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HUNTING THE ARCTIC CARIBOU 1 Great Migrations on Bering Sea Coast of the Alaska Peninsula Like the Buffalo of Our Earlier Days It was oir Monday November 1 lOlfi that I left Kins Cove Village with7 Oapl Charlie Madsen In liis 28foot power boat bound for Ilia extreme end of the Alaska Peninsula tlirousli the False Pass and Isanotski Strait and to the tundra lands of the Herinjr Sea side Our first attempt at this trip had ended disastrously anil ve were cautious if not a bit nervous as ve headed out past the cape and into the North Pacific in our small craft It was of course stormy as it ever is at that time of year and we bucked the big swells and white caps from daylight until dark arriving at last in the little cove on Knlinak Island at the entrance to False Pass which was our long days Journeys end Some time before we had anchored our boat there were two figures down on the bench and they soon pushed out in a dory to take us ashore Iete Johnson and his son are two real honestto RO pioneers of the treat North and the lios pitality of their comfortable barrabara for the throe following days that we were storm bound on Viiimnk Island will never be forgotten Neither will the way the wind can blow there And while Petes guest it may be interest ins to note I enjoyed a privilege which comes to not i great many persons that of sleeping on a genuine eiderdown mattress the eiderdown having been gathered from the rookeries on the island Mrs Johnson who is a descendant of the first Iussian pioneers to come across the Pacific is a fine hostess and as they had a phonograph and Petes sou is an adept m Hie ajf cord ion we thoroughly enjoyed our forced slay in that stormy most out ofthoway spot on the frontier of the Great North Leaving Pete Johnsons shortly after daybreak we headed straight into the False Pass and for the Isanotski Strait that separates the extreme end of the peninsula from the first if the Aleutian Islnads And here I wantjto mention the wonderful abun dance of aquatic bird life in that section There were ducks geese etc in thousands big eiders j j Stellers eiders harlequins old squaws etc some j of remarkably beautiful plumage And while we were bucking the currents and whirlpools in the strait we passed several big sea lions lying sleep ¬ ily ou some jutting rocks of a reef and a little band of fur seal swimming through to the Pacific en route to spend their winter in the south The Isanotski Strait is not the most pleasant one to navigate nor the safest It has a tide that runs j j at about ten miles per hour is narrow and obstruced by an abundance of rocky reefs is full of big whirlpools and has dangerous shifting shoals at cither cud Hut we managed to make it I without mishap and by dusk were riding the swells i I I into Morzhovoi Pay and anchored in front of the primitive little native village of the same name nameHEMNANT HEMNANT OF SEAL DAYS OF OLD OLDMorzhovoi Morzhovoi village is a remnant of the strenuous seal and sea otter days of old In summer it har ¬ bors a native population of probably seventyfive to one hundred individuals but in winter most all of these go out to their trapping grounds their uiTovlike barraharas being scattered at intervals along the coast The trapping grounds are pos ¬ sessed as we possess our farms and encroachment is a very serious offense offenseThere There is but a single white man in Morzhovoi village Fred Toggersbn a Scandinavian sailor who came there in the sealing days twenty some years ago married the chiefs sister and seems quite content In those most unusual surroundings And Indeed his hospitality was a credit to that great frontier frontierAVe AVe were up early the next morning and after a hearty breakfast I set out with Freds two oldest boys who vouched to show me caribou until I was tired of looking at them Following the beach to the bead of Morzhovoi Ray we struck across the tundra toward the hills At once we spotted a bunch of dark objects moving slowly along the foot of a hill which the binoculars showed to 1 e a band of about fifteen caribou I was intent on going after them but at my guides advice we continued ridgeWhen on toward the nearest low ridge When we at last readied the top a sight lay before me which will never be forgotten Spread out over the tundra between that low ridgo and the line of higher hills about two miles distant were probably one thousand caribou and within about six miles of the village villageOff Off to the west on Inimak Island rose snowy Mount Shishaldin with its ever present pennant of volcanic smoke off to the north stretched the rolling tumbling reaches of the Htring Sea already in the grip of winter storms and out in front of me roamed a thousand graceful caribou What more could a devotee of the great wilds wish for forFor For some time I stood and surveyed the scene with my binoculars rnd wished that I had a camera which would reproduce it just ax I saw it then in all its life and vividness that 1 might bring it Kick for the enjoyment and admiration of those thousands of my fellow admirers of the far places and the denizens of the wilderness wildernessoing oing over the ridge we a me onto another small detachment of the his herd seven or eight of them and they strode off upon sighting us And to my mind there is no other of the deer family that carries itself more gracefully than the curihou on this continent at least