THE CARIBOU 
suspicious and belligerent and are sometimes likely to come towards 
the hunter under the impression that he is a rival, that is to say, if they have 
only heard a slight noise and have not got the wind. I got one of my finest 
heads, a noble thirty-five pointer, in this way. Having spied a good stag 
from a high tree near camp, I made straight for the spot through some 
dense timber. Having arrived at the place where I thought I had last seen 
it, I stood still and listened and then moved forward in circles as there 
was no wind. As I did so I heard a slight noise behind me, and observed the 
stag running forward towards my track, which I knew he would “ jump ” 
as soon as he approached it. A few yards from it he stopped and began to 
grunt his challenge, and then as he ran forward in a little opening I killed 
him with a chest shot. 
Later in the season, when the caribou stag has come to the more open 
woods or plateaux and has obtained his harem, he is the easiest of all 
deer to shoot. In fact the hunter has merely to study the wind and advance 
out of sight to be sure of an easy victory. Sometimes the “ travelling ” 
bulls give a little trouble, as the hunter has to run long distances to cut their 
line of movement, and then good heart and lungs must be brought into 
play with steady shooting at the end. During the rut bull caribou, both the 
herd bulls and the “ travellers,” use the same cry, a sort of single or double 
grunt, “ Urgh — urgh — urgh,” with three or four quickly repeated grunts 
to follow, made by the breath being drawn in and expelled. This is a 
very easy call to imitate, and I have myself “ called ” many travelling 
males from a distance of 200 or even 300 yards. The herd bull will answer 
you in defiance, but he will not approach as males will do in search of 
females. At this season I do not think the males are any more faithful to 
their wives than moose. In fact, I am sure they are not always so. During 
the rut one season near Sylvester I saw from my camp three and four 
herds that were more or less stationary for several days. The males 
attached to them could easily be identified by the form of their horns, 
and in two instances the herd bull disappeared after two or three days. 
In one case a fresh male had taken the herd and in another the females 
were left unclaimed until we quitted the district. As is generally the case with 
all deer that take a number of wives by right of mastery, the best headed 
stags are often the poorest or the most cowardly fighters. All the best stags 
I obtained were either alone or accompanied by a single female. 
During the rutting season caribou are generally found in small herds 
of from three or four to thirty individuals, and companies larger than this 
275 
