The Moose 255 



master the shovel-horned quarry, unless it is taken 

 at a hopeless disadvantage; and in these battles the 

 prowess of the moose is shown by the fact that it is 

 no unusual thing for it to kill one or more of the 

 ravenous throng; generally by a terrific blow of the 

 foreleg, smashing a wolf's skull or breaking its 

 back. I have known of several instances of wolves 

 being found dead, having perished in this manner. 

 Still, the battle usually ends the other way, the 

 wolves being careful to make the attack with the 

 odds in their favor ; and even a small pack of the fe- 

 rocious brutes will in a single winter often drive the 

 moose completely out of a given district. Both 

 cougar and bear generally reckon on taking the 

 moose unawares, when they jump on it. In 

 one case that came to my knowledge a black 

 bear was killed by a cow moose whose calf he 

 had attacked. 



In the Northeast a favorite method of hunting the 

 moose is by "calling" the bulls in the rutting season, 

 at dawn or nightfall ; the caller imitating their cries 

 through a birch-bark trumpet. If the animals are 

 at all wary, this kind of sport can only be carried 

 on in still weather, as the approaching bull always 

 tries to get the wind of the caller. It is also some- 

 times slain by fire-hunting, from a canoe, as the deer 

 are killed in the Adirondacks. This, however, is 

 but an ignoble sport ; and to kill the animal while it 

 is swimming in a lake is worse. However, there 



