THE MOOSE. 245 



tail, may show itself an ugly antagonist ; and 

 indeed a maddened elk may for a moment 

 take the offensive ; but the moose is the only 

 one of the tribe with which this attitude is at 

 all common. In bodily strength and capacity 

 to do harm it surpasses the elk ; and in 

 temper it is far more savage and more apt to 

 show fight when assailed by man ; exactly as 

 the elk in these respects surpasses the com- 

 mon deer. Two hunters with whom I was 

 well acquainted once wintered between the 

 Wind River Mountains and the Three Tetons, 

 many years ago, in the days of the buffalo. 

 They lived on game, killing it on snowshoes ; 

 for the most part wapiti and deer, but also 

 bisf)n, and one moose, tliough they saw others. 

 Hie wapiti bulls kept their antlers two months 

 longer than the moose ; nevertheless, when 

 chased they rarely made an effort to use them, 

 wiiile the hornless moose displayed far more 

 pugnacity, and also ran better through the 

 deep snow. The winter was very severe, the 

 snows were heavy and the crusts hard ; so 

 that the hunters had little trouble in overtak- 

 ing their game, ahhough — being old mountain- 

 men, and not hide-hunters — they killed only 

 wliat was: needed. Of course in such hunting 

 tliey came very close to the harried game, 

 usually after a chase of from twenty minutes 

 to tiiree hours. They found that the ordinary 

 deer would scarcely charge under any circum- 

 stances ; that among the wapiti it was only 

 now and then that individuals would turn 

 upon iheir pursuers — thoui^h they sometimes 

 cliarged boldly; but that both the bison and 

 especially the moose when worried and ap- 



