MOOSE-HUNTING IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 27 



tage this gun has over any others that I have seen. It 

 enables the operator to shoot more rapidly, when accuracy 

 is considered, than the common lever-actions do. 



With any of the new repeating- rifles, however, all that 

 is needed to do good work is good judgment, a good eye, 

 and a steady nerve. I do not believe in the heavy guns of 

 large caliber. Even for a Grizzly Bear, I would use no larger 

 than a forty caliber. This, however, is a disputed point. 

 Men with more experience than I have had use the larger 

 rifles. 



It is generally admitted that the best place to shoot 

 any big game is through the shoulders. The Buffalo-hunt- 

 ers discovered long ago that those large animals were most 

 certainly secured by firing at their strong and bulky 

 shoulders. With the Moose this is surely the best policy. 

 Their shoulders are massive and their chests are very 

 deep, so that there is danger of shooting too high. The 

 advice of the most successful hunters, with whom I have 

 associated, is to shoot low, and well forward. A bullet 

 through the lungs is nearly as effective as one through the 

 heart. This rule should govern in shooting Deer, Bears, and 

 all other large game. 



In the winter of 1884, I established a camp in the Teton 

 Basin, at that time an unsettled region. The high, tim- 

 bered Teton Range of mountains was, and is yet, well 

 stocked with game, and the wild meadows of the basin 

 afforded then, but not now, excellent winter range for 

 Moose, Elk, and Deer. In the fall, the Deer came to the 

 low lands with the first snow; the Elk followed them as soon 

 as the depth was increased to two feet or more; and then 

 the Moose would come when the crust formed on the snow 

 in the mountains. 



The Moose is as thoroughly at home in soft snow as he is 

 in the water; but when the heavy crusts form, he retreats, 

 and seeks more favorable feeding-grounds. My cabin was 

 the first landmark of civilization in that now thickly settled 

 valley. We had killed Deer, in season, till we were sup- 

 plied with meat to last all winter. Then came the Elk, and 



