264 With Rod and Gtm in New Engla,7id 



CHAPTER XV. 



J4ew Brunswick JVIoose. 



By FRANK H. RISTEEN. 



It is without the least desire to discount the claims of any other big 

 game region that I make the statement that the moose supply of New 

 Brunswick is not equalled by that of any other section of eastern North 

 America. As compared with Maine, the vast forest interior of the Province 

 has been very little hunted ; many parts of it have never echoed the sound 

 of the chopper's axe or the hunter's rifle, and the moose, as well as the 

 caribou, have increased amazingly in numbers in the past ten years. 

 Maine is still pre-eminent in its supply of deer, but so great has been the 

 invasion of sportsmen upon its hunting-grounds of late, that moose and 

 caribou are now comparatively scarce, except in the Aroostook region. 

 New Brunswick has many vast areas of game supply, such as the head- 

 waters of the Tobique, the Restigouche, the Nepisiguit, the Nor'- West and 

 Sou '-West Miramichi, the Cains river and the Canaan, where almost every 

 acre of the soil is decorated with the comely tracks of the moose and cari- 

 bou, and where forest trails are scoured deep in the solid turf by the migra- 

 tions of many generations of these noble animals. The Province extends 

 a welcoming hand to the visiting sportsman, while at the same time it prays 

 to be delivered from the grasshopper host of reckless and ruthless killers 

 of game that have devoured and devastated the forest life of other lands. 



The game laws of New Brunswick are certainly liberal in all their 

 features. They permit an open season for moose, caribou, deer, duck, 

 woodcock and snipe, extending from September 1st to January 1st. They 

 allow each sportsman a quota of two moose, three caribou and three deer 

 in a season. They require a license fee from non-residents of $'20, and 

 from residents of $2, the proceeds being applied to the protection of the 

 game. No license is required for the hunting of deer. The open season 

 for partridge or ruffed grouse, which are very abundant in the Province, 

 extends from September 20th to January 1st. 



The sportsman who hunts in New Brunswick will traverse a region 

 for the most part untainted by the touch of man ; where he will not have 

 his profanity provoked by constantly colliding with other hunting-parties ; 

 where he will not be mistaken for a game animal by irresponsible youths, 

 and shot at as he walks the forest trails ; where he will hear no other rifle- 



