260 SPOTTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



the use of carnivorous birds and quadrupeds. I learned, 

 on ray way back, that ray hunting companion had also been 

 charged by an infuriated wounded bull the previous night, 

 and only escaped by having the Indian come to his aid just 

 in time. We had, therefore, killed four moose on that oc- 

 casion ; no bad result for one night's work. 



" Calling " moose is certainly exciting sport, and is full 

 of incidents, some of which may not, as in my own case, be 

 very pleasant for the time being, yet they are interesting to 

 recall in after-years. To still-hunt the moose successfully, 

 a person must resort to the same means employed in stalk- 

 ing any other wary animal ; but if he does not know their 

 habits, he will in the majority of cases, or at least in a large 

 percentage of them, get only his pains for his labor, unless 

 he has unusual good-luck, or is favored by accident. 



Running them down is practised only in winter, when 

 the snow is deep on the ground ; and this requires endur- 

 ance and perseverance on the part of the hunter rather than 

 skill. It is resorted to principally by Indians who want 

 meat, or by white men who want the skin ; and as they 

 can travel on snow-shoes at a rapid pace while the poor 

 moose are constantly sinking into the drifts, if the crust is 

 not strong enough to support them, the latter are of course 

 soon exhausted, and bleeding from wounds in the legs. To 

 kill them in this way is only butchery, as they can neither 

 resist nor escape. Hunting the animal with hounds in win- 

 ter is a more spirited sport; but in this case, also, it is 

 brought to bay through exhaustion, and is slaughtered as 

 easily as a cow ; for while its attention is engaged with the 

 dogs, all the hunter has to do is to knock it on the head 

 with an axe, or blow its brains out with a rifle or revolver. 

 The Indians, and some white men, frequently follow it for 

 two or three days at a time on snow-shoes, and finally run 

 it down, as the deep snow through which it must flounder 

 fatigues it speedily, and each day's chase only renders it 

 more easy of capture the next. 



During one of my days of idleness I accompanied a 

 snow-shoe party who were going out on a moose -hunt. 



