252 fHE WILDERNESS HUNTER. 



sudden and unlooked-for attack by a man 

 who is a long distance from them, but on the 

 contrary, after being worried and irritated, 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 retalia- 

 tion. If the chase has been very long, or 

 if the depth of the snow and character of 

 the crust are exceptionally disadvantageous 

 to them, they are so utterly done out, when 

 overtaken, that they cannot 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 Minnesota, three in 

 Maine. 



But in ordinary snow a man who should 

 thus attempt to kill a moose would merely 

 jeopardize his own life ; and it is not an un- 

 common thing for chased moose, when closely 

 approached by their pursuers, even when the 

 latter carry guns and are expert snow-shoers, 

 to charge them with such ferocity as to put 

 them in much peril. A brother of one of my 

 cow-hands, a man from Maine, was once nearly 

 killed by a cow moose. She had been in a 

 yard with her last year's calf when started. 

 After two or three hours' chase he overtook 

 them. They were travelling in single file, the 

 cow breaking her path through the snow, while 

 the calf followed close behind, and in his 

 nervousness sometimes literally ran up on her. 

 The man trotted close alongside ; but, before 

 he could fire, the old cow spun round and 

 charged him, her mane bristling and her green 



