The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1907-04-19
THE ELUSIVE CARIBOU.
An Animal of Mystery Is This VIII
derneSS Wanderer.
RESTLESS, FLEET AND SHY.
He Is Keen of Sight, Subtle of Scent,
Acute of Hearing, Strangely lnquisi-
tive and Can Easily Travel Fifty
Miles In a Single Day.

Wilds and the jewellers therein the
woodland caribou is an animal of mys-
terry, the wanderer of the wilderness,
the most restless. most inquisitive
member of the entire deer family.
Like the moose, he carries an antler
crown that tempts sportsmen to long,
leg wearing tramps in faraway places,
and except in open countries, where
his kind gather in immense herds to
feed on the moss barrens, he is one of
the most difficult of game animals to
get a shot at. Both the bull and the
COW of the caribou tribe wear antlers,
the Iatter's being more delicate in
beam structure and not so widely blad-
ed as those of the bull.
Where there is lack of snow to aid
the tracker in translating the this-way-
and-that of a caribou trail a cunning
like that exercised by Kipling's Now
gil in the story Of the "Kings Ankus"
is. quite necessary for success. Being
extremely restless, the caribou, even
when eating or drinking, is not content
to CLEAN his fill from one place, no mat
ter how abundant the food. 1t is
nibble here, slip there, and so on I'M
til rods and sometimes many acres are
covered in satiating a mild hunger.
The natural food is moss which is to
be found on bog land from Maine to
the limit of vegetation in the north,
and the ash green, beardlike moss Pc
culiar to spruce tops in the big woods.
This latter sustenance comes to them
after logging operations or when a
hurricane tears through the solitudes
and lays fiat scores of trees.
Because of his rest1essness the In
dams called him the wandering one,
and that's what his Latin name sug-
gests His natural gait is a trot, a
long, swinging, tireless trot which eats
distance with the sureness and steadi-
ness of brook flow. Here today, he
may be fifty miles away tomorrow
and back again the day following.
Unlike the deer and moose, the carl
bou never plans to yard up for winter
His feet are large and deeply cleft, his
ankle joints flexible, and when he
walks in the snow his dewclaws touch,
the whole spreading out into a kind of
snowshoe. After the light fluffy snow
of a heavy storm packs and settles the
caribou can go over it fast enough to
prevent being run down by a hunter
on snowshoes, and his winter hoof is
SO constructed, with updrawn frog and
sharp edges, that he can make full
speed on glare>ice. The caribou is gre
garious in his habits, not inclined to be
quarrelsome with his fellows and, be-
sides being a wanderer, is extremely
shy When a herd bivouacs for rest
it Is usually in woody opening or on
the windward side Of a bog. This
scheme Of precaution permits of eyes
both keen of sight, subtle of scent and
acute of hearing, nothing more tangi-
BILE than a cloud shadow can approach
without being seen, heard or scented.
Curiosity sometimes brings serious
trouble to the caribou, as, for instance,
when being trailed. Long before a
tracker walks to view the animal
shift his course in order to avoid his
pursuer. Very often the hunter, un-
aware that the quarry Is within gun
shot, is being quietly looked over by
the caribou, who has made a detour to
survey his back track from a thanking
position. Once he gets his eyes on the
hunter his curiosity increases, and the
legged outfit who has been following
his spoor usually results in bullet
being sent in his direction.
The young of the caribou are reared
and schooled in remote, lonesome
places in the depths of the timber.
When the calves, are three or four
weeks old they are coaxed and butted
into jumping over logs or blow downs
that later In life they may know better
than to hesitate when fleeing from dan
ger. The deer is natural jumper and
will take a fallen tree or a fence for
the sheer fun of jumping, whereas an
untutored caribou will duck under or
go around. The calves as well as the
mature animals are very feet of foot,
especially when frightened into run.
That gait, however, is not natural for
them, and if kept at it for any consid-
cradle time they tire. An Oldtown
(Me.) Indian. once asked If caribou ever
were logged in Maine, seemed surpris-
ed and said:
"Dog d. caribou? l guess no! D.
caribou he run so blame fas' he don't
leave no scent" which is a good de-
scription of the speed with which they
measure distance between themselves
and danger.
The range of the woodland caribou
is from Maine to the great lakes,
though from Maine, where years ago
many fine herds roamed through the
upper wilderness of the state, they
seem to have vanished. A close sea-
son law was enacted for a number Of
years to give them an opportunity to
multiply, but the belief of old hunters
who know caribou is that they set out
-. I