December, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
631 
was forty-eight and one-half inches, the 
palms measured thirty-three by thirteen 
inches, and there were twenty-six points. 
The spread of the antlers of a moose is 
often controlled by the form of their 
growth. If the palms are flat the spread 
is greater than if they are curved; and 
if the beam is long the spread is greater 
than if it is short. Unlike those killed 
during the rut, this moose, was in per- 
fect condtion. He was very fat and his 
body clean. There was no such odor 
about him as is carried by the rutting 
moose, and his flesh was wholesome and 
tender. 
Hunting the moose under such circum- 
stances is a different sort of sport than 
killing them when they are emboldened 
by the rut, constantly on the move, and 
ready to fearlessly approach toward any 
noise that might come from a rival or 
a mate. The dimension of ithe antlers is 
not the measure of the sport. Return- 
ing to camp, through caribou land, we 
again saw them feeding on every side. 
A S the big bull caribou, seemed to be 
still farther distant from Cold 
Fish Lake, another move was 
made of the camp in order to save time 
in traveling to and from the hunting 
grounds. While moving camp the cari- 
bou cows were again seen in abundance. 
It was difficult to tell which aroused 
their curiosity more, ithe pack train 
or the little camp dog. The dog had 
never seen caribou before, and at the 
first sight of them he bounded in pur- 
suit. But as soon as he saw their horns 
brandishing at him, he turned tail and 
ran as fast as a little dog can. After 
he became aware that the caribou would 
run from him he chased them far and 
wide. It was a beautiful sight to see 
these agile caribou, trotting or galloping 
at full speed, or bounding high over 
some rock or gulch. 
Occasionally we would run across a 
flock of rock ptarmigan. At this season 
their plumage is white, except the back 
and head, which are of a grey stone 
color; the color of the rocks. I followed 
a flock of these birds for quite a dis- 
tance ; for they ran but a few feet ahead 
of me. It was interesting to watch the 
method used by the flock for conceal- 
ment and escape. One by one they would 
slip aside and crouch down alongside a 
rock to my right or left. The bird’s 
back so blended in color with the rock 
that detection was quite difficult. There 
the bird would remain perfectly quiet 
while I passed by. After following the 
flock for about a hundred yards or so, 
only half the number that originally 
started were ahead of me. The others 
had been passed, unobserved, as they 
hid alongside their rock refuges. This 
impressed me as being a most interest- 
ing example of cryptic mimicry. 
I HUNTED among the caribou for two 
days. They seemed to have no fear of 
man until they got his scent. They 
were in every direction. But, of course, 
only the cows, calves, and small bulls 
were out in the open. The scarcity of 
calves with the cows was always notice- 
able. Finally we went over to some 
high places near the green timber where 
Meat cached by Indians 
we saw a cow moose and calf were 
browsing. After watching around for a 
short time we saw three large caribou 
bulls cross the sky line and feed rapidly 
toward us. As soon as they cleared the 
sky line and had started down the slope 
the Indian and I started after them. 
They had lain down on a snow bank and 
we crept towards them, taking advan- 
tage of tufts of grass and the low wil- 
low. We hunted bare-headed, because a 
hat would have shown too high above 
the grass. These bulls were large and 
the antlers well balanced. Soon they got 
up and began to feed; but it was some 
time before I could get a shot, because 
one of the three kept in line with the' 
one wanted. Finally the path was clear. 
The bullet struck the shoulder, but a 
little low, and was not a fatal shot. The 
wounded animal moved toward us very 
slowly. At the report of the rifle the 
other caribou looked up, but in a few 
seconds resumed feeding as if nothing 
unusual had happened. A wounded or 
unwounded elk or moose, under similar 
conditions, would have exerted all its en- 
ergy to run away and either animal 
would have run very rapidly. But not 
so the caribou. Though wery tenacious 
of life, and hard to kill, they do not seek 
safety in immediate and swift flight as 
do other game animals. A second shot 
killed the caribou. Then we arose from 
behind our shelter in the soft tufts of 
grass and the other caribou ran away. 
I paced the distance of the shot to be 
one hundred and ninety yards. The ant- 
lers were symmetrical, having a spread 
of forty and one-half inches; length, 
forty-eight inches, and there were thir- 
ty-seven points. 
While one may openly approach to 
young bulls and cow caribou, this can- 
not be done with the old bulls, except 
during the rutting season. Then they 
will come directly to the hunter as soon 
as they see him, evidently for the pur- 
pose of keeping off meddlers. 
The best time to hunt caribou or 
moose in Cassiar for trophy heads is 
from September twentieth to the thir- 
tieth. The larger bulls are then roving 
about in the open. At Caribou Moun- 
tain the caribou may be then seen on the 
summits by the hundreds. Below timber 
ine of the same mountain, the moose are 
traveling in every direction. 
It may be interesting to record that 
in 1892 Warburton Pike wrote with ref- 
erence to the Cassiar moose: 
“Where did all these moose come 
from? And how far will they extend 
their wanderings towards the west? 
Quite recently there were none between 
Dease Lake and Telegraph Creek; now 
moose are killed every year close to 
Telegraph Creek; and there are even 
reports of tracks having been seen as 
far down as the Little Canon of the Sti- 
kine.”* 
At present moose are abundant be- 
tween the Clearwater River and Little 
Canyon on the Stikine. In 1918 I saw 
moose tracks at Big Glacier, about sev- 
enty miles west of Little Canyon. So it 
is evident that their wanderings are still 
westward. 
W ITH the killing of this caribou my 
Klappan hunt came to an end. As 
I had no desire to kill another, or 
any goats, my hunting license was far 
from “shot out.” Only sixteen days had 
elapsed since the hunting season opened. 
During that time I had hunted eight 
days, the camp was moved six times, and 
I remained in camp two days; once on 
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 660) 
’Through the Subarctic Forest, p. 90. 
Camp in the Klappan game range 
