182 HUNTING CAMPS. 



often two hundred yards or over, it thus needs a clear 

 eye and a steady hand to save oneself the sleepless 

 night that a miss inevitably entails. Moose calling 

 may seem to the tyro a very easy way of "getting 

 your moose," and so once in six times no doubt it is, 

 but the reader will possibly understand my point of 

 view more clearly if, without further preamble, I go on 

 to describe the experiences which fell to my lot with 

 the first two moose that fortune sent within range of 

 my rifle. 



About five o'clock, then, on the first evening I spent 

 in the Canadian woods Ed and I launched our canoe on 

 the little lake which we had chosen and paddled up 

 towards the head of it, where the surface of the water 

 was green with aquatic plants. 



The sun had just sunk through the tree stems, and 

 had been succeeded by the little cold wind which so 

 often blows at that hour, when we landed, and Ed, 

 taking the horn, gave the calls of the cow moose. In 

 words it is impossible to describe these wild sounds, 

 even although it was my fortune later to hear a cow 

 singing her love-song at no great distance, so I will not 

 attempt to do so. The noise is something between a 

 bellow and a moan and is repeated three times, the final 

 call being more prolonged than the others. 



It would seem that for moose calling the standing 

 position is necessary, as Ed would never call from the 

 canoe. To begin with, he never used the bull's call, as 

 is generally done in Western America ; but then it is 

 said, and doubtless with truth, that in Western America 

 the moose is a much less sophisticated animal than his 

 brethren of the forests of Maine and Lower Canada. 

 Also the number of bulls is probably far greater in the 



