6o BIG GAME SHOOTING IN ALASKA chap, iv 



detailed account of the habits of moose, which indeed would 

 require a separate work on the subject, even provided that 

 the writer were qualified to give it. I shall not therefore 

 attempt the task, though a few facts may be gathered from the 

 actual account of how we saw and hunted them; and some brief 

 details of the size of antlers, and of the measurements and 

 weight of moose on the Kenai Peninsula, may be interesting. 

 In 1903 the total number of sportsmen hunting moose on 

 the Kenai Peninsula was ten, of whom five were Englishmen, 

 four Americans, and one German. Except for scientific 

 purposes, only one head was taken out of the country which 

 did not exceed 60 inches span. The twelve best heads 

 killed and taken out by these hunters measured respectively 

 as follows: — 74, 72, 71, 7o|-, 70, 69, 69, 68, 64, 64, 64, 

 and 61 inches, and in addition to these the present writer 

 brought out one head killed by a professional hunter in 1902 

 which measured ^'] inches when killed, but had shrunk 

 nearly 2 inches and then measured rather over 75 inches. 

 This latter head is the second largest authentic head ever 

 brought from the Kenai Peninsula. The world's record is a 

 head which was taken from a moose found drowned in the 

 Kenai River. The head and antlers were brought into Kenai 

 by a native who found them. They were purchased by Vein, 

 a Frenchman, commonly known in Kenai as " Frenchy," 

 This man " Frenchy" measured the head in the presence of 

 Mr. Mearns and other trustworthy men at Kenai, and they 

 all informed me that the exact span of the antlers was slightly 

 over 81 inches. During the winter the antlers, whilst hang- 

 ing in a hut, shrank some two or three inches. " Frenchy" 

 told me that he wedged them out again to their original 

 measurement, using bits of wood forced between them and the 

 skull. He finally sold the head to a taxidermist in Chicago, and 



