reluctance in entering thickly wooded tracts, where Wolves naturally
have a much better chance of a close approach than on the open Barrens.
As already stated, however, their trails may be found more or less
throughout the spruce and tamarack growth in the Windy River area. One
of these tracts, covering probably several square miles on the west side
of Four-hill Creek, is fairly crisscrossed with trails. At deep dusk on
October 2, while several of us were skinning a Black Bear in this thick
timber, about five does and fawns trotted up quite close to us. Perhaps
they were on their way to the open Barrens to pass the night. While
wintering in the forested Hudsonian Zone, the animals may spend their
nights as well as their diurnal resting periods on the frozen lakes and
rivers.
Fred Schweder, Jr., says that Caribou are somewhat fearful of sand hills
or eskers, and that he has never seen one lying down in such a place; he
believes this is because the Wolves frequent the eskers in summertime.
On the other hand, Mr. G. W. Malaher spoke of a long esker that extends
down the west side of Nueltin Lake and far to the southward; this, he
said, forms a migration highway for the Caribou.
_References on habitats and trails._--J. B. Tyrrell, 1892: 129,
and 1895: 445; W. J. McLean, 1901: 6; Blanchet, 1925: 33, and
1926a: 73, 96-97; Mallet, 1926: 79, 80; Seton, 1929, +3+:
100-102, 122, 127-128; Jacobi, 1931: 186-187; Ingstad, 1933: 86;
Murie, 1939: 246; Manning, 1948: 26-28; Rand, 1948a: 212;
Harper, 1949: 226, 228; Banfield, 1951a: 3.
_Influence of weather on distribution_
In the section on _Migrations_ the meteorological conditions in 1947
have been reported for any possible bearing they may have had on the
daily movements of the Caribou, particularly during the fall migration.
The temperature has an important effect on the activity of the insect
pests (see _Influence of insects on distribution_) and thus, to a
certain extent during summer and fall, on the behavior and probably the
distribution of the Caribou.
Low winter temperatures on the Barren Grounds do not appear to be a
factor of prime importance in the seasonal distribution of _R. a.
arcticus_. "Some individuals and small herds remain in the northern part
of the range at all seasons" (R. M. Anderson, 1947: 178). Peary's
Caribou (_R. pearyi_) inhabits the more northerly Arctic islands
throughout the year, without engaging in such extensive migrations as
its relative to the south.
The forceful winds that blow over the Barren Grounds so much of the time
are of distinct benefit to the Caribou during the summer in abating the
very serious scourge of flies. If other things were equal (as they are
not), this factor alone would make the Barrens a more favorable summer
habitat than the forested country. (See _Retrograde autumnal movement_.)
Air movements of similar strength during the winter must, through the
wind-chill factor (_cf._ Siple and Passel, 1945), make life so much the
harder for any living being; on the other hand, they tend to sweep the
ridges bare of snow, thereby making readily available the Caribou's
principal winter food of reindeer lichens (_Cladonia_ spp.)
_References._--Armstrong, 1857: 479; Critchell-Bullock, 1930:
192, 194-196; Hoare, 1930: 33; Jacobi, 1931: 193, 195; Clarke,
1940: 96, 99; Banfield, 1951a: 27-29.
_Influence of food supply on distribution_
The strong winter winds on the Barrens affect the Caribou in still
another way. While they pack the snow so firmly that man may dispense
with snowshoes, this condition naturally increases the difficulty that
the Caribou experience in pawing through the snow to reach the lichens
that are covered by it. The limited grazing capacity of such areas as
are laid bare by the wind may force a reduction in the wintering
population. Although the snow in the timbered regions to the south
covers virtually the whole surface of the land, it is evidently less
compact and so offers more favorable feeding conditions than the areas
of hard-packed snow on the Barrens. (Charles Schweder states that Willow
Ptarmigan will fly out of the Barrens to spend the night in tracts of
timber, where the snow is softer and thus more suitable for the
nocturnal burrows of these birds.)
Another apparent inducement for resorting to the tracts of timber in
winter is the abundance there of tree lichens, such as _Alectoria_ and
_Usnea_ (_cf._ Richardson, 1829: 243; J. B. Tyrrell, 1894: 441; Dix,
1951: 287), upon which the Caribou may feed without regard to snow
conditions. (See also _Retrograde autumnal movement_.)
Reindeer lichens (_Cladonia_ spp.) and doubtless other lichens are of
such slow growth that forest fires may deprive the Caribou of this
indispensable food for a period of years. According to Mr. G. W.
Malaher, the recent burning of a large area north of The Pas may have
deflected the animals toward the southeast, causing them to extend their
migration to an abnormal distance in that direction. For a similar
reason in years past, according to Pike (1917 [1892]: 50), they avoided
"great stretches of the country" near the Mackenzie River, and also on
the south side of Great Slave Lake. A quarter of a century after Pike's
time, Dogribs reported that Caribou had not come to the lower Taltson
River for several years, "because the timber had been burned off"
(Harper, 1932: 30). Some years ago, extensive fires in Manitoba were
said to have been deliberately set by prospectors with the aim of
exposing the underlying rock.
Charles Schweder believes that the Caribou show a certain predilection
for rocky places, owing to the more luxuriant growth of lichens there.
_References._--Richardson, "1825": 328-329; Bompas, 1888: 24;
Pike, 1917 (1892): 50; Wheeler, 1914: 60; Blanchet, 1930: 52;
Jacobi, 1931: 192, 194, 195; Harper, 1932: 30; Ingstad, 1933:
34, 161, 163; Hornby, 1934: 105; R. M. Anderson, 1938: 400;
Clarke, 1940: 100, 106-107; G. M. Allen, 1942: 299; Downes,
1943: 261; Porsild, 1943: 389; Wright, 1944: 186; R. M.
Anderson, 1948: 15; Banfield, 1951a: 5, 11, 27-29.
_Influence of insects on distribution_
It is quite possible that the blood-sucking mosquitoes (_Aedes_) and
black flies (_Simulium_) and the parasitic warble flies (_Oedemagena_)
and nostril flies (_Cephenemyia_) have a definite and important
influence on the extent and dates of caribou migration.
As far as I am able to judge from my own experience, mosquitoes are more
or less equally numerous and ferocious in the Canadian, the Hudsonian,
and the Arctic Zones of the Northwest. Naturally the season begins
earlier in the more southerly localities. In two seasons (1914, 1920) at
the western end of Lake Athabaska they began to be troublesome about the
middle of June, whereas at Nueltin Lake this stage was reached about the
first of July. In the Athabaska and Great Slave lakes region (Canadian
and Hudsonian Zones) I have never had occasion to regard black flies as
serious in respect to either numbers or ferocity; but there is universal
agreement that conditions are vastly different and worse on the Barren
Grounds. At Nueltin Lake the _Simulium_ hordes become troublesome at
approximately the same time as the mosquitoes. Toward the end of August
there is a merciful diminution in the numbers of both mosquitoes and
black flies on the Barrens, and after the first of September they may be
practically disregarded, except on an occasional day of unseasonable
warmth.
It may be remarked in passing that one of the insect terrors of the
Athabaska region, the so-called "bulldog" (a species of Tabanidae), did
not come to my attention as a pest at Nueltin Lake though I collected
two species of _Tabanus_. Malloch (1919), in reporting on the Diptera of
the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913-18, does not include a single
species of Tabanidae. On the other hand, Twinn (1950: 18) states that 17
species have been found at Churchill; he refers to tabanids as "very
abundant in forested regions of the North." The "bulldog" may be
presumed to contribute to the summer misery of the Woodland Caribou and
the Moose as well as of man.
The season during which the adult warble flies and nostril flies harass
the Caribou probably lasts only a few weeks in July and August. While
the adults evidently cause no pain, they no doubt arouse an instinctive
dread in the prospective hosts of their larvae. While I have no
information as to whether they follow the hosts into the wooded country,
it would appear quite likely that they do so if we are to credit
statements by Franklin (1823: 242), Richardson (1829: 251), and B. R.
Ross (1861: 438) that these pests infest the Woodland Caribou as well as
the Barren Ground species. Furthermore, _Cephenemyia_ has been reported
in Pennsylvania as a parasite of the White-tailed Deer (_Odocoileus_)
(Stewart, 1930?). The scarcity of available study material may be judged
from the fact that the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913-18 secured
only three adults of _Oedemagena_ and none of _Cephenemyia_ (Malloch,
1919: 55-56).
From the foregoing it may be seen that the wooded country represents a
virtually fly-free haven for the Barren Ground Caribou during nearly ten
months of the year. Is it any wonder, then, that they hasten throughout
August toward or into the shelter of the woods, to gain freedom from the
winged scourges of the Barrens? (See also _Retrograde autumnal
movement_.)
In the spring migration of 1947 the last of the Caribou passed the Windy
River area on July 1, just before the mosquitoes and black flies had
become seriously troublesome. It might be surmised that the animals keep
marching northward in advance of the appearance of these flies, as long
as that is feasible; and that when fairly overwhelmed by the winged
hordes, they desist from further progress in that direction. The fawns
are born at such a time (in late May or June) as to pass their first few
tender weeks before becoming subject to serious insect attacks.
(See also _Retrograde autumnal movement_; _Relations to flies_.)
_References._--Richardson, "1825": 328-329; Hoare, 1930: 33,
37-38; Jacobi, 1931: 193-195; Soper, 1936: 429; Hamilton, 1939:
247, 301; Clarke, 1940: 95-96; Porsild, 1943: 389; Banfield,
1951a: 27-29.
_Effect of combined environmental factors on distribution_
The sum total of environmental factors apparently makes the Barren
Grounds a distinctly more favorable summer habitat for the present
species than the wooded country, since the latter region is virtually
entirely deserted at that season. In general, the wooded country must be
a more favorable winter habitat, since the bulk of the animals evidently
resort to it at that time; yet its advantages are by no means clear-cut
or overwhelming, since a very considerable proportion of the Caribou
elect to spend the winter on the Barrens (Hanbury, 1904: 93, 120, 139;
Hoare, 1930: 22; Clarke, 1940: 8-9, 11, fig. 4; Anonymous, 1952: 267).
_Relations to man_
The Caribou dominates the thoughts, the speech, and the general human
activities of the Barren Grounds. As the chief food resource of that
region and the adjacent timbered country, it plays a highly important
role in the economy of both primitive and civilized man. As long as
those regions were occupied only by native Eskimos and Indians,
employing such primitive weapons as bows and spears, the species was in
no danger. Its vast numbers were maintained steadily from generation to
generation, and were perhaps limited only by the grazing or browsing
capacity of their range.
With the advent of civilized man and the placing of firearms in the
hands of the natives, the situation has deteriorated at a rate that
becomes accelerated with the passage of time. If it had not been for the
encroachment of civilization and the introduction of its instruments of
destruction, the natives would have been assured of a proper meat supply
for an indefinite period. Here and there some of them would miss a
caribou migration and starve to death; yet the animals have been so
generally available that many of the natives even today lack the
foresight to put up an adequate supply of fish as an alternative winter
food.
Almost everywhere the annual slaughter is both excessive and wasteful.
Few inhabitants of the North, whether native or white, stay their hands
while Caribou are present and ammunition is available. There is undue
reliance on a continuation of past abundance, and an indifference to the
welfare or rights of posterity. The whole culture of the inland Eskimos
and the northern Indians (the Caribou-eater Chipewyans in particular) is
so thoroughly based upon Caribou that the decimation of these animals
would mean a fundamental modification or virtual extermination of their
culture.
The average trapper of the Barren Grounds apparently aims at killing
annually at least 100 Caribou. Only a small portion is required to feed
himself and his family. The rest is designed for use as fox bait and dog
feed. In September he goes over his trap-line, perhaps 100 miles long,
and endeavors to kill Caribou at convenient intervals throughout its
length. (In October, 1944, a single trapper killed 90 during two days of
a big movement.) The animals are left where they fall. Presently spells
of warm weather may render the meat unsuitable for any one with more
fastidious tastes than a hardy man of the Barrens. In any event, the
beasts of the field evidently get the lion's share, even when the
trapper endeavors to cover the carcasses with rocks or spruces. Bears,
Wolves, Foxes, Weasels, Wolverines, Lemmings, Rough-legged Hawks,
Ravens, and Canada Jays help themselves to the free feast. Bears in
particular are likely to consume the whole carcass; in the autumns of
1944 and 1947 they thus disposed of about 70 and 40 caribou bodies,
respectively, within a few miles of the Windy River post. If the season
turns out to be a particularly poor one for Arctic Foxes, the trapper
may abandon his trap-line for that winter, and dozens or scores of
Caribou will have been sacrificed in vain.
Fish, which are available in abundance nearly everywhere, would serve
well enough for both fox bait and dog feed. But the average trapper
prefers to secure Caribou--a less laborious matter than putting up a
winter's supply of fish; at the same time he may admit that fish are
easier to handle in feeding and are preferable from that point of view.
Charles Schweder has rarely found Caribou along his trap-line between
the upper Kazan River and Dubawnt Lake. By using fish (out of the Little
Dubawnt River) for fox bait, he avoids the necessity of making an early
fall trip over that long distance to secure Caribou for his winter
operations. A trapper from northern Manitoba informed me that the local
Indians were complying with a recent government regulation that each
owner must put up a certain number of fish for the consumption of his
dogs--but, they were still feeding them with Caribou. The Split Lake
band of Indians on the Nelson River, Manitoba, were reported to have
killed 4,000 of the animals during the winter of 1946-47; the greater
part of these were utilized ingloriously as dog feed.
The hunting of such an extraordinarily unwary animal as the Barren
Ground Caribou calls for extremely little skill. Scarcely anything more
is required of the hunter (at least in southwestern Keewatin) than to
place himself on their line of march and to await their arrival. No
concealment is necessary, but quick movements are to be avoided, and the
direction of the wind should be such that it will not carry the dread
human scent to the animals. Even in perfectly open terrain one may
generally walk slowly up to within shooting distance of resting Caribou.
But if they are on the march and have already gone past, the hunter may
not succeed in getting close to them. Pursuing them on the run is likely
to send them off in a panic. (There is some evidence that on the Arctic
Coast and in the Barren Grounds of Mackenzie, where hunters are probably
more numerous than in southwestern Keewatin, the Caribou are usually
much more wary--_cf._ Amundsen, 1908, +1+: 103; Stefánsson, 1913b:
278; Blanchet, 1925: 34; Ingstad, 1933: 88.) In the section on
_Disposition_ the destruction of about a quarter of a herd of 100 or
more by a single hunter is described. On September 9 an Eskimo boy
killed 13. On November 3 eight out of a herd of 50 were secured by
another hunter in a few minutes' time. During the autumn migration of
1947 one of the Eskimos on the upper Kazan had killed 85 before the end
of September. This band of Eskimos is said to have once slaughtered 500
animals, half of them in the river, where they did not even bother to
pull them out; they had killed for the sheer delight of killing rather
than for utilization. It is customary for them to spear more animals
than they shoot. A trader's family in the Nueltin Lake region used to
kill 500 Caribou per year for their own use and for their 23 dogs. In
one instance a number of Caribou were shot from across a river; several
hours elapsed before a canoe became available, and by that time the
bodies were frozen so stiff that no attempt was made to use them. It was
reported that tractor crews operating between Reindeer Lake and Flin
Flon brought out many hind quarters to sell illegally at the latter
point, leaving other parts of the bodies along the way. In the winter of
1944-45 Nueltin Lake was said to have been covered with the bodies of
Caribou that the Chipewyans had shot for "fun" and had neglected to
utilize. It was also reported that in May, 1947, there were many
neglected bodies in the vicinity of Duck Lake, the local Chipewyans
having killed the animals during the previous fall; meanwhile the spring
migration had commenced and was furnishing all the fresh meat required.
In the Windy River area nearly all the Caribou were secured with rifles.
A few, however, were speared by the Eskimo boy as they swam across Windy
Bay. The spears used here are manufactured articles of iron, fitted to a
wooden shaft.
Katello, a Kazan River Eskimo, informed Charles Schweder that his people
used to construct snow-covered pits for the Caribou to fall into. The
present generation is considered too lazy to undertake such a task.
Although information is lacking in the present case, urine may have been
employed to entice the Caribou into these pits, as reported by Hanbury
(1904: 114-115, 123, fig.).
A general deterioration of antler size in the Barren Ground Caribou
seems to constitute a case parallel with that of the European Red Deer
(_Cervus elaphus elaphus_). The reason is evidently the same in each
case--the long-continued selection by hunters of old males with the best
"heads." Only the motive differs decidedly in each case: the European
hunter looks upon the antlers themselves as the main prize; the Eskimo
and the Indian are indifferent to these ornaments, but realize that the
bucks with great antlers provide the most meat and _fat_. The bucks are
said to become much fatter than the does. The Eskimos are especially
keen on getting the big bucks. According to Charles Schweder, the old
antlers left at the river crossings from bygone days are superior in
size to those of the present day. He himself has never secured a set of
antlers equal to one (fig. 25) lying on the shore of Simons' Lake; it
may have been there for 20 or 30 years prior to 1947.
From about mid-September to nearly mid-October the flesh is counted upon
as being in especially fine condition. In August, 1947, the animals had
scarcely any fat, but by the middle of September the roasts were
delicious. On October 8 the fresh strips of back fat from several bucks
weighed about 5 to 10 lbs. each. A good many of these strips were put in
a storehouse at Windy River for winter use. Charles Schweder remarked on
having seen such a piece of fat 3 inches thick. At the rutting season,
which commences about mid-October, the bucks become very poor and thin.
They neglect their feeding and do not have full stomachs, as earlier in
the season. Their fat becomes tinted with red, and the flesh becomes so
musky that even the dogs and the Wolves disdain it. (See also the
section on _Fat_.)
In some cases, when a local Caribou is being dressed, a part of the
stomach is utilized as a receptacle into which the blood is dipped from
the body cavity with the hands, in Eskimo style. The blood goes into the
making of soup. The tripe also is relished. Once I found the children of
our camp boiling up a section of the aorta as a delicacy. The ribs are
commonly impaled on a stick thrust into the ground and roasted in front
of an open fire. Leg bones may be cracked to render the raw marrow
accessible; if they are cooked, the marrow may be blown out of the open
ends with the mouth. The Padleimiut consume much of the meat in the raw
state, and frequently wash it down with hot tea.
Much needless wounding and suffering of the Caribou, as well as waste of
valuable resources, result from extensive use of such a small-calibred
rifle as the .22. It may seem remarkable that such a large animal should
succumb at all to such a slight weapon; but it does happen, usually
after a number of shots. For example, an Eskimo boy secured 13 Caribou
in a single day with a .22. On the other hand, many of the animals must
get away from the hunter, only to die, after much suffering, at a
considerable distance, where they are not likely to be recovered and
utilized. The absolute outlawing of the use of the .22 on such large
game would seem to be in order.
Once Charles Schweder shot a doe whose jaw had been broken by a bullet.
A piece of the bone had "grown into the tongue" but the jaw was healed.
At the Windy River post, in the latter part of summer, portions of the
caribou bodies are placed in the river not merely for refrigeration, but
for protection from blowflies. Such meat is used mainly for the dogs.
The Eskimos are said not to engage in this practice. Consequently, some
of the caribou bodies lying about their camps become masses of maggots.
On the last day of September I observed how Charles Schweder prepared a
fresh caribou body in the field and endeavored to protect it from beasts
and birds. First he cut off the head with his hunting-knife; then the
hind legs, which were severed very readily at the hip joint. Next he
opened the body cavity and pulled out the viscera, setting aside a mass
of fat (apparently the omentum). The hind legs were placed beneath the
body, and the head was thrust into the opening of the abdominal cavity,
as an obstacle to such scavengers as Herring Gulls, Rough-legged Hawks,
Canada Jays, Ravens, and Foxes (_cf._ Downes, 1943: 227, 228). The skin
was left on the body, and the whole was covered with small spruce tops.
An interesting device in the hunting of Caribou consists of "stone men"
(Harper, 1949: 231, fig.). They are made of rocks, piled one upon
another in such a manner as to faintly suggest a human figure. "Moss"
(either moss or lichens) is added to some of them to enhance the
human appearance. A considerable number may be seen in the Windy River
area, where they are generally placed along the summits of the ridges.
Construction was probably begun many years ago by natives, and has been
continued by the present residents. When Caribou, in fleeing from a
hunter, catch sight of these "stone men," they are likely to pause in
suspicion of the figures, and to be deflected from their chosen course.
This may give the hunter a chance to come within range of the animals.
The Kazan River Eskimos are said to use converging lines of such rock
piles to direct migrating Caribou to certain river-crossings, where the
hunters lie in wait for them. Occasionally a single pile is erected
merely to mark the spot where a caribou body is left until the hunter
can return with a dogteam to fetch the meat.
[Transcriber's Note: "... stone men": Inuksuit (sing. inuksuk).]
On first securing one of the animals, the hunter makes a practice of
cutting out the tongue and carrying it to camp in a pocket or a
game-bag. On a subsequent trip, if there is sufficient snow on the
ground, the meat is generally transported by dog sleigh or toboggan
(_cf._ Harper, 1949: 231, fig.). Occasionally a hunter will carry it on
his shoulder (fig. 4) or in a pack.