40 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Jan. II, 1913 
leaves; in fact, we only found one blood splash, 
Luke said, "W’e are going to get this deer.” It 
must have been a ‘'hunch.” We spent about 
an hour carefully picking out the trail until it 
ran into many tracks, and we w^ere at a loss 
what to do — only for a little snow! Then I 
suggested we go back to the place where the 
deer first stood and see if he had bled much 
there. We could not find the place readily, 
and I said, ‘‘Now' if we go back to the trail and 
find the empty cartridges, we can get a line on 
where they stood.” We did this, and as we 
stood looking the ground over, saw a deer in 
an open space on the next mountaintop, limp¬ 
ing badly as he moved slowly along. Before 
I connected him wdth our buck, Luke said, 
"That is our deer, and his leg is broken.” He 
had apparently just come out of the woods. 
Wdien we got over to him he was standing 
with his head down, and probably was about 
to lie dow'ii. I was surprised that he did not 
lie down in the woods instead of coming out 
in the open. We had not crowded him; in fact, 
it w'as an hour after he had been shot that w’e 
saw’ him on the mountain. I shot him. and he 
started like a flash, but dropped dead in a few 
jumps. He w’as rolling in fat, and the con¬ 
tents of his stomach showed that he had been 
principally feeding upon blueberries. 
Two days afterward I shot another buck 
out in the open. He absolutely fell in his 
tracks. This deer also was in prime condition. 
Twenty years ago a deer's track in this section 
was very rare. Now’ there is an abundance of 
deer. 
On the second day of hunting we saw our 
largest herd of caribou. We w’ere on a moun¬ 
taintop and saw' them filing out of the w'oods 
over a mile away. At the distance they looked 
almost black in the middle and w'hite fore and 
aft. We could not make out the heads through 
our glasses, since they were not • powerful 
enough. The caribou walked along to the 
highest slope of the mountain, when all hands 
laid dow’ii. At this time they keep the sharpest 
W'atch, and as they are usually facing in about 
all directions, it is liable to be very difficult to 
get a good chance at the bull you are after. 
It is not hard to get up to some members 
of the band, but the bull may be so surrounded 
by COW’S and bulls with poor heads, that he is 
out of the danger zone. We had to travel in 
a wide circle to get the wind in our favor, and 
then as we approached nearer, w’e found that 
we could not size up their positions, owing to 
many small spruce trees scattered around. 
Several times we had to retreat w’hen w'e w’ould 
work in sight of some cow, and make an at¬ 
tempt from a different angle. There appeared 
to be a bull w’ith a pretty fair head, not in good 
view, but on our side. His position was so 
well covered by the cows and calves that we 
could not get up to look him over. We figured 
that by making another circle our chances 
would be good for a shot should we want the 
head. After more crouching and crawling, it 
seemed at last as though we were on the right 
track, when just as we craw’led around a small 
spruce, we came face to face with a small bull, 
cow and calf, which, up to that time, we had 
not seen. They were not forty yards from us, 
while the bull we were after was lying down 
just below the top of the ridge. 200 yards away. 
1 he cow would look at us and then turn her 
head as though to get up, and then turn her 
head for another inspection. 
Had I known the bull on the, r.idge carried 
a good head. I might have shot him where he 
lay; but I planned on waiting until the cow got 
up and started the bull, when I would shoot 
if he had good antlers. While I was consider¬ 
ing this, the cow got to her feet very deliberate¬ 
ly and started off under a full head of steam, all 
the rest of the caribou following her lead with¬ 
out a pause. The bull I was watching acted 
faster than I figured on, for he was up and 
started too quickly. We could see he had a 
good head, but a hurried shot went too low 
and he was over the top of the mountain be- 
CANADIAN BULL MOOSE. 
Photograph by A. C. Tyler. 
fore I could shoot again. But as he passed 
the skyline he left a clear impression of a grand 
pair of antlers. Luke said the largest he ever 
saw—maybe so. 
These caribou set their course directly away 
from us, and, so far as we know, never turned 
for a second look; in fact, the cow was the 
only one to see us. It is where they eannot 
quite make out what is afoot that they are the 
greatest delight to the eye. Trotting a short 
distance with a grace all their own. showing a 
perfect knee action, and stepping out with 
their front feet with a lightness that seems 
scarcely to touch the ground, then pausing in 
an alert attitude for another puzzled inspec¬ 
tion. Then repeating the same performance. 
sometimes they will circle until they catch the 
warning scent, when they are off. sometimes 
on that matchless trot, at other times breaking 
into a gallop. We found them whimsical and 
uncertain in their actions. We have noted that 
a band feeding along would suddenly start off 
at full speed, and as suddenly all hands would • 
stop and start feeding again, apparently being 
governed only by the impulses of the moment. 
At times a band would appear on a mountain- 
top and feed along so rapidly that we had many 
a hard chase, only to find upon coming up that 
they had passed down into the woods, to be 
seen no more; in fact, this was our common ex¬ 
perience. So I suggested we spend the day in 
one place, from which we could overlook a 
valley which was covered with game trails and 
also see any caribou which might come out on 
the side of Little Bald Mountain across the 
valley. 
We took water in a bottle for the “kettle” 
in order to save a long walk to the' brook, 
where we usually “boiled.” A gentleman from 
^Montreal was taking his lunch at the brook one 
day, and while he was sipping his tea a bull 
caribou passed along within fifty feet, and was 
easily shot. 
Well, we were on the mountaintop, settled 
as comfortably as possible behind a wind-break, 
prepared to wait patiently throughout the day, 
although a cold wind was blowing and there 
were indications of snow in the air. But fortune 
smiled on us, since we had scarcely tested our 
patience before we saw a caribou getting to 
his feet down among the spruces in the valley. 
We had both seen him lying down, but had not 
made him out. We quickly went down into 
the vailej’ and worked along behind good cover 
toward his position. Then we saw that there 
was a small bull, cow and calf with him. The 
big bull was then charging the younger one, 
trying to drive him away. However, he was 
doing it in a half-hearted manner. It took sev¬ 
eral shots to bring him down. Caribou have a 
way of straddling and bracing themselves when 
hard hit, and will keep their feet under a lot 
of lead. I have seen a caribou with both front 
legs broken project himself along with his hind 
legs. 
I was well satisfied with the head. The 
horns were symmetrical, both brow tines being 
uniform. We took some pictures, with the 
usual posing, dressed the caribou and per¬ 
formed the ceremony of “bilin’ the kettle,” 
after which we packed out the head, hide and 
meat. “Not too bad,’’ the guide said, as we 
were throwing aside our things in camp. 
During the night a snowstorm set in, 
turned to rain and finished up by freezing as it 
fell, which formed a hard crust and tinselled 
the trees into a silvery wonderland. Then came 
a few days of that contentment which comes to 
us when we feel that our trip is a success, and 
we may look about our front yard and become 
acquainted with things near home, now and 
then shooting a partridge or rabbit for the pot. 
'J'here were the carcasses of three cub bears 
neat the cabin upon which the chickadees and 
squirrels were amicably feeding. It was amus¬ 
ing to see the chickadees put out a foot and 
brace against the carcass, as though to keep 
from bodily lifting it from the ground, just as 
a moose bird will hold a foot upon a scrap of 
meat too large to swallow or carry off whole. 
