Page 196 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

174 OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE
The reasons for these conclusions are by no means obscure, or far- fetched.
In the first place, the barren-ground caribou are to-day enormously numerous,—undoubtedly running up into millions. It can not be pos- sible that they are being killed faster than they are breeding; and so theymustbeincreasing. Theirfoodsupplyisunlimited. Theyarepro- tected by two redoubtable champions,—Jack Frost and the Mosquito. Theircountryneverwillcontainagreathumanpopulation. Thenatives are so few in number, and so lazy, that even though they should become supplied with modern firearms, it is unlikely that they ever will make a seriousimpressiononthecariboumillions. Theonlythingtofearforthe barren-ground caribou throngs is disease,—a factor that is beyond human prediction.
It is reasonably certain that the Barren Grounds never will be netted byrailways,—unlessgoldisdiscoveredoverawidearea. Thefiercecold and hunger, and the billions of mosquitoes of the Barren Grounds will protect the caribou from the wholesale slaughter that "civilized" man joyously would inflict—if he had the chance.
The caribou thousands of Newfoundland are fairly accessible to sportsmen and pot-hunters, but at the same time the colonial govern- ment can protect them from exterinination if it will. Already much has been done to check the. reckless and wicked slaughter that once prevailed. A bag limit of three bull caribou per annum has been fixed, which is enforced as to non-residents and sportsmen, but in a way that is much too "American" it is often ignored by residents in touch with the game. For instance, the guide of a New York gentleman whom I know admitted to my friend that each year he killed "about 25" caribou for himself and his family of four other persons. He explained thus: "When the inspector comes around, I show him two caribou hanging in my wood- shed, but back in the woods I have a little shack where I keep the others until I want them."
The real sportsmen of the world never will make the slightest per- ceptible impression on the caribou of Newfoundland. For one thing, the hunting is much too tame to be interesting. If the caribou of that Island ever are exterminated, it will be strictly by the people of New- foundland, themselves. If the government will tighten its grip on the herds, they need never be exterminated.
The caribou of New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario are few and widelyscattered. Unlesscarefullyconserved,theyarenotlikelytolast long ; for their country is annually penetrated in every direction by armed men, white and red. There is no means by which it can be proven, but from the number of armed men in those regions I feel sure that the typical woodland caribou species is being shot faster than it is breeding. The sportsmen and naturalists of Canada and New Brunswick would render good service by making a close and careful investigation of that question.
The caribou of the northwestern wilderness are in a situation peculiarly theirown. Theyinhabitaregionofnakedmountainsandthinforests.