19 2 Moose- Hunting in Canada. 



come up in the day-time. You can begin to call about an hour 

 before sunset, and moose will answer up to say two hours after sunrise. 

 There is very little time, therefore, unless there is bright moonlight. 

 In the third place, I need scarcely observe that to call moose success- 

 fully you must find a place near camp where there are moose to call, 

 and where there are not only moose, but bull moose ; not only bull 

 moose, but bulls that have not already provided themselves with con- 

 sorts ; for if a real cow begins calling, the rough imitation in the 

 shape of a man has a very poor chance of success, and may as well 

 give it up as a bad job. Fourthly, you must find a spot that is con- 

 venient for calling, that is to say, a piece of dry ground, for no hu- 

 man being can lie out all night in the wet, particularly in the month 

 of October, when it freezes hard toward morning. You must have 

 dry ground, well sheltered with trees or shrubs of some kind, and a 

 tolerably open space around it for some distance ; open enough for 

 you to see the bull coming up when he is yet at a little distance, but 

 not a large extent of open ground, for no moose will venture out far 

 on an entirely bare exposed plain. He is disinclined to leave the 

 friendly shelter of the trees. A perfect spot, therefore, is not easily 

 found. Such are some of the difficulties which attend moose-calling 

 and render it a most precarious pastime. Four conditions are neces- 

 sary, and all four must be combined at one and the same time. 



Having once determined to go out, preparations do not take 

 long. You have only to roll up a blanket and overcoat, take some 

 tea, sugar, salt, and biscuit, a kettle, two tin pannikins, and a small 

 ax, with, I need scarcely say, rifle and ammunition. The outfit is 

 simple ; but the hunter should look to everything himself, for an 

 Indian would leave his head behind if it were loose. A good thick 

 blanket is very necessary, for moose-calling involves more hardship 

 and more suffering from cold than any other branch of the noble 

 science of hunting with which I am acquainted. It is true that the 

 weather is not especially cold at that time of year, but there are 

 sharp frosts occasionally at night, and the moose-caller cannot make 

 a fire by which to warm himself, for the smell of smoke is carried a 

 long way by the slightest current of air. Neither dare he run about 

 to warm his feet, or flap his hands against his sides, or keep up 

 the circulation by taking exercise of any kind, for fear of making 

 a noise. He is sure to have got wet through with perspiration on 



