GAME OF the: KENAI PENINSULA, ALASKA 
44B 
After examining him carefully through 
a powerful field-glass, I was about to 
prepare for a picture when Tom, who 
had been gazing about, said, 'Gee ! Two 
more bulls ! Look to the left.' 
"And there, coming in file towards us, 
were two big brown-coated beasts with 
antlers that would tickle a Maine hunter, 
but somewhat smaller than those of the 
first. Sinking back into the bow of the 
canoe, I got the camera ready for the 
pair. 
"But with that perversity with which 
providence is well supplied, the bulls 
turned towards the bigger one and for 
a moment or two rubbed noses in a 
friendl}^ way — the climax of my oppor- 
tunity, but missed by overcaution — when 
they passed to the rear and soon out 
of sight. They had doubtless been dis- 
turbed by us further down the shore. 
But the big fellow, motionless as