REINDEER GRAZING INVESTIGATION'S IN ALASKA 13 
boundaries, but most of the units will have a carrying capacity of 
5,000 to 10,000 reindeer. Accordingly, the future herds in Alaska 
will run from 5,000 to 10,000 heads, or an average of 7,500. 
Large grazing allotments will make possible the establishment of 
cooperative herds among numerous small owners, and this will result 
in the formation of many cooperative reindeer associations, or live- 
stock companies, especially among the Eskimos. 
HERDING 
Reindeer are now herded almost entirely on foot, mainly by 
natives and Lapps, commonly aided by dogs. One or two herders 
go out each day from a central camp to watch the herd, sometimes 
remaining out over night. Horses for herding are employed to 
some extent in the interior but have yet to be tried along the coast. 
Sled reindeer and dog teams are used during the winter for hauling 
camp supplies ; in summer, transportation is largely by boat and on 
foot. 
ROUND-UPS 
The herds are rounded up for marking or branding and castra- 
tion early in slimmer, usually in July. Again, in fall and early in 
winter — October, November, and December — they are rounded up 
for butchering. During the middle of the winter another round-up 
may take place for separating mixed herds or breeding and non- 
breeding stock. All handling was formerly done by roping on the 
open range or in a crude brush corral. Xow, however, the corral 
and chute method has come into more general use, and roping is 
being abandoned (pi. 5). 
CORRALS 
Two methods of corralling are employed, one using the chute, the 
other the pen. For efficient work with the chute a large force of 
men is necessary, whereas the pen has the advantage of requiring 
only a small crew. When the chute is used, all the animals are 
driven through and caught at the end (pi. 6). When the pen is 
used, the animals are handled in a central working pen and those 
to be marked or otherwise handled are captured by means of sheep 
hooks. 
A diagram of a corral of the pen type successfully in use at 
Kokrines, Alaska, is shown in Figure 2. With this corral a crew 
of five men has marked reindeer fawns at the rate of 750 a day. 
A highly successful type of corral of the chute method, and the 
type most commonly used, is shown in Figure 3. With a crew of 
15 men, reindeer may be handled in a corral of this kind at the rate 
of 125 to 175 an hour. 
In erecting the type of corral shown in Figure 3, it is very im- 
portant to construct the entrance hook leading to the holding pens 
and chute on the side of the corral meeting the direction of mill. 
This may be either to the right or to the left depending upon the 
individual herd. One herd will not mill both ways, always going 
either clockwise, or counterclockwise. It is therefore necessary to 
note the direction of mill in order so to construct the entrance hook 
as to intercept the milling animals and facilitate their capture. Two 
