The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1896-07-01
A HUNDRED CARIBOU IN A HERD.
A Sight In . Maine Pond tho Like OF
Which No One May SEQ Again.

A Sight In Name roma tho A>AAo "a
Which No One May SEQ Again.
II was trout fishing early one sum-
mer mp in Somerset county, Me-" said
a New York sportsman. MY camp was
on the shore of one of the many small
lakes that abound III that part OF the
state. One evening just at sunset my
guide came in all a-quiver with excite
ment.
"'If you want to see something that
neither you nor any other man will ever
be likely to see again. said he, Just
sneak down to the pond with me.
Il crept stealthily in his wake down
through the thick timber to the edge of
the lake. 1t was still light enough at
the upper end of the lake, where we
were camped, and which was not in the
shadow Of the hills, for us to see plainly
a quarter of mile along the margin of
the water. The guide cautiously parted
the dense growth of young birches that
fringed the edge of the lake on that side.
"'Look yonder! he whispered
II looked and my heart almost
jumped out of my mouth. The sight
was almost past believing. All along
the upper shore of the lake, standing
belly deep among the lily pads, in vari-
ous attitudes Of grace and stateliness.
the water was alive with caribou. Mag
nificently antlered bulls stamped and
snorted and tossed their kingly heads
among meek faced COWS, while in and
out among them sncrted a drove Of vel
vet coated calves We counted 81 bulls
and COWS, and almost every cow had a
proprietary interest i'll at least one calf
We watched this remarkable congrega-
tion of caribou in silence-the sight be-
ing too much for speech-until the
shadows of evening began drawing
deeply about them, and we could have
seen them only dimly q few minutes
later. Then my guide whispered:
"'We'll pull On 'em just once any
how and see how many we can DROP
Selecting each Of US big bull, we
fired. A terrified chorus Of sncrts fol-
lowed the discharge Of the guns. There
was a sound Of water i'll great commo-
tion for moment, and the next instant
the woods were filed with the crashing
of the flying herd through the thick
brush My guide and I sent the con-
tents of our second barrels after the
caribou as they rushed in a confused
and thickly punched mass from the wa
ter. In less time than it takes to tell all
was as quiet as if nothing had occurred
to disturb the solitude Of the great
wilderness. In the water, their huge
hulks showing above the broad mat of
lily pads, lay the dead bodies of the two
old bulls we had selected as our first
targets. On the edge of the lake, one
with his head in the water and his
flanks stretched OH the shore, and the
other with his antlcrs lifted high on
land, his hind parts buried among the
lilies, lay two other bulls, the victims
of the two chance shots that followed
the herd in its flight
I've seen good many caribou in
my time, said the guide was Nat
Moore, at that time Names greatest
caribou hunter-'but the natural his
tory of Maine never calculated on me
or any one else ever getting i'll among
such congregation of 'em as that was
"Two or three seasons after that 30
caribou came into that same lake while
Nat was there. He shot one and expect
ed to see the rest of the herd dash in
stantly away into the woods. To the old
guides surprise, instead Of the rest
scampering away they seemed to be
panic stricken, and huddled together in
the pond, snorting and splashing the
water about. 1t wasn't until Nat had
shot and killed seven Of the drove that
the survivors recovered their wits and
removed themselves without any more
ado out of the reach Of his deadly aim.
This was 20 years ago. I have been on
those Maine waters every year, almost,
since then and have never seen but three
caribou there in all that time, and two
of these I saw last year, killing one,
big bull New York Sun.