The Barren Ground Caribou of Keewatin Part 3

October 9 was largely sunny, with light rain in the evening; wind light to moderate, southwest to south; temperature, 29 to 38; ground with a 6-inch snow covering. No Caribou sighted.

Some snow fell on the 10th, though the day was partly sunny; wind very light, south to west; temperature, 33 to 36. No Caribou sighted.

Clouds prevailed on the 11th; wind no more than very light, westerly; temperature, 33 to 38; about 4 inches of snow on ground. Charles reported about a thousand Caribou scattered over a long hill several miles to the northwest; they were not traveling.

October 12 was marked by clouds, mist, and rain; wind light to moderate, southwesterly; temperature, 32 to 40. No Caribou sighted.

There was a little sun on the 13th; wind light to moderate, west to east; temperature, 37 to 45.5; ground largely bare and tundra ponds open. In the afternoon we set out for Simons' Lake, and camped about 4 miles up the Windy River. No Caribou sighted.

On the 14th we reached the upper end of Simons' Lake, for a several days' stay at a deserted trading-post. There were snow flurries and a little rain; wind brisk, westerly; temperature, 35 to 36; ground mostly bare. A band of about 15 Caribou, a solitary buck, and many tracks and droppings were seen along the way.

October 15 was partly cloudy; wind very light to light, west to northwest and east; temperature, 21 to 36. Four Caribou sighted.

October 16 was a stormy, cloudy day; wind brisk, easterly; temperature, 30.5 to 34. About a dozen Caribou were noted in the vicinity of Simons' Lake.

A strong easterly gale during the night, with heavy rain, was followed during the day of the 17th by steady rain, with moderate to light easterly or southeasterly wind; temperature, 35 to 38. A single Caribou seen.

October 18 was partly cloudy; wind brisk to light, westerly; temperature, 31 to 41; waters open; some small patches of snow in sight. Four Caribou (at least two of them bucks) pa.s.sed by.

The 19th was partly cloudy; nearly calm to moderate wind, west and northwest; temperature, 30 to 40. About five or six bucks (three of them together) appeared, perhaps moving south.

The weather on the 20th was raw, dismal, and gusty; wind brisk, northwest; temperature, 27 to about 35; some ice on Simons'

Lake; a little fresh snow on higher hills. No Caribou sighted.

October 21 was somewhat foggy; nearly calm; temperature, 25 to 32; Simons' Lake partly frozen; ground generally bare. A lone fawn was seen as we started on the return trip to the Windy River post.

The 22nd was largely sunny; wind very light to brisk, southwesterly; temperature, about 30 to 46. A medium-sized buck was seen near the mouth of Windy River.

The 23rd was largely cloudy; wind brisk, southwest; temperature, 35 to 39; ground practically all bare; bay and river open.

A buck started to cross to the north side of Windy River, but went back.

For the better part of a week, till October 29, I found no further fresh indications of Caribou in our vicinity. In the meantime the weather was largely cloudy, with some rain and snow (4-5 inches of the latter on the 27th); winds very light to moderate, swinging from east to south and west; temperature, 27 to 50; waters generally open.

October 29 was largely cloudy; a gentle wind, south to east; temperature, 29 to 35; 4-5 inches of snow on ground; thin ice on a tundra pond. The fresh track of a buck (fig. 20) was found near camp.

On the 30th gentle rain changed to snow; calm to a moderate wind, northeast to north; temperature, 30 to 33. Tracks showed the pa.s.sing of about a dozen Caribou, including half a dozen that swam westward across the mouth of Little River, breaking through a rim of ice at the edge.

Clouds prevailed on the 31st; wind moderate to brisk, northerly; temperature, 17 to 25.5; 5-6 inches of snow on ground, with drifts up to a foot deep; river and lake open. Fred reported three Caribou.

November 1 marked the long-delayed "freeze-up." Windy Bay and the edges of Windy River were frozen, while pieces of ice floated down the river. The day was cloudy, with continual snow flurries after noon; wind light to brisk, southeast; temperature, 21 to 31; about 6 inches of snow on ground.

The 2nd was cloudy, with some rain and sleet; wind moderate to brisk, southeast to west; temperature, 29 to 34. No Caribou sighted for two days.