Head held haughtily high they strode off with a step and form that would do credit to the most highly trained stable prize prizeHut Hut as there was not an overly desirable member of this litle band and as they seemed to be intent on keeping a safe distance from us they were neither molested nor followed followedI I inquired if the big herd had just come to that particular vicinity but was casually informed that they had been there for some time And that caused me to stop and think just how fortunate these natives really were No high cost of living here An ideal moajt market at their very ba k door and ducks and geese and clams and fish and berries and everything as free as the flowers in spring springI I also inquired if the natives from the village killed many of the animals but was informed that they seldom went after them except Avhen in need of food foodPRACTICE PRACTICE SOME OUTLANDISH CUSTOMS CUSTOMSHowever However then are certain of the natives along the Jlering Coast who practice some rather out ¬ landish customs in regards to the caribou and the welfare of that species Most notable among these tire the following I The killing of numerous caribou to use us bait and tloiit which to set their fox traps tho killing of these animals merely for their tongues which are considered a rare delicacy of food and 3 the killing of pregnant does in the spring for the skins of the yet un ¬ born calves tile skins ot which are used in the making of fancy parkas fur coats In tluiso cases it is rarely if ever that the meat of the animal is used for food And a few hundred dol ¬ lars spout each year in game warden salaries would put an end to all this Further I am sorry to add these depredations are not entirely confined to the natives especially the first practice hav ¬ ing been ascribed to certain white trappers in the country One of the boys left us to make the rounds of his fox traps end the two of us started after the caribou Making a detour so as to have the wind In one r faces we began making our way down a rather shal ¬ 1 low ravine in the general direction of the herd lu places we were forced to crawl on our ha nils and 1 knees in the wet snow and once wo started a small band that strode suspiciously off to a safe I distance and then resumed their pawing for the white moss that was beneath the snow snowHut Hut is we sot farther out on the more level tundra land our little alley of approach became almost too shallow to conceal us So rnbbing snpw over our caps and shoulders we crawled up to where we could lay and watch them which wedid i for tome time without their noticing us I took f several exposures of the heard despite 1 lie fact that it was chiudyi and they were still a considerable distance away Hut as I looked over hem with t the binoculars I was able to locate several fine big bucks with elegant sets of antlers which was in itself a very definite incentive incentiveIt It was quite evident that the largest pnrt if t the herd was moving in a westerly direction and I probably would pass close to a point of the hill we had Just come over Assuming this we worked J otr way back over the route we had just followed and were at last in the creek bed at the point A where we hoped the herd would pass We squatted there for what seemed to be a terribly long time and still the herd seemed to be just as far away as when wo arrived arrivedThen Then as if struck by a sudden idea a part of the herd broke away from the rest and started working somewhat more speedily uj along the hill ¬ j side apparently intent on crossing Just above us Hut the rest continued their pawing and grazing grazingIt It was not long before the detachment was al ¬ most abreast of us They were for the most part i does and young animals with not a really good head in the bunch I took a couple of pictures of thorn and they soon passed over the crest Of the hill and out of sight As it was then approaching the middle of tlie afternoon and as the big herd seemed coming far too slowly I became a little restless and decided to try working on down the creek bed bedAfter After about an hours rather wet maneuvering J we fginul ourselves practically on the edge of the herd Then I was advised by my companion that we bad best not go any farther which had I been my own candid opinion for some time past j am very cautiously we crawled up on the bank to survey tho scene The nearest animals wijre j probably not more than fifty yards distant and I there were at least 200 of them within 200 yards of us I spotted a fine big buck standing some ¬ what by itself about 100 yards away and being able to Jocate nothing better I carefully slipped my gtin out in front of me and waited for an open shot I did not have to wait long and at the report he reared on his hind legs and wont over backward in a heap The whole herd wheeled and made off snorting and stamping but the most J of them stopped before they had gone more than a half mile a few continuing their grazing but the i most of them watching suspiciously or moving on to a safer distance as we went out to where our quarry lay laySHOWEp SHOWEp NO GREAT SIGNS OF FEAR FEARI I spent four days in the vicinity of this big herd and in that time the majority of the ani ¬ i mals did not move more than three or four miles They always made it a point to keep a safe distance away but showed no great amount of fear or signs of leaving the district on account of our presence I shot