Ill 



111!* .' ;' 



:\IOOSE HUNT I NO. • 8.') 



semi-disgust, dorives the greatest pleasure in watching H ■, 



their wonderful powers of tracking, their sagacity in ,i|-;|| 



finding the game, and general display of woodcraft. '!; ' 



It is, perhaps, to this art of tra(!ldng or " creeping " l|j' 



that the sport itself owes all its excitement ; and it is in \'i ■ 



the lower provinces (Nova Scotia especially) that it is 

 carried out to j)erfection by the Indian hunters ; a race, 

 however, which, it must Ijc regrettingly stated, is fast , ' 



disappearing from the country. ;: 



In Nova Scotia the moose may not he legally shot after 

 the last day of December, and are thus protected, by the ' 



absence of deep snow in the woods during the open 

 season, from such ruthless invasions of their restricted 

 " yards," and wanton massacres as are of fre(juent occur- 

 rence in New Brunswick and Lower Canada. ]\looso ; 

 hunting in the deep snows which choke the forests to- 

 wards the close of winter — the hunter being able to move :;'*' 

 freely over the surface by the aid of his snow-shoes, 

 whilst the animals arc huddled together, spiritless, and ■ I"" 

 in wretched condition — is a stupid slaughter, and 

 decidedly deserves the imputation often cast upon it, 

 that it has no more merit of sport than the being led up 

 to a herd of cattle in a farmyard. 



The light snow-storms, however, of the first winter 

 months cover the grcM'ad just suthciently to bring out 

 the art of creepi'i^ to its perfection, whilst the moose 

 cannot be run down, and snow shoes are never required. 

 The dense deciduous foliage of the hard woods is now all 

 removed, and the woods afford clear open vistas in wJiich 

 game may be far more readily detected than in the cover 

 of autumn ; a wounded animal seldom escapes the hunter 

 to die a lingering death ; and, lastly, there cannot l)e tlu^ 



f' 







