266 The Wilderness Hunter 



the long past days, before the Civil War, when 

 moose were plenty there, used what were known as 

 "three dollar" guns; light, single-barreled smooth- 

 bores. One whom I knew used a flint-lock musket, 

 a relic of the War of 1812. Another in the course 

 of an exhausting three days' chase lost the lock off 

 his cheap, percussion-cap gun; and when he over- 

 took the moose he had to explode the cap by ham- 

 mering it with a stone. 



It is in "crusting," when the chase has lasted 

 but a comparatively short time, that moose most 

 frequently show fight; for they are not cast into a 

 state of wild panic by a sudden and unlooked-for 

 attack by a man who is a long distance from them, 

 but on the contrary, after being worried and irri- 

 tated, are approached very near by foes from whom 

 they have been fleeing for hours. Nevertheless, in 

 the majority of cases even crusted moose make not 

 the slightest attempt at retaliation. If the chase 

 has been very long, or if the depth of the snow and 

 character of the crust are exceptionally disadvan- 

 tageous to them, they are so utterly done out, when 

 overtaken, that they can not make a struggle, and 

 may even be killed with an axe. I know of at least 

 five men who have thus killed crusted moose with 

 an axe; one in the Rocky Mountains, one in Min- 

 nesota, three in Maine. 



But in ordinary snow a man who should thus at- 

 tempt to kill a moose would merely jeopardize his 