On the 3rd it was cloudy all day; wind light, northwest; temperature, 16 to 20. A herd of about 50 Caribou (largely does, with a few fawns and well-antlered bucks) hurried down the side of Little River Ridge onto the ice of Duck Bay, with the apparent intention of crossing to the south side of Windy Bay; but they were intercepted by a hunter and retreated northwestward along the ridge. Fred secured three southward-traveling bucks at a distance from camp.

No Caribou were sighted on the three following days (November 4 to 6), which were more or less cloudy, with some snow; wind light to brisk, southerly to northerly; temperature, 13 to 24.5; ice 3 inches thick on Windy Bay; about 6 inches of snow on ground.

There was snow during the night of November 6 and the morning of the 7th, resulting in drifts up to a yard deep; wind brisk, northerly; temperature, -3 to 13. Fred reported "lots" of Caribou some 10 miles to the north, moving south.

The next three days (November 8 to 10) varied from cloudy (with a snow flurry) to sunny; wind moderate to strong, northwest and north; temperature, -10.5 to 1; 6-8 inches of snow (much drifted); Windy River gradually becoming ice-covered. No Caribou sighted.

November 11 was partly sunny; wind moderate to brisk, northerly; temperature, 3 to 6.5; about 8 inches of snow on the average.

Mike Schweder reported five does moving south across the mouth of Windy River on the ice.

Thereafter, until my departure on December 4, no more Caribou were actually seen in the vicinity of the headquarters on Windy River. There were, however, tracks of single animals on November 15 and 16. Moreover, during the period from about November 7 to 15, while traveling northward to the upper Kazan River, Charles Schweder saw thousands of Caribou, in herds up to 300, moving southward. He surmised that their course took them somewhere between Ennadai and Nueltin lakes. Fred also reported many to the northward on the 7th, as already noted. This was perhaps the last large migratory movement of the year in our general area.

Thereafter virtually all of the animals were presumably in the timbered area to the southward. None was sighted from the plane during the flight to Churchill on December 4.

On November 7 the temperature had taken a sharp downward turn, dropping below zero for the first time that season; and it did not again rise above 6.5 till November 12. This cold spell, combined with a snow blizzard from the north on the 6th and 7th, coincided at least in part with the large migratory movement noted above, and it may have been the stimulus for it.

The general weather conditions that obtained from November 12 on may be summarized as follows. It was at least predominantly cloudy on all but four or five days. There was snowfall on six days, and drifting snow in the air on several other days. The winds were predominantly north, northwest, and west; less commonly, east and southeast. They were a little more frequently light than moderate or brisk. The extremes of temperature during this period were 22.5 and -23; the average daily mean, approximately 1. There was an average of probably at least 8 inches of snow on the ground, with deeper drifts. The river was not wholly frozen over at least up to the end of November.

_Retrograde autumnal movement_

It would doubtless be difficult to find, among other animals, any exact parallel to this curious feature of caribou migration. According to Charles Schweder, it takes place in the Nueltin Lake region in September--sometimes as early as the first of the month. Herds up to 200 strong may then be seen moving northward, but generally the numbers are smaller--say 10 to 30 in a band. Some of the more notable autumnal movements toward the north, as reported by Charles, were the following: at Simons' Lake in 1936 and again in 1938, when herds of fat bucks were streaming past for a month and a half; likewise at Josie's Bay in 1940; and through the Windy Hills and across Windy River in 1943. Fred Schweder, Jr., said that most of the animals, in returning northward at this season, cross Windy River 4 miles above its mouth or Windy Bay 4 miles from its head; comparatively few pa.s.s the mouths of Windy and Little rivers. He remarked further that it is mostly bucks, with few does and fawns, that make the pa.s.sage on Windy Bay.

More or less evidence of such a movement toward the north in 1947 has been presented in preceding pages, in the notes for September 6, 7, 11, 14, 20, 24, and 28, October 1, and even October 23. The numbers observed so involved on each of these days varied from a solitary buck or a doe with a fawn to about 300 of the animals. On some of these days, however, other Caribou were observed making their way toward the south. It is thus obvious that there was no universal impulse among the Caribou of a given area to move simultaneously in a certain direction.

The general weather conditions on the nine above-mentioned days may be summarized as follows. Every day but one was largely or wholly cloudy; snow falling on three days, but ground bare on other days; wind predominantly from the north; extreme temperatures, 26 and 61; mean daily average, 37.5. Whether or not there is significance in the matter, it appears that on those days within the period extending from September 6 to October 1, when the Caribou were not definitely observed moving northward, the winds were less likely to be northerly.

Furthermore, within this period there was never enough snow to interfere appreciably with the animals' feeding on the ground lichens of the Barrens.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 1. Half a dozen caribou trails along the Middle Ridge, looking SE. Ground plants: _Ledum dec.u.mbens_, _Empetrum nigrum_, _Arctostaphylos alpina_, _Loiseleuria proc.u.mbens_, and various lichens, including _Cladonia_. A miniature "glacier" in the distance. June 24, 1947.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 2. Caribou trails on the 50-foot-high Little River Ridge. _Picea mariana_, _Betula glandulosa_, and _Empetrum nigrum_. June 19, 1947.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 3. A Caribou buck (specimen No. 1065) being skinned by Fred, Mike, and Rita at the Bear Slough. August 17, 1947.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 4. Skull, antlers, skin, and hind quarter of the same Caribou being transported to camp along the Camp Ridge.

August 17, 1947.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 5. Anoteelik and Mike preparing to bring in a load of caribou meat with dogs and travois. Windy River post, August 19, 1947.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 6. Anoteelik and Mike pegging out caribou hides to dry on a gravelly ridge near the mouth of Windy River.

August 23, 1947.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 7. About 75 Caribou (bucks, does, and fawns) at a rapid on Little River. August 25, 1947.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 8. About 22 Caribou crossing Little River at a rapid. Chiefly does and fawns, with several bucks bringing up the rear. August 26, 1947.]

By October 6 there were 6 inches of snow on the ground, and on the following day 200 Caribou swimming southward across Windy Bay may have marked the beginning of the final movement into the timbered country. It appears possible that a considerable fall of snow may have a definite influence in inducing the Caribou to retreat from the Barrens.

On a trip from Windy River north to the Kazan River region in September, 1946, Charles Schweder found, during the first 45 miles, that the Caribou were moving north; at the Kazan they were moving south, although some were merely loitering. Northwest of the Kazan, the animals were taking a westward course. During the latter part of his return trip to Windy River, 11 or 12 days later, they had reversed the previous direction and were traveling south.

For such a distinct and regular feature in the life cycle of the species as the retrograde autumnal movement there must be some biological explanation. Several possible factors appear reasonably clear. Perhaps we may consider the Barren Grounds the true and preferred home of _Rangifer arcticus_, from which a proportion of the population is driven during part of the year under stress of insect attacks or shortage of food. When the animals begin to enter the woods in August, there is no shortage of food; thus an insect-induced frenzy may possibly be regarded as a potent force driving them southward. In September a state of comparative peace descends upon the caribou world: the current crop of adult insects has subsided; the larvae of warble and nostril flies have not attained the formidable size of the following spring and perhaps are not yet causing any severe discomfort; little or no snow covers up the food supply; the lakes and rivers, still unfrozen, offer a ready way of escape from pursuing Wolves; moderate or even balmy weather gives nature a pleasant mood. In short, both man and beast may well look upon early autumn as the very finest time of year both on the Barrens and in the adjacent wooded country.

Under these circ.u.mstances a definite retrograde movement out of the wooded country in September on the part of many Caribou must indicate their preference for the Barrens at this season. In any event, the movement begins just after the insect menace has subsided to a negligible stage. Possibly another inducement for retreating from the wooded country in the early fall is the dearth of open areas in which the animals may spend their resting periods, in comparative safety from Wolves. It is only after the freeze-up that the surfaces of the lakes and rivers supply this desideratum. This condition lasts from November to June--precisely that part of the year in which the Caribou are present in the wooded country in the greatest numbers.

But by November what are the conditions on the Barrens? The weather has become severe; snow has covered up a large part of the ground lichens; tree lichens are not to be had. And so at this season, with the coming of the first heavy snows, there is a final movement out of the Barrens into the shelter of the woods, leaving only a minority of the animals to face a bleak and bitter winter in the open country. The biggest herds of the year may then be seen pa.s.sing southward. A few bucks are said to remain during most winters in the Windy River area.