Distribution of the Moose 



very great, and heads passing through the hands of 

 such dealers must be discarded as of little scientific 

 value. A favorite device is to take a green head, 

 force the antlers apart with a board and a wedge 

 every few days during the winter. By spring the 

 skull and antlers are dry and the plank can be re- 

 moved. The spread of antlers has meantime 

 gained several inches since the death of the animal 

 that bore them. Such a device is almost beyond 

 detection. 



It is an exceedingly difficult matter to formulate 

 a code of hunting ethics, still harder to give them 

 legal force; but public opinion should condemn 

 the kind of sportsmanship which puts a price on 

 antlers. As trophies of the chase, hard won 

 through the endurance and skill of the hunter, 

 they are legitimate records of achievement. The 

 higher the trophy ranks in size and symmetry, the 

 greater should be its value as an evidence of 

 patient and persistent chase. To slay a full grown 

 bull moose or wapiti in fair hunt is in these days 

 an achievement, for there is no royal road to suc- 

 cess with the rifle, nor do the Happy Hunting 

 Grounds longer exist on this continent; but to kill 

 them by proxy, or buy the mounted heads for 

 decorative purposes in a dining room, in feeble 

 imitation of the trophies of the baronial banquet 



389 



