180 THE MOOSE HUNTER. 
Rocky Mountains, but on a trail that leads over 
a sandy waste, just before descending into the 
valley of the Flathead river, I picked up several 
shed moose-antlers; this was about 4,000 feet 
above the sea. Traders of the Hudson’s Bay 
Company and Indians have also told me that 
moose are frequently killed on the western slope 
of the Rocky Mountains. I feel quite sure that 
the moose still inhabits the Galton range of 
mountains, and would be also found, if properly 
sought for, in the open timbered land at the base 
of the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. 
The district is well adapted to the habits of the 
moose: the ground irregular, and covered with 
an open forest-growth, in the hollows forms mossy 
swamps, in which grows an abundance of willow, 
the young shoots of which constitute the favou- 
rite food of the moose. A moose-hunter is ever 
watchful for cropped willow-branches or morsels 
of partially-chewed food, dropped as the animal 
walked along. A moose always walks on the 
very points of its toes, so that its track is in dots 
arranged in pairs, at a distance of three to four feet 
from each other. Ifthe groundis very soft, the foot- 
prints are more like those of a wapiti, but a 
practised eye can tell the difference at a glance. 
As arule, a hunter never follows directly on 
