318 Deer and Antelope of North America 



Moose are great swimmers and think nothing 

 of crossing lakes and streams miles in width. 

 Notwithstanding the strong tides of Kachemak 

 Bay, Cook Inlet, a young bull, only two or three 

 years ago, swam from a point near Yukon Island 

 across Kachemak Bay to Homer Spit, a distance 

 of over eight miles. I have travelled the same 

 course in a light-boat, with good oarsmen, going 

 with the tide, and we were over two hours row- 

 ing it. Just how long the moose was in swim- 

 ming it I did not learn, but I was assured by a 

 man entirely responsible who was living on 

 Homer Spit, and who saw the feat, that the 

 animal was not at all exhausted when he landed. 



Possibilities of Extinction. The moose will 

 not soon become extinct. The advent of the 

 prospector in Alaska, thousands of men scattered 

 through its range armed with the best of rifles, 

 is creating awful havoc in its numbers, and very 

 especially is this the case in the region of the 

 Klondyke and Stewart rivers. Sportsmen and 

 professional hunters are combining to make its 

 existence on the Kenai Peninsula intolerable. 

 And in almost all parts of the North the sleuth- 

 like Indian is on its trail, equipped with modern 

 rifle and plenty of ammunition. The moose is 

 having a very different time from what it had a 

 few years ago, but its wits, always alert, are 

 being further trained, and its wonderful sense of 



