240 The Wilderness Hunter 



cow with a calf to raise. Before settlers came to this 

 high mountain region of western Montana, a moose 

 would often thus live in an isolated marshy tract sur 

 rounded by open country. They grazed throughout 

 the summer on marsh plants, notably lily stems, and 

 nibbled at the tops of the very tall natural hay of the 

 meadows. The legs of the beast are too long and 

 the neck too short to allow it to graze habitually on 

 short grass ; yet in the early spring when greedy for 

 the tender blades of young, green marsh grass, the 

 moose will often shuffle down on its knees to get at 

 them, and it will occasionally perform the same feat 

 to get a mouthful or two of snow in winter. 



The moose which lived in isolated, exposed locali 

 ties were speedily killed or driven away after the 

 incoming of settlers ; and at the time that we hunted 

 we found no sign of them until we reached the re 

 gion of continuous forest. Here, in a fortnight s 

 hunting, we found as much sign as we wished, and 

 plenty of it fresh; but the animals themselves we 

 not only never saw, but we never so much as heard. 

 Often after hours of careful still-hunting or cautious 

 tracking, we found the footprints deep in the soft 

 earth, showing where our quarry had winded or 

 heard us, and had noiselessly slipped away from the 

 danger. It is astonishing how quietly a moose can 

 steal through the woods if it wishes: and it has 

 what is to the hunter a very provoking habit of 

 making a half or three-quarters circle before lying 



