The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-18
CARIBOU, DEER AND MOOSE.
Conditions Under Which the Three Get
Along in the Forest.

AlUuE Ill nv TUS
SKINNER, Me-, March 16.-+There amt
a single caribou left in the whole State Of
Maine" says C. s. Adams, game warden,
who came up here to post up copies OF the
act prohibiting Sunday fishing. Il have
been in the woods all winter and have seen
a great many deer signs, and a few moose
tracks, but no caribou, because there weren't
none there.
Il guess they've got the Canada fever,
like the farmers nave in Dakota, and the
herds / used to see around here are now
in New Brunswick or Quebec. They are
heading further 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 right proportion and didn't
butt in on each others rights.
1.-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 80 plentiful that
thew 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 or
moose and deer get on all right in the came
territory, but caribou and deer don't get
along any better together than cattle and
sheep out West, and for the same reason.
GThere's other reasons why caribou
| have left this State, where they used to be
40 plentiful. Caribou are shy animals to
begin with. They won't hang around where
| there's numbering going on, and there's
hardly a corner of the State where the
woods are not full OF lumbermen.
.Then they have q fool trick OF gong
together in herds and standing still to be
shot II the leader OF the herd is killed. You
| can plug them, one after the other. II you
get the leader down first, and pot hunters
| and head hunters have often cleaned out
good herds in this way.
buffalo used to do the same thing,
and see where it landed them 1t pays
| to be independent, even for lima
sThe caribou has all kinds Of pretty
names as a game animal, and he deserves
! them all. He is ten times more graceful
and handsome than a deer, and 1t is beauty
J 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 deer II You try.
See how they killed them of in New Hamp-
shire, and now after a few years rest they
are getting as plentiful there as here. I
never saw so many deer signs in the woods
"a | have this winter, and all | have seen
are in splendid condition.
There never was such a winter for game
OF all kinds. Partridges are 30 fat and
lazy they'll hardly get out OF my. way The
snowfall has been 80 light and the weather
so pleasant that all the wild animals and
birds have got their grub about as easy
be a regular picnic for the Maine sports,
the best hunting season in the history Of
' tho State