[Paddlewise] Caribou/Reindeer

I will throw my opinions in here now. I live in northern Alberta, where
we do see caribou on an occasional basis.  I would agree that caribou
cannot swim at 6 or 9 knots except in the case, going downstream on the
Mackenzie, Yukon rivers or other major rivers.  Their probable normal
swimming speed would be a little less than 3 knots.

Caribou and Reindeer are similar critters in very similar ecosystems,
but the Reindeer is not in indigenous to north America.  Even though
there is a large reserve where Reindeer have been imported to the
Northwest Territories just a bit south and west of Tuktoyaktuk. Alaskans
raise them domestically for jerky, steak and sausages.

I did paddle a Caribou on the bow river downstream of Banff national
park at close to 9 knots.

Jim Meldrum
Slave Lake 
Alberta, Canada.
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