222 The Wilderness Hunter. 



scarcely charge under any circumstances ; that among the 

 wapiti it was only now and then that individuals would 

 turn upon their pursuers though they sometimes charged 

 boldly ; but that both the bison and especially the moose 

 when worried and approached too near, would often turn 

 to bay and make charge after charge in the most resolute 

 manner, so that they had to be approached with some 

 caution. 



Under ordinary conditions, however, there is very lit- 

 tle danger, indeed, of a moose charging. A charge does 

 not take place once in a hundred times when the moose 

 is killed by fair still-hunting ; and it is altogether excep- 

 tional for those who assail them from boats or canoes to be 

 put in jeopardy. Even a cow moose, with her calf, will 

 run if she has the chance ; and a rutting bull will do the 

 same. Such a bull when wounded may walk slowly for- 

 ward, grunting savagely, stamping with his forefeet, and 

 slashing the bushes with his antlers; but, if his antago- 

 nist is any distance off, he rarely actually runs at him. 

 Yet there are now and then found moose prone to at- 

 tack on slight provocation ; for these great deer differ 

 as widely as men in courage and ferocity. Occasionally 

 a hunter is charged in the fall when he has lured the 

 game to him by calling, or when he has wounded it after 

 a stalk. In one well-authenticated instance which was 

 brought to my attention, a settler on the left bank of the 

 St. Johns, in New Brunswick, was tramped to death by a 

 bull moose which he had called to him and wounded. A 

 New Yorker of my acquaintance, Dr. Merrill, was charged 

 under rather peculiar circumstances. He stalked and 



