MOOSE-CALLING. ^^^M- ^^^ 



" call " into the bushes close to the ground, gives vent to 

 a lower and more plaintive sound, intended to convey the 

 idea of impatience and reproach. It has probably the 

 desired effect; an answer is given, the snappings of 

 branches are resumed, and presently the moose stalks 

 into the middle of the moonlit barren, or skirts its sides 

 in the direction of the sound. A few paces further — a 

 flash and report from behind the little clump of concealing 

 bushes, and the great carcass sinks into the laurels and 

 mosses which carpet the plains. 



Whatever may be adduced in disfavour of moose- 

 calling on the score of taking the animal at a disadvan- 

 tage, it is confessedly one of the most exciting of forest 

 sports. The mysterious sounds and features of night life 

 in the woods, the beauty of the moonlight in America — 

 so much more silvery and bright than in England — the 

 anxious suspense with which the hunter regards the last 

 flutterings of the aspens as the wind dies away, and 

 leaves that perfect repose in the air which is so necessary 

 to the sport, and the intense feeling of sudden excitement 

 when the first distant answer comes to the wild ringing 

 call, are passages of forest life acknowledged by all who 

 have experienced them as producing a most powerful 

 eff'ect on the imagination, both when experienced and in 

 memory. 



But few moose are shot in this manner — very few in 

 comparison with the numbers tracked or crept upon — for 

 the per centage of animals that are thus brought up, even 

 by the best Indian caller, is very small, and it is the 

 attribute of native hunters in every wild country where 

 there are large deer — as the moose, reindeer, or sambur — 

 to attain their object by imitation of their voices. 



