The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1906-05-05
cARlsou, DEER AND MOOSE.


cARisou, DEER AND MoosE.
Conditions Under which the three
Get Along In the Foress.
There amt single caribou left I'm
the whole State Of Maine," says C. s.
Adams, game warden, who came M
here to post up copies Of the act pro-
hibiting Sunday fishing. II havS been
In the woods all winter and have seen
great many deer signs, and I few
moose tracks, but no caribou, because
there wasn't none there.
I guess they've got the Canada
fever, like the farmers have In Dakota.
and the herds used to see round here
are now in New Brunswick or Quebec.
They are heading farther north, for
caribou won't stand civilization like
deer, and they won't live in pairs here
and there like moose.
Its the deer that are driving them
away. There are more deer In Maine
to-day than there used to be IN the
time of the Indians. Then the wild
animals were just in the wight proper
ton and didn't butt in on each others
rights.
THE natural food Of the caribou Is
moss. Moose live on the large branches
Of trees principally, and deer chew
small twigs and branches, grass, and
such like.
Now deer have grown so plentiful
that they don't find enough Of their
own kind of food, SO they eat the moss
on the trunks Of trees on which caribou
used to feed. Consequently the caribou
got hungry and disguised and quit.
That's why moose and caribou and
moose and deer get ON all right IN the
same territory, but caribou and deer
don't get along any better together
than cattle and sheep out West, and
for the same reason.
There are other reasons why earl
bou have left this State, where they
used to be SO plentiful. Caribou arc shy
animals to begin with. They won't
hang around where there's numbering
going on, and there's hardly corner
of the State where the woods are not
full Of lumbermen.
"Then they have a fool trick of
going together In herds and standing
still to be shot II the leader Of the herd
Is killed. You can plug them, one at
ter the other, If you get the leader
down first, and pot hunters and head
hunters have often cleaned out good
herds In this way.
"Buffaloes used to do the Same thing,
and see where 1t landed theml II pays
to be Independent, even II you're an
animal.
THE caribou has all kinds of pretty
names as a game animal, and he de-
serves them ali. He IL ten times more
graceful and handsome than q deer,
and it Is beauty and the beast when
you come to mention him and the
moose. It's a shame to lose him, but
as long as he refuses to learn new
tricks like the deer, he's got to suffer.
You can't exterminate the deer IL
you try. See how they killed them of
in New Hampshire, and now after
few years rest they are getting as
plentiful there as here. / never saw
so many deer signs In the woods as
have this, winter, and all / have seen
are in splendid condition.
There never was such a winter for
game OF all kinds. cartridges are 80
fat and lazy they'll hardly get out Of
my way. The snowfall has been so
light and the weather so pleasant that
all the wild animals and birds have got
their grub about as easy as they could
in the summer Next fall will be a
regular picnic for the Maine sports,
the best hunting season In the history
or the State. '-WaShingtOn Post