The sun., 1899-01-22
QUEER WAYS OF CARIBOU.
mrs MIGRATION A PUZZLE TO GUIDES
AND sPORTsME1.
Tho woodland Cnribou's Mysterious Ways
--Euide with n shset-Iron stove Chased
by HenReful Bull-A Fight Between q
Caribou Patriarch and big Bear.

| CAriDOu HntrtnrCn ana n btK Benr
FREDERICTON. N. b.. Jan. 20--Thero is nC
game animal on this continent concerninG
! whose habits 30 little is known as the wood
land caribou. The more remote barren GROUND
caribou Of Newfoundland, Labrador and the
Northwest Territory have their regular mi,
erations in the spring and fall and their modet
Of life are we'll understood butt woodland
! carbon remains veritable sphinN. His sol
| emn, almost natriarchal appearance. his 81.
/ lent. furtive, whimsical ways. his mysterious
/ movements from place to place. his remark
| able power of travelling In the deep SHOWS OF
| winter. his capacity to thrive and fatten upon
| such airy fare MS the reindeer moss. are among
| the features that give rise to endless debate
| among guides and sportsmen. In truth. the
| caribou Is tramp or vaRabond without any
| regular habits at all. He seems to be imbued
with the restless spirit OF the age. has no fixed
abiding place. and is always In hurry to reach
some other place in order TO be In time to
hurry back again. Seen ON the barrens in De-
cember he Is like a gray ghost from another
world. his shadow lingering for moment on
the shifting curtain OF the SHOWS. then vani sh-
ing TO the limbo OF the weird.
In lS40 old residents say. caribou were
plentiful in Maine They were even found
within fourteen miles OF Bangor and on all the
large bogs to the east. On the Chemo bog
herds OF fifty or sevonty-flve were sometimes
SEEN In 1S45 there were no caribou 10 be
found in Maine anywhere. except nm occa-
sional solitary In the wilds Of Aroostook. It
would naturally be supposed that they had
shifted to the wide e-stretching barrens OF New
Brunswick. where.the reindeer moss Ciadonid
rdn0Uerina) was abundant, but such was not
the case. the animals being very rare in this
province at that time and Tor many years af-
terward. In 1853 they began to wander into
Maine again. and it was about this time that
they reappeared on the headwaters Of the To-
biaue. Restigouche. Miramichi and Nepsiguit
in New Brunswick. At the present time carl
bou are lmost extinct in Maine. according to
the reports of the game officials while they
are believed TO be more numerous in New
Brunswick than ever before.
In 1885 an old Grown Land Surveyor. Ed
ward Jack. was employed for some months
running lines among the wooded hills OF the
peninsula Of Gaspe. He found the country
alive with caribou. hsrds OF so and even 100
individuals being seen daily. For some years
after this the interior OF Gaspe. especially the
Observation-Disclosures. was q caribou paradise.
and as the country was unknown to sportsmen
and the animals little hunted by the French
people living on the coast it seemed likely to
remain so. Last fall J. B. Brainerd of East
Orange. Me-. and William Chestnut Of this
city hunted the Shikshawk region faithfully
They saw only four inferior specimens of carl
bou on the entire trip. The great herds seen
by Mr.. Jack had disappeared
Thirty years ago the spacious plains Of Gas
pereaux and Pleasant Brook. in this province,
were occupied by many herds of caribou 1t
was the happy hunting ground of the Mill
cetes. In those days the game laws were more
honored in the breach than the observance"
and 1t was not unusual for the officers OF the
English regiments stationed at Fredericton to
haul in twenty or thirty caribou as a result of
their annual hunt in Christmas week In the
year 1885 the caribou vanished from the Gas
pereauN and were not seen there again for
seven years After 1892 these barrens could
always be relied upon for n limited supply. In
November last an American hunting party
camping at Pleasant Brook saw 150 caribou
in the space of five days. Another famous.
though seldom hunted. caribou resort in the
olden days was the barrens on the head Of
Renous In 1886 the herds disappeared and
only solitary specimens we're seen for soma
years. Last year the animals came back with
a rush. Parties who hunted in that country
with =, the veteran guides Henry. Braitnwaite
most daily on the plains. These facts show
that the caribou IS bird Of passage. without
feSuSe @ 6e on g the They rather
Gnspe is the northern home OF the woodland
caribou and that he strays to the south when
A question much discussed is rs to what be-
comes OF the caribou in the summer months.
have little use for water and hence is rarely
sighted on, the lakes and streams in hot
weather. There can be little doubt that the
heat in the summer months Is to settle him
self on the mountains or highlands where he
September At that period OF the year the
antlers .mi,.e OF the male are nerfect his neck is
vitality are such that he will sometimes carry
away as much lead as moose.
The caribou seems % have most reckless
No nair OF antlers are ever found that mu,h
resemble any other pair. and. in fact, tn horns
mated. Some specimens have two brow
nrongs, the points of which oyerlan each other
branch acc mpanied bv mere 's spke; Ike others Others
on,s haye pair od t pks S%at With
mature their horns and he first to shed th hem
This shedding process commences abo1t Nov.
Is and by Dec. 1t is, almost, impossible to ind
Soy % 1s5 Arthur Praele @ ses saw HRfe tRres buI
,,arib2u In herd near Bald Mountain on the
talned both his horns one had dropped a horn
and the third had dropped both OF them. The
horns OF young bulls. which are relatively In
erior. are retained until January. or even late
,ver found on the, anters, Of the woodland
,aribou was forty.three., This specimen was
animal Is very old the beams degenerate into
mere clubs and the points into knobs
or NIL the mysteries connected with the per-
'onalty OF this animal the most elusive Is that
With regard to the horn bearing females
some OF the most expert. need guides, who
lave hunted the north woods all their lives
ay that COWS never have horns others affirm
hat all COWS have horns. Some assert that
he majority. others that not more than one
n ten, wear these ornaments. Many veteran |
lunters say that there are two species of carl.
,Qu In Maine and New Brunswick. in one OF |
which all the cowa wear horns. The best au-
horities declare that there Is only one species
II caribou within this territory. and that horns
re found ,upon u. very small minority of the
emales Some OF the provincial Ruides be-
leve that II Is only the barren cows that grow
lorns. Another much debated question Is as
o whether COW caribou drop their horns each
ear as the males do Some assert positively
hat such is the fact the best judges assert
hat they never she'd them. while not a fe be-
eve that when COW that hae, previously pro-
uced no offspring begins to breed, her horns
re dropped. Arthur Evans. q Zionville trap !
er caught last June in q tear trap cow car
Oou that had a perfect set of horns and was
ccompaned by her fawns.
Another strange feature OF caribou life noted
y many observers and never adequately ex.
lained Is that when the animals are especially
umerous In certain district the fecundity :
I the females IL sure to show marked de-