CHAPTER IV. 



MOOSE-DEEK. 



THIS giant of the deer tribe, although at one time abun- 

 dant in all the North-eastern States, at the present time 

 holds only a precarious and short-leased existence in the 

 northern portion of the State of Maine. However, when 

 the Canadian frontier is crossed they become more abun- 

 dant, increasing in number till about the' fifty-seventh de- 

 gree of latitude is reached, above which they are seldom 

 found. In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick the sports- 

 man in pursuit of moose would still find a reward for his 

 labor ; but in that section of country lying to the south of 

 James Bay, and stretching westward to Lake Winnipeg, 

 this giant deer can be obtained in greater abundance than 

 in any other portion of the American continent. 



For their capture two methods are usually adopted : 

 first, by calling them up to where the sportsman is con- 

 cealed, by imitating the voice of the female, or call of the 

 male, through the assistance of a horn of birch-bark ; this 

 device can only be employed in the still evenings of autumn, 

 during the rutting season. So acute is the sense of hear- 

 ing in this animal, that the slightest false note on the call 

 will send the quarry flying in the reverse direction ; thus 

 Indian companions are almost necessary to the white hunt- 

 er, they, from greater experience, having become adepts in 

 its use. The second is to pursue them on snow-shoes after 

 a heavy crust has been formed on the snow, through the 

 heat of the spring sun by day and the sharp frosts by night. 

 As long shots at this quarry are seldom fired, the spoils- 





