184 HUNTING CAMPS. 



The difference in horn-growth between the American 

 moose and the European elk is strikingly great, certainly 

 greater than the difference in size and weight of the animals. 

 Anything spreading over forty inches may in Norway be 

 termed a good head, as is anything over fifty inches in 

 Canada ; but the number of fifty-inch heads shot in Canada 

 is far greater in proportion to the total killed than is that 

 of forty-inch heads to the total killed in Norway. Yet as 

 far as my own observation goes to which I may add the 

 experience of two of my friends the hoofs of an elk are, 

 curiously enough, very noticeably larger than those of the 

 moose. 



One point of difference may, I think, be fairly noticed. 

 The American moose seems when wounded to be far more 

 apt, if not to charge, at least to defend itself, than is the 

 elk. This, of course, is probably due to the fact that in the 

 summer months, when the farmers have their cattle upon 

 the mountains in Norway, the elk must often receive a 

 taint upon the wind, whereas in Canada only the lumber- 

 men and an occasional prospector invade, out of season, 

 the solitude of Alces americanus. 



As to the charging propensities of the moose in day- 

 light my guide, Edward Atkins, has definite views, and as 

 he has been in at the death of probably as many moose as 

 any man of his age, and is, moreover, a very accurate ob- 

 server, his evidence is entitled to respect. In his experi- 

 ence the tendency of an unwounded moose to charge is 

 practically negligible, though instances to the contrary have 

 occurred in his own knowledge. A wounded or cornered 

 bull will, however, generally do his utmost to make things 

 uncomfortable for his pursuer. As an instance in point, 

 my friend Mr. G. M. Gathorne-Hardy, when hunting in 

 Canada in 1907, fired at a large bull moose which fell to 

 the shot. As the animal lay quite still he went towards it, 

 but when he was within a few yards it rose and made a 



