THE MOOSE, 247 



a second shot he dropped it. Walking for* 

 ward he found to his astonishment that with 

 his second bullet he had killed a cow moose ; 

 the bull lay dying in the gully, out of which 

 he had scared the cow by his last rush. 



However, speaking broadly, the danger to 

 the still-hunter engaged in one of the legiti- 

 mate methods of the chase is so small that it 

 may be disregarded ; for he usually kiHs his 

 game at some little distance, while the moose, 

 as a rule, only attacks if it has been greatly 

 worried and angered, and if its pursuer is 

 close at hand. When a moose is surprised 

 and shot at by a hunter some way off, its one 

 thought is of flight. Hence, the hunters who 

 are charged by moose are generally those who 

 follow them during the late winter and early 

 spring, when the animals have yarded and 

 can be killed on snow-shoes — by " crusting," 

 as it is termed, a very destructive, and often 

 a very unsportsman-like species of chase. 



If the snow-fall is very light, moose do not 

 yard at all ; but in a hard winter they begin 

 to make their yards in Decerrtber. A "yard " 

 is not, as some people seem to suppose, a 

 trampled-down space, with definite bound- 

 aries ; the term merely denotes the spot 

 which a moose has chosen for its winter 

 home, choosing it because it contains plenty 

 of browse in the shape of young trees and 

 saplings, and perhaps also because it is shel- 

 tered to some extent from the fiercest winds 

 and heaviest snowdrifts. The animal travels 

 to and fro across tliis space in straight lines 

 and irregular circles after food, treading in its 

 own footsteps, where practicable. As the 



