullet of which stops 

 inside the skin of the animal, because it "delivers 

 its whole energy," calling attention to the fact 

 that if the bullet passes through and beyond the 



