246 HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



ing with my glasses so that the bullet would not hit any 

 twigs, waited a favorable instance when the moose's 

 fore-shoulder showed, and fired. He fell instantly out of 

 sight. The distance was between two hundred and two 

 hundred and fifty yards and was the longest shot I had 

 taken during the whole summer. When we got up to 

 him the moose was still alive, but paralyzed with the 

 bullet through the lower part of the neck; another shot 

 finished him. The spread of horns was under 51 inches, 

 the blades 38 inches long and 16| inches wide. 



We melted snow in a milk can, made tea and lunched 

 there, then skinned out the head and hung it in a bare 

 tree and went back to the cabin. Men's tracks had 

 crossed ours and on reaching home we found that Lover- 

 ing and his guide Tolman had visited the cabin and had 

 taken tea there. They were tracking a bear and were 

 within a quarter mile of us when they heard the shoot- 

 ing and supposed that we had come upon the bear. 

 They told oiu* men that they had been living for some 

 time on meat and salt, the rest of their dehcacies having 

 been consumed, and they especially enjoyed some fruit 

 which Alex served them. 



More snow fell and the haze made spying difficult. 

 Only three moose were visible the next day as we went 

 to the carcass to bring in the trophy. Fritz took the 

 horns to the lake while Alex brought the scalp to the 

 cabin and for the rest of the day we worked at this. The 

 moose's tongue when boiled was excellent supper, but a 

 strip of loin which we essayed to eat was entirely too 

 tough, as the rutting season had practically passed and 

 left the bulls very thin. 



Nor were we lucky in finding any bear on the moose 

 carcass when we went to it a day later. No fresh bear 



I 



