CHAPTEK IV. 



MOOSE DEER. 



THIS giant of the deer tribe, although at one time 

 abundant in all the north-eastern States, at the present 

 time holds only a precarious and short-leased existence 

 in the northern portion of the State of Maine. How- 

 ever, when the Canadian frontier is crossed they become 

 more abundant, increasing in number till about the 

 57th degree of latitude is reached, above which they are 

 seldom found. In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick 

 the sportsman in pursuit of moose would still find 

 a reward for his labour, but in that section of 

 country lying to the south of James's Bay and stretch- 

 ing westward to Lake Winnipeg this giant deer can 

 be obtained in greater abundance than in any other 

 portion of the American continent. 



For their capture two methods are usually adopted f 

 firstly, by calling them up to where the sportsman is 

 concealed, by imitating the voice of the female, or call ol 

 the male, through the assistance of a horn of birch bark; 

 this device can only be employed in the still evenings of 

 autumn during the rutting season. So acute is the sense 

 of hearing in this animal that the slightest false note on 

 the call will send the quarry flying in the reverse direc- 



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