The Business of Moose-Hunting 



II ^HE question is often asked by sportsmen how 

 I it happens that a licensed guide, or other pro- 

 JL fessional woodsman, can go out into the wilds of 

 Nova Scotia and come back with a fine bull moose in one 

 or two days, but if he is hired for the purpose of giving a 

 sportsman a shot at a moose, he is often gone a week or 

 ten days before the sportsman gets an opportunity to 

 either see or kill one. Some amateur hunters even go 

 so far as to say that a guide purposely prolongs a hunt 

 with the idea of getting more money out of the sports- 

 man. 



Admitting that it is frequently a fact that as soon as a 

 visitor has killed a moose he wishes to take the head and 

 get back to civilization so he can triumphantly tell his 

 friends all about it, the average guide would rather have 

 a moose shot quickly and get the advertising that a 

 successful expedition gives him, than to prolong a 

 hunt and perhaps miss entirely the opportunity of 

 securing a trophy. He wishes to avoid the possibility 

 of bringing his charge back wearied, disappointed, and 

 sore. 



Guides know from experience that a man in this frame 

 of mind is usually hard to settle with, and that he figures 

 the cost of the trip down to the last detail, whereas 

 if he gets a fine head he is more than willing to slip his 

 successful guide quite a bonus over and above the actual 

 charges. 



So much for that phase of moose-hunting. There are 



129 i 



