3U6 HABITS OF THE MOOSE— LOCKHART. 



knows how, and shoot them. The old men who are uot able to walk 

 mucli in deep snow make a kind of fence of three poles tied equidis- 

 tant from each other, a little taller than a man, stretching perhaps for 

 two days' march between lakes or a lake and a river, or between two 

 mountains, or in any particular place where the Moose are accustomed 

 to pass. Spaces are left vacant here and there in this fence, and in 

 these snares are set. In autumn, during the rutting season, the hunter 

 carries with him the clean, dried shoulder-blade of a Moose, and when 

 he hears the call of the male Moose, which is audible at a distance of 

 several miles, he rubs the shoulder blade against a small, dry tree and 

 imitates the call of the male. The Moose as soon as he hears the sound 

 imagines, no doubt, that it is another Moose, and runs in the direction, 

 till met by a shot. The male is very dangerous at that season, especi- 

 ally when wounded. 



Many years ago, before guns and ammunition found their way into 

 this country, the Indians used to build snow embankments near favor- 

 ite feeding places, and lie hid there for days until a Moose should chance 

 to pass near, when they would kill him with arrows. 



I have been told that they run the Moose with horses in the plain 

 country along the Saskatchewan. So long as the Moose keeps his trot 

 a horse can not catch him, but if he can be forced into a gallop he 

 soon becomes blown, and is then easily overtaken. The hunter uses 

 every precaution, and having approached as near as possible to the 

 animal, uuperceived, he mounts, and putting his horse to its utmost 

 speed generally surprises the animal so as to make it break into a 

 gallop. 



All Indians in the north have certain superstitious notions regarding 

 the Moose. I have tried hard to prevail upon the Chippewyans to bring 

 me some heads and horns, but without success. The reason for this is 

 that the Indian women during their menses are not permitted to eat or 

 even touch a Moose head, for should they do so they firmly believe 

 that the captor will kill no more that winter. They say that this has 

 been remarked and proved since time immemorial. Now there are 

 many w^omeu in the Fort, and they are continually going about from 

 house to house, and, it may be, sitting and driving about on the dog- 

 sleds upon which a head would require to be placed if brought from a 

 distance. A head and horns brought to the Fort, cleaned and pre- 

 served, would doubtless be visited and handled by women, and if any 

 of them should happen to be in the proscribed state it would finish the 

 hunting success of the Indian who killed the Moose that year. At 

 other times the women, as well as their husbands, handle and eat the 

 heads. The Loucheux of Peel Eiver and the Yukon are strict only 

 with regard to the first Moose an Indian kills after having starved for 

 a period. Of this the women are scarcely allowed to taste, and on no 

 account must they taste the head. These Indians have no objection to 

 part with Moose heads, if assured that no portion, even of the refuse, 