but two animals in that herd though there Was the opportunity of shooting dozens Hut the thorough enjoyment alone that I realized from just watching them and endeavoring to photograph them a thousand times repaid me for my time and ef ¬ forts On the last day the two of us walked in plain sight directly through the wide valley over which the herd was spread Part of the animals fled in front of us but a good share of them merely ook up onto the hills on either side to return 0 the tundra in the valley and there grazing not ong after we had passed passedHowever However on all the numerous occasions when I happened onto or stalked smaller herds of caribou especially on the Pacific side of the Alaska Penin ¬ sula I found them ever quite ready to take to their heels and put a safe distance lietwecn me and themselves themselvesOn On another trip out from King Cove we went up to the head of Cold Morofski Hay which with Izembeck Hay on the luring Sea side very nearly cuts off the end of the peninsula making t an island The isthmus connecting that which is to the westward with the mainland is a low strip of tundra land only alnmt eight miles wide while it is about twentyfive miles to the en trance of either bay bayWe We had been buying furs mainly fox and land otters from the natives and decided fo spend a couple of dnys after caribou on the Hering Sea walking across from the head of Cold Hay HayAfter After getting stuck in the mud flats several times we managed to find an anchorage in the large lagoon at the head of the bay It was then after midday but going ashore we were soon making our way across to the other side sideAVe AVe saw about fifteen caribou but due to the flat nature of the country we did not get a good shot the entire afternoon Returning to the boat early in tho evening I shot several elders other ducks and a couple of geese in the lagoon while Madsen was getting some coffee and andThat That was on the nineteenth day of December and there was a considerable amount of ice in the lagoon and bay that came in and went out with the tide crunchiifg and grinding against the hull of our boat throughout nightAVe the following night AVe were up early the next morning intending to go back toward the entrance of the bay get a caribou in the more broken country then pick up an Kskimo reindeer herder who was waiting for us at a natives barrabara ajid strike for home for Christmas ChristmasNARROW NARROW ESCAPE IN ICY WATERS WATERSMadsen Madsen went back to warm up the engine and 1 climbed out on the frosty deck and went up for ¬ ward to heave the anchor on board Having seen a big seal in an open space in the slush ice not far from tlu boat I took the rifle with me in the hope of getting a shot at him and my attention was divided between coiling a hundred feet of big anchor rope ou the deck and watching for the seal Hut he did not reappear and I at last started pulling the big anchor up onto the boat Hut catching on the boats low railing it necessitated my reach ¬ ing out to release it I got hold of the ring on the anchor and was lifting it out to clear the obstruction when somehow my feet slipped on the frosty deck and over I went head first into the slush ice and holding onto the end of a seventyfive pound anchor anchorI I came up sputtering and gasping the icy cold water going through me like electricity There was further nothing on the boat to which I could catch hold except the anchor rope and I immediately began the long handoverhand nice to the end ot that hundred feet of big stiff rope I knew that Madsen would never bear me on account of the noise of the engine and also that the severe cold water would soon numb me dangerously How ¬ ever I managed to reach the end of the rope and winding it around my ami waited until I should be found foundFortunately Fortunately Madsen came up on the deck before starting the boat found me hanging on for all I was worth half frozen in the icy water and man ¬ aged to pull me on deck Hut unfortunately when I had gone overboard 1 had taken with me nllof thi surplus clothing on the boat having put ou my extras to keep warm during the night And still more nufortunatejy we had already used almost tho last of our available firewood on the boat for cooking and being in the tundra country there was not a stick of alder or other wood within ten miles milesWell Well anyhow to make a long story short I had a mighty uncomfortable time of it for the rest of the day despite the fact that I got partly dried out at the natives barrabara Madsen got a nica caribou for meat and we got home late the next night fighting a blizzard and high seas most of the way Hut after I had something to eat and crawled in between the warm blankets I soon for ¬ got all about the discomforts of the past day and did not feel any the worse for my cold ducking Nevertheless those are the experiences that are more enjoyable us reminiscences than in actuality And actualityAnd despite the hardships etc that come in the courso of a days work Up There it is one Great and Grand Land The caribou is a wonderfully graceful animal highly worthy of adequate govern ¬ ment protection and the thorough enjoyment ot seeing them as I have seen them incidentally makes it much worth the while of anyone to go oub and beyond to where they are to be found in plenty and where the monarch of civilization has not yet driven them from their native heath Harold Mc Urackcu in Fiald and Stream
