MOOSE-CALLING IN NEW BRUNSWICK 



birch-bark horn drifting away among the spruce - tops. At 

 times we shivered in cold wind and driving rain, and then fought 

 black flies and mosquitoes during warmer weather. I supple- 

 mented the calling by constantly watching the shores of the 

 pond during the day when the wind was favorable. Although 

 during ten days of hunting we had seen quite a number of 

 moose, no bull had appeared with a sufficiently large head to 

 tempt me to use the 30-40 Winchester carbine which I carried. 



In the mean time, Howe, having secured the legal limit of one 

 bull moose allowed by the New Brunswick government, had 

 turned his efforts toward some burnt mountains in the direc- 

 tion of the river, and had succeeded in bagging a black bear 

 and a deer. This latter animal was quite an addition to our 

 camp-fare, as the meat of these old bull moose, tough and 

 stringy at any time, is so rank at this season of the year as to 

 be almost inedible. 



However, one bright afternoon at the end of the first week 

 in October, the first long-drawn wail from Joe's horn brought 

 out a deep-throated answering grunt from an old bull far up on 

 a distant hardwood ridge. During several years' moose-hunt- 

 ing in this country, as well as in Quebec and British Columbia, 

 I have had many opportunities of listening to sounds made by 

 cow moose, and I have yet failed to hear any call from these 

 animals that resembles the popular long call used by most moose- 

 callers. These men mostly agree that this is not an imitation 

 of any sound made by the cow moose, but that it has great 

 carrying power; and at this season of the year the bull will an- 

 swer and come toward any reasonable sound in the distance. 

 The skill of the caller comes into play when the bull has come 

 close enough to recognize a false note, and at this range several 

 different low calls are used. 



This particular afternoon, in answer to repeated calls, the 

 grunts became steadily louder. This was accompanied by the 

 sounds of antler blades rattling against branch and tree-trunk, 



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