The Moose 257 



Hole Basin, in southwest Montana, moose were quite 

 plentiful in the late 'seventies. Two or three of the 



old settlers, whom I know as veteran hunters and 



* 



trustworthy men, have told me that in those times 

 the moose were often found in very accessible locali- 

 ties; and that when such was the case they were 

 quite as easily killed as elk. In fact, when run 

 across by accident they frequently showed a certain 

 clumsy slowness of apprehension which amounted to 

 downright stupidity. One of the most successful 

 moose-hunters I know is Col. Cecil Clay, of the De- 

 partment of Law, in Washington; he it was who 

 killed the moose composing the fine group mounted 

 by Mr. Hornaday, in the National Museum. Col. 

 Clay lost his right arm in the Civil War; but is an 

 expert rifle shot nevertheless, using a short, light 

 forty- four calibre old style Winchester carbine. With 

 this weapon he has killed over a score of moose, by 

 fair still-hunting; and he tells me that on similar 

 ground he considers it if anything rather less easy 

 to still-hunt and kill a whitetail deer than it is to 

 kill a moose. 



My friend Col. James Jones killed two moose in 

 a day in northwestern Wyoming, not far from the 

 Tetons; he was alone when he shot them and did 

 not find them especially wary. Ordinarily, moose 

 are shot at fairly close range; but another friend 

 of mine, Mr. E. P. Rogers, once dropped one with 

 a single bullet, at a distance of nearly three hundred 



