398 BIG GAME SHOOTING 
persecution of man still abounds as far east as the provinces of 
Quebec and Oniario ; is reported to exist in large numbers on 
the head-waters of the Clear Water River, in Idaho ; is found in 
Montana and Wyoming, and flourishes cnkeediegl in the 
North-Western portions of British- Columbia as well as in the 
adjoining territory of Alaska. 
With great wisdom the Legislatures both of Canada and 
the States have taken the moose under their protection, but the 
great deer would be in no danger of extermination even if the 
law had overlooked him, as he has haunts still remote, and 
except in deep snow can take very fair care of himself ; indeed, 
even as lately as 1887 I could have killed seven bull moose in 
six days’ hunting in Ontario had I been butcher enough to do 
so, whilst in 1891 I saw two canoes (big freight canoes) come 
down loaded with magnificent moose horns from a district 
where almost the only residents are a few Siwashes (Indians) 
and some Chinese miners! Where Chinese kill game, game 
must be fairly plentiful still. 
Although as big as a haystack, the moose is not quite as 
easy to hit, nor is he everybody’s ‘meat.’ His favourite haunts 
are the dense thickets round lakes and about river-bottoms, 
the dark balsam groves, hardwood hills, and brulé patches 
of Ontario, and wherever the lily pads, moose wood, swamp 
maple, alder bushes, coarse grasses or mosses upon which he 
feeds are most luxuriant. 
By some strange fatality, wherever things are most con- 
venient for the moose they appear to be least convenient for 
the hunter. The scrub over which the moose looks without 
raising his ugly head closes over and drowns the unfortunate — 
biped who tries to follow him ; the fallen trees and huge logs | 
which the moose takes comfortably in his stride must be — 
climbed by the hunter, and yet, in spite of his size, when the — 
big bull has answered your call and has come crashing through — 
the alder and swamp tea to within twenty yards of you, he is — 
likely enough to halt in the shadow, detect the fraud, and steal — 
away without a sound. 
