MOOSE HUNTING IN THE BACKWOODS 115 



in many parts of Canada wise legislation has made them unlawful. 

 ' Fire-hunting,' or hunting by torchlight, is practised by the use of a 

 bright light generally formed by burning bunches of resinous birch- 

 bark near lakes known to be frequented by the game. The brilliant 

 light seems to stupefy and fascinate the moose, who will then readily 

 fall to the rifle. Yet there is an element of danger even in this 

 method, for a wounded, and therefore an enraged, moose has been 

 known to upset and destroy the. canoe which exhibited the torches. 



Then there is ' crusting ', or pursuing moose on a hard crust 

 formed over the deep snow by a winter thaw between frosts. The 

 game is then taken at an unfair advantage, as the crust will 

 support the hunter on snow-shoes, or even when shod with moc- 

 casins or soft leather jackboots. 



At such times the moose resort in companies to some sheltered 

 valley, where they trample down the snow into what are termed 

 ' moose-yards '. Driven out of these asylums the poor beasts 

 flounder helplessly in the deep snow, and their destruction under 

 such conditions is not sport but butchery. A still worse method is 

 ' hounding ' or pursuing with a large, fierce breed of dogs, which 

 will follow the trail day after day, and finally drag their prey down 

 utterly exhausted till the hunter comes up ; this also denies the 

 game the chance of life which true sportsmanship calls for. 



The writer cannot bring this paper on moose hunting and its 

 perils to a more fitting conclusion than by the relation of a narrow 

 escape that befell an Indian guide with whom he was once hunting 

 in the wilds of Northern New Brunswick. 



We were camped near the head-waters of the Tobique and 

 Nepisiquit Rivers, and had made several successful trips out of the 

 main camp, to lakes surrounded by grassy meadows, and also to 

 clearings made by abandoned lumber operations, where there was a 

 returning growth of fresh young forest trees. In such open spaces 

 we had successfully hunted both bear and caribou, stalking them 

 after the Highland fashion. 



It was our custom, in the intervals of excursions, to rest in 

 camp for a few days, stretching our bearskins on frames and pre- 

 paring the antlers, so as to bring our trophies home in good order. 

 One morning, after a heavy rainfall, we saw moose tracks passing 

 quite near our camp, and so determined to follow. The Indian's 

 confident tracking through pathless forest, swamp, and bog ; now 

 stopping to examine a broken twig, or impression in the yielding 

 moss ; now noting a fresh disturbance of the water in some muddy 

 pool, was a wonderful exhibition of skill. He said that a bull moose, 

 with a cow and a two-year-old calf, had gone on two hours ahead of 

 us. 



