MOOSE-CALLING IN NEW BRUNSWICK 



with my carbine clogged and useless. The moose had succeeded 

 in reaching the pond, and was struggling helplessly in the mud 

 twenty feet from shore. Borrowing Howe's rifle, I finished the 

 animal with a shot in the neck which caused it to sink in the 

 mire until only a few points of one blade showed above the sur- 

 face of the water. 



It took the four of us all the remiainder of the morning to pry 

 the carcase into such a position that we could cut off the head 

 and extract it from the mud. This bull was a very old one, with 

 a spread of fifty-one inches; but, as with old bulls generally, the 

 blades were narrow and the points comparatively few. Having 

 secured the legal allowance of one bull moose apiece, loaded down 

 with heavy packs, we started for Bathurst the next morning. 



The first of October of the following year found me again 

 camped within half a mile of where we were located the pre- 

 vious year. Our lean-to was pitched in a thick grove of bal- 

 sams and spruces near a small, clear brook, which, fringed by a 

 few green trees, wound its course through many miles of burnt 

 timber. We had camped farther away from the calling-ground, 

 as we had discovered the year before that the sound of chopping 

 and scent of the fire alarmed moose at the pond when the 

 wind was from the wrong direction. On this trip John Landry 

 accompanied me as guide, while a brother of last year's cook 

 furnished us with three excellent meals a day. During the 

 first warm days of October only small bulls came to John's 

 call, and we saw the usual number of cows and calves to be 

 found in the vicinity of the pond. 



About three o'clock one warm, bright afternoon we struck 

 out through the hrHlee toward the cool, green timber w^hich 

 surrounded the pond, and occupied our usual position on a 

 point where we were concealed by a screen of alders, and were 

 able to command a view of almost the whole length of this 

 body of water. As we patiently waited for the sun to sink 



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