IN THE ALASKA-YUKON GAMELANDS 



We journeyed twelve miles up Harris Creek 

 thru the greatest moose country that I have 

 ever seen, to be untenanted. Where had they 

 gone? Shorty surmised possibly they were down 

 on the Snag, some forty miles below. Others 

 believed they were yet too high to hunt success- 

 fully, and that when they came down we would 

 get them. Many conjectures were offered as to 

 the possible whereabouts of the herds and the 

 cause of their disappearance, but none of the 

 advice seemed to do us any good. We were a 

 week earlier than the Young party the year be- 

 fore, and that was offered as a possible excuse. 

 Yet, in corresponding with our guide before the 

 trip he had urgently requested us to come a week 

 before we did, so if we were now too early, the 

 question arose, how on earth would we have 

 fared should we have gone still a week sooner? 

 It was away ahead of the rutting season, and 

 that naturally militated some against us, but 

 what should we care about rutting seasons in 

 Alaska, we thought before leaving, where moose 

 are so plentiful? We had simply run against a 

 streak of hard luck, and at the time we felt that 

 there was nothing to do but to make the best of 

 it. Certainly we were willing hunters, for there 

 wasn't a drone in our own party nor in the party 

 of our outfitters. The horse wranglers, headed 

 by Billy Longley, were up every morning at 4 

 o'clock to go for the horses; Jimmie, the cook, 

 usually rose about 4:30, while our own party 



136 



