!i 



MOOSE-CALLING. 107 '? 





stiff witli cold and from lying so long and motionless in 



the damp bushes, at last gives it up, and retires to his | 



camp. Should there be the slightest wind, moose will f3 



always take advantage of it in coming up to the caller, ^ 



in 



and endeavour to get his scent. The capacious nostrils 'Jii 



of the moose, up which a man can thrust his arm, show '^ 



the fine powers of that organ ; and should the hunter 'f 



have crossed the barren or the forest intervening betwixt Ij: 



him and the approaching bull at any time during the tl. 



day, unless heavy rain has occurred and obliterated the |; 



smell of his track, the game is up ; not another sound is ^ 



heard from the moose, who at once beats a retreat, and so ,:!• 



noiselessly, that the hunter often believes him to be still "•• ; 



standing, quietly listening, when, in fact, he is in full " 



retreat, and miles away. In districts where moose are '., 



very numerous, a number of bulls will reply to the call at 



the same time from different parts of the surrounding 



woods ; and in such cases it becomes, as the Americans *: 



express it, " a regular jam ;" they fear one another; and, f 



unless one of them is a real old 'un, and cares for nobody, ; ; 



cannot be induced to come out boldly, though they do 



sometimes try to cheat one another, and sneak round the ;: 



edge of the woods very quietly. ^; 



Your patriarch moose, however, scorns a score of rivals, i 



and goes in for a fight on every fitting occasion ; indeed, 



you have only to approach him when with his partner in 



the thick swamp, and, cracking a bough or two, put the 



call to your lips and utter the challenge-note of a bull. ; 



With mad fury he leaves his mate and crashes through ■ 



the forest towards you, and then — shoot him, or else 



stand clear. I have known this plan to be successfully [ 



carried out when moose have been started, and are in full ll'. 



