WILD ANIMALS AND MEN 225 



as back-tracking will provide the hunter with about all the 

 information he may require, as the back trail will teU him if the 

 game was travelling fast or slow, whether it was fleeing in 

 fright or feeding; and if feeding, whether it was feeding quietly 

 or in haste; and if in haste, the twigs would be torn off instead of 

 being clean cut. Sometimes a good hunter will back-track a 

 trail several miles in order to assure the success of his hunt. 



" My son, if a moose is badly frightened by man-smell it may 

 at first go off on the gallop and then settle down to a steady trot 

 for four or five miles before it stops to listen — ^but not to feed. 

 Then, turning its head this way and that, and even trembling 

 with excitement, as it throws its snout into the air, to test if 

 danger is still following, it may then start off again on another 

 long trot, but all the time it wiU, as much as possible, avoid open 

 places. Later it may attempt to feed by tearing off twigs as 

 it hurries along, and then at last it will circle to leeward and 

 finally rest not far from its old trail. Under such conditions, 

 the distance a moose travels depends largely upon the depth of 

 the snow. Two or three feet of snow will not hamper it much, 

 but when the depth is four feet, or when the moose's beUy begins 

 to drag in the snow, the brute will not travel far. An old bull 

 will not run as far as a young one, and a cow will not travel as 

 far as a bull; but when tired out a moose sleeps soundly, so 

 soundly, indeed, that a hunter can easily approach as close 

 as he pleases. But don't forget, my son, that a good hunter 

 never runs a moose — at least, not unless he is starving — as 

 running a moose spoils the meat. 



"Sometimes, my son, a hunter may use a dog to trail a moose, 

 but it is dangerous work for the dog, as the moose may turn at 

 bay and strike at the dog with any one of its chisel-hke hoofs 

 or may even seize the dog by the back in its mouth, carry it for 

 a httle way, then throw it into the air and when it falls trample 

 it to death. So, my son, when hunting moose in that way, it 

 is best to have two dogs or more, as then one dog may attack 



