74 NATURE AND THE CAMERA 



hours may be spent in trying to secure either a favour- 

 able place or a suitable attitude, and during all this 

 time every precaution known to the hunter is called 

 into practice. Stalk a deer with the camera and you 

 will realise how small a thing will mar the chances 

 of success. A twig incautiously broken, the grazing 

 of the camera against a dry branch, or any of the 

 hundred and one accidents that may at times happen 

 to the still-hunter, and where is your photograph ? 

 Gone ! Whereas had you been using the rifle you 

 might easily have bagged your game. Stalk a big 

 bull moose, even though it be during the close season, 

 and unless you by chance find an animal that is absurdly 

 tame, as occasionally they are, you will find excite- 

 ment enough if you would come within fifty feet of 

 the big creature. Learn all you can about still- 

 hunting, do not relax your vigilance, and take no- 

 thing on chance, and you may succeed; fail in any 

 one precaution, and you will have no picture. 



Once when I was on a trip trying to secure some 

 moose pictures, I came across a fine large bull ; the 

 situation was perfect from a pictorial point of view. 

 He was in a large pond where the lily-pads were 

 abundant; in the near background was a bank of 

 trees, mostly birch ; beyond stood Mount Katahdin in 

 the misty distance ; the moose was feeding in shallow 

 water, the light was bright, and as the wind was in 

 the right direction, everything pointed to a successful 



