The Moose 261 



killed a cow moose; the bull lay dying in the gully, 

 out of which he had scared the cow by his last rush. 



However, speaking broadly, the danger to the 

 still-hunter engaged in one of the legitimate meth- 

 ods of the chase is so small that it may be disre- 

 garded; for he usually kills his game at some little 

 distance, while the moose, as a rule, only attacks 

 if it has been greatly worried and angered, and if 

 its pursuer is close at hand. When a moose is 

 surprised and shot at by a hunter some way off, 

 its one thought is of flight. Hence, the hunters who 

 are charged by moose are generally those who fol- 

 low them during the late winter and early spring, 

 when the animals have yarded and can be killed on 

 snowshoes by "crusting," as it is termed, a very 

 destructive, and often a very unsportsman-like 

 species of chase. 



If the snowfall is very light, moose do not yard 

 at all; but in a hard winter they begin to make 

 their yards in December. A "yard" is not, as some 

 people seem to suppose, a trampled-down space, 

 with definite boundaries; the term merely denotes 

 the spot which a moose has chosen for its winter 

 home, choosing it because it contains plenty of 

 browse in the shape of young trees and saplings, 

 and perhaps also because it is sheltered to some 

 extent from the fierce winds and heaviest snowdrifts. 

 The animal travels to and fro across this space in 

 straight lines and irregular circles after food, tread- 



