September 4 was partly cloudy, with drizzling rain; wind light, east to south and southwest; temperature, 43° to 58°. I saw about 22 Caribou (largely does and fawns), in several different groups, at Bear Slough and vicinity, and Fred Schweder, Jr., reported about 200 in the same area. Two were noted swimming to the south side of Windy Bay.
September 5 was marked by a driving, day-long rainstorm; wind brisk, easterly; temperature, 43° to 50°. A band of about 20 Caribou (mostly does and fawns, with several middle-aged bucks), besides one or two single animals, were encountered at Bear Slough.
September 6 was a cloudy, raw day, with several snow flurries; wind brisk, northerly; temperature, 33° to 35°. Not a fly was abroad. Two Caribou moved northwest along Little River Ridge; a band of about 75 (mainly does and fawns, but with a fair number of big bucks) passed in the same direction along the Middle Ridge; and about 25 others grazed along the eastern side of Little River. Later about 15-20 more were seen about the mouth of Little River and on a near-by island, and eight swam across Windy Bay to the south side. Fred reported seeing about 300 during the day north and west of camp; they were moving in a northerly direction.
It was cloudy nearly all day on September 7; wind moderate, northerly; temperature, 33° to 40°. No black flies were in evidence. A dozen or more Caribou took to the water from an island in Windy Bay and made for the north shore. A band of about 25 passed along Little River Ridge toward the river’s mouth.
September 8 was mostly cloudy; wind moderate to strong, southeasterly; temperature, 37° to 42°. Fred reported a band of about 100 Caribou crossing the mouth of Little River toward the west. A dozen or more swam southward over Windy Bay at the usual crossing-place. Anoteelik brought in 13 tongues from that many freshly killed Caribou; he had secured them with a .22 rifle.
A driving gale from the east, with rain and sleet, continued through the day on September 9; temperature, 36° to 37°. A solitary buck inspected our camp from the south side of Windy River, then retreated.
An overcast sky, with some drizzle and sleet, prevailed on September 10; wind light, east to northeast; temperature, 35.5° to 42.5°. No flies present for some days past. Fred reported about 20 Caribou moving westward in the vicinity of Little River.
On September 11 clouds and mist squalls in the morning gave way to sunshine in the afternoon; wind light, easterly; temperature, 37° to 45.5°. Caribou were noted as follows: five on the east side of Little River; two does and a fawn on an island in Windy Bay; a doe and a fawn swimming northward across this bay; half a dozen on Josie’s Hill. During a flight from Churchill to Nueltin Lake on this day, Charles Schweder detected no Caribou at all, and concluded that the bulk of the migrating herds had by this time passed to the southward of his course. During the latter part of August, while descending the Thlewiaza River from Nueltin Lake to Hudson Bay, he had seen thousands of the animals—as many as 5,000 in a single day, although no more than 500 in a single herd.
Sun, clouds, and rain marked September 12; wind moderate to light, south to west; temperature, 48° to 60°. Only two Caribou were reported.
September 13 was cloudy, with intermittent mist squalls and a little sun; wind light to brisk, northerly; temperature, 34° to about 44°. Two bands of Caribou (of four and five animals) appeared near the mouth of Windy River.