MOOSE HUNTING. 153 



The cows have sometimes one, generally two calves, in the 

 month of May, and the calves remain with their mothers 

 for one year, and then go off on their own account. The 

 hair of the moose is of two different sorts one long, coarse, 

 and brittle; the other or inner coat, is of a soft, woolly 

 nature, and is manufactured by the squaws into gloves and 

 stockings. The hide is the most porous of any skin that I 

 have seen, and when well dressed by the Indians with oil, 

 soap, and above all, hand-rubbing and camp smoke, it is as 

 soft and pliable as cloth, and makes famous mocassins. 

 The green hide is worth five dollars ; for this hundreds of 

 moose are butchered in the deep snow, and the carcases 

 left to rot. 



As the haunts of the moose are in thick forest, where it 

 is impossible to see any object at a greater distance off 

 than sixty or seventy yards, and as their senses of hearing 

 and smell are very acute, it requires more skill and ex- 

 perience to creep them in the i'all than it does to hunt any 

 other animal in this country. The Micmacs of Nova Scotia 

 are by far the best moose hunters. The hunter would 

 seem to require two or three pairs of eyes instead of one. 

 He must steer clear of rotten sticks, for to tread on one 

 is ruin" to his hope?, and the ground is covered with them. 

 As he creeps along on fresh tracks, he must keep a sharp 

 look-out for the animal, and at the same time watch the 

 wind and the bro>vse. Unlike the cariboo, who are always 

 travelling about feeding as they go along, the moose, when 

 the rutting season is over, if not disturbed, choose a 

 locality abounding with their favourite browse young 

 maple and moose wood and remain there for the rest of 

 the year, contracting their daily rambles in search of food 



