Moose 171 



It can be practised only for a fortnight or so, at the beginning of 

 the season, and in exactly the right weather and surroundings. 

 Dead calm is essential. If there be wind from the Moose to you, 

 he cannot hear your call ; if it be from you to the Moose, he 

 smells you and flies to far regions. In a calm the call can be 

 heard for miles — so far, indeed, that even if the Moose came di- 

 rectly and quickly he might be an hour or more in getting to you. 

 I once called from a hill at sunset and learned later that friends 

 four miles away heard me distinctly. Therefore, a Moose, with 

 his keen hearing, might have heard it five or six miles off^. 



The experienced moose-caller begins very low, as there is 

 always a possibility of a bull lurking in some near thicket; 

 moreover, he calls not more than once in ten minutes. Some 

 think every twenty minutes often enough; this is probably 

 quite fast enough once the response has come. The bull's 

 answer is a deep, long grunt, varied by the snapping of branches 

 as he plunges forward through the woods, stopping at times 

 to thrash some bush in his course. When at length, in the last 

 dim afterglow, the much-heralded monster heaves his bulk into 

 view, overtopping the shrubbery like an elephant, looming 

 huge and black against the last streak of red light, he afi^ords 

 one of the most impressive sights in the animal world. No 

 matter how much we may be expecting his coming, it is always 

 a thrilling surprise. We knew how big he was, yet how star- 

 tlingly huge he looks! And those antlers, a heavy burden for 

 a man, he yet switches about as easily as an Indian does the 

 eagle-feathers in his hair. 



By softly modulated squeals, whines, and other sounds 

 suggestive of the female Moose, a skilful caller can decoy the 

 great beast within a few yards, and get the chance to see, shoot, 

 or immortalize the giant, according to the mood and purpose 

 of the party. 



But there are many slips between a response and a fair 

 view, even though it be an eager bull. A puff of wind may 

 alarm the keen-sensed monster by bearing the human taint, 

 he may detect a false note in the voice of the siren, or he may 

 hear another and more attractive call, that of a cow. 



