MOOSE HUNTING IN NOVA SCOTIA 119 



so many wonderful uses in the forest life of America. It is, there- 

 fore, quite plain that skill in this accomplishment belongs to the 

 practised woodsman rather than to the casual amateur. 



Perhaps nowhere are there better moose-callers to be found 

 than the Micmac Indians of Nova Scotia, the older men far excelling 

 the younger. Tl\ere is something peculiar to the Indian speech, 

 abounding as it does in soft vowel sounds, which lends itself readily 

 to the imitation of every sound of nature. There is something very 

 fascinating in moose-calling on a fine autumn evening, far back 

 in the wilds, either on the shore of some lake or still-water, or at 

 the edge of one of those dry grassy savannahs, often the legacy of 

 an extinct beaver colony, which penetrate the evergreen forest in 

 all directions. One must have felt the sudden thrill which stirs 

 the blood at the first challenge of the answering bull, and the 

 vocal trail of his hoarse mutterings drawing swiftly nearer and 

 nearer, in order to appreciate the intense excitement which this form 

 of woodland sport is capable of yielding. 



When the calling is pursued at night there is something indescrib- 

 ably weird about the scene which appeals to the imagination with 

 a pleasing and irresistible charm. While the pale orange, full- 

 orbed hunters' .moon hangs low in the heavens, outlining the black 

 arrow-heads of the tallest fir trees as if traced in india-ink, the 

 coaxing tones of the caller resound through the forest aisles. Now 

 and then the fiendish hooting of owls breaks the stillness, or the 

 long-drawn wolfish howl from some great northern diver or loon, 

 keeping vigil on a neighbouring lake. Occasionally one hears the 

 whimper of a bear, the shriek of a lynx or the baying of an old fox, 

 and often the hunter listens to mysterious forest sounds which 

 he is utterly at a loss to account for. 



Many an old hand at the game loses his nerve when at length 

 he is confronted by the noble stag in a pose of sturdy pride and 

 confidence in his own vast powers. The fingers tremble, ever so 

 slightly perhaps, after the tension of the long wait, or from the 

 cold. Thus very often the bullet flies wide of the mark, whereupon 

 the great deer steals away with the silence of a spirit. Ordinarily 

 the moose, like other wild animals, seeks only to escape the pre- 

 sence of man when threatened, but if wounded, especially after 

 being fatigued, he is quite likely to charge his hunter, and in the 

 mating season he has been known to do so without provocation. 



The advance of the moose, coming on boldly, trampling the 

 underbrush and clashing the branches in a fit of fury, is full of 

 interest and may prove intensely exciting. Now a metallic ring 

 sounds through the woods as the great antlers are repeatedly struck 

 heavily against some decayed tree boll ; now comes a crackling sound 



