The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-14
Dan
Carbon More Numerous.

CaribOu More numerous.
MOOSE is king of the big game of Alas
lvI ka, often weighing dressed" as much
as the largest oxen. while caribou
rarely dress over 200 to $50 pounds, but
when one gets caribou the numbers are
apt to more than make up for the small
err size. All over Alaska, the tops OF the
main ridges and even the innumerabie
smaller ridges between the many tribu-
taries Of the Koyukuk, Porcupine, Yukon
and Tanana, from Point Barrow to Mount
ST. Elias, are furrowed deep with game
trails. The widest of these have been made
by the restless moose, but by far the
greater number are due to the great herds
of caribou in their great annual movement
northward and then back southwark.
When one happen upon the main band
of these animals he Is apt to rub his eyes
at their numbers, and If he has ammuni-
ton he can become quickly surfeited with
killing.
Two years ago the Hudson brothers
landed at Dawson short of grub. They mad
money, but found they had reached place
where something was more valuable than
money 1t wasn't pleasant outlook for
them, but they had to have meat, and so
they went a-hunting. Six weeks exposure
to the sleet and frost of late September
and October and they found band OF
caribou sixty miles up the Klondike. They
killed forty-six. when their ammunition
H..
son. Many friends" were then anxious
to help pack In the meat. offering dog
teams gratis, and the brothers were aston
ished to find their acquaintance suddenly
numerous, with an abundance OF good
things in the shape of butter, condensed
milk, sugar. etc. which were fairly pressed
upon them.
The moose knows that eternal vigilance
Is the price of safety but the caribou is
one of the most foolish of game animals.
Shoot at band of them. and the band
will run in a body for short distance.
describing a section Of circle from the
sound of the shot, and then all line ND
almost like drilled soldiers coming to a
halt, listening and staring. If the hunter
keeps out of sight and to leeward of them,
he can keep on shooting, and they will
keep on playing the same game, often until
the whole band of a dozen or more is
down. But 1t is when one encounters one,
Of the vast herds. which have been known
TO number as high as 5000, that 1t be-
comes no sport to kill them, but merely
slaughter They are on the move, and
seem to know no better than to advance
stupidity upon their slayer.
Many people who have noticed the game
trails have wondered why they were able
to see no game 1t is because the game
Caribou, happens along there but twice,
often but once, a year. or 1t may not take
that route again in two or three years.
On the Yukon the time for caribou hunt
ing is in May and June, when they are
moving northward. and in September,
when they are returning southwark. Scat
tered remnants of the main band are apt
to loiter along the way and pass the win
ter about the heads of the tributaries, 1t
was one of these remnants that the Hud-
son boys found. The caribou lives chiefly
on the white moss which Is found every
where. If hunter is starving, he will
find considerable nourishment in this moss
by boiling it into sort of soup.
Early In the spring the caribou, unlike
the moose. who keep in good condition the
year around, are often thin and almost
worthless, their hides and the flesh of the
back and tanks being spoiled by war
bles." the parasitic grub that often at
tacks deer. The males are then found
herding together, while the females are
away in remote places having their young.
The female moose is in the habit OF retir-
ing to islands in the larger streams at this
time, because of the protection afforded
from wolves. The wolf regards the carl
bou band as his own. He follows it like a
herdsman. selecting his victim when hun
CRY, cutting 1t out from the band and run
ming it down.
AIaska's "Bfg Bald Face"
THE man who has met great caribou
] herd and been able to stand ami
kill and kill until he grew weary, has
something to remember but not more
than he who has encountered the Alas
kan big bald-face,'' or grizzly, which is
every whit as large, and, if possible,
more ugly than his brother of the yyao.l