Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1925-10-08
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more like cattle. They are more intelligent than
cattle They are gentle, except that the bucks
are vicious in the rutting season. They are much
more easily handled by men on foot than
CATTLE They can easily be broken to harness and
can De driven, ridden or used pack animals.
1hey are very active for short distance and dis
play as much speed as an ordinary driving horse.
with their broad loosely connected hoofs they can
easily travel where horses and cattle would mire.
Inc fawns come in the spring and are able to
follow the doe at once They shed their horns one
year after birth Reindeer shed their coats every
summer and shed and grow horns every year. The
horns often grow so fast that the animals show
signs of pain The adult does 1.-TWO years of age or
over) shed their horns few days after the drop
ping OF the fawns. Bucks two and three-quarters
years of age and drop their horns after the
rutting season in the fall
Does continue to breed till about twelve years
of age. The average life of a reindeer is about
fifteen years. Nearly full growth is reached in the
third year; full maturity in four five years. OF
the bucks certain number are reserved for breed
ing purposes; the rest are raised as steers to be
slaughtered when about three years old
, october and November are the best months for
slaughtering; steers are then prime. Bucks do not
make good meat; does are not killed. Reindeer
store up their winter fat in two masses on the
back, on either side of the backbone By the
whites it is often cut into strips and used like
bacon; the natives think it tidbit The meat is
fnegrained and Of good flavor. The liver is large
and much like that of calves in quality. The
tongue and heart of good quality.
The dressed weight of full-grown steer is 200
pounds (maximum). The dressed caribou of GER
tain Alaskan districts will often weigh 300 pounds
cross-breeding and the grading of the reindeer
herds will in time greatly increase average weight
deep layer of underground ice along the
Alaskan coast offers natural cod-storage facilities
In many places-for example, on the Seward pen
insua-the soil is not more than a foot or two
thick. The ice is free from impurities and shafts
have been sunk in it thirty feet Deep Thus meat
can be kept indefinitely and at trifing cost at
the place where the herd is slaughtered
REINDEER need no protection from the weather
and can always find food in suitable grazing dis
trlcts. In the winter they dig for gray chens. In
the summer the tundra furnishes grasses and
sedges. Apparently they eat almost ANYTHING.
from mushrooms to duck eggs. They will steal
half-dred salmon. They are crazy over salt
Inc laSSo or larat used in Alaska differs radical
~ from that used in the West. A flexible cotton
rope about one-fourth inch in diameter is pre-
TERED The eye is heavy and is made from a
piece of reindeer horn. The roper does not throw
single loop, cowboy fashion but throws tho
whole rope SO that it hits the horns and entangles
them Roping cannot be used to advantage while
the horns are in the velvet bleeding may result
and infection set in
In other countries milk from reindeer is used in
the making of butter and cheese In Alaska little
10 uOHS anu milking strains nave not been
developed. The tanning of skins is poor and even
the natives buy reindeer skins imported from
Siberia. Modern slaughtering methods are not gen.
orally used; the native goes out and kills
his reindeer whenever he wants it, in season or
out. The sklnnng is easier than in the case of
cattle. No use is made of by-products.
An Alaskan reindeer roundup is picturesoua
affair. There are only few modern corrals The
usual method employed is crude brush enclosure
on the open plain and the rOping method is in
vogue. AT recent demonstration of a modern
corral at the head of Kotzebue sound a round
up of 10000 reindeer was staged The deer were
put through at the rate of IA to the hour prac-
tically without injury
Previous to 1920 the crude methods of the orig
inal herders prevailed. Then the biological survey
established reindeer experiment station at
Unaakleet Every phase of the situation is being
studied. preliminary surveys indicate that there
Is available grazing sufficient to carry between
100000 and 100000 reindeer The annual sur
plus from that number would yield product
worth more than all the minerals mined and per-
haps equal the fisheries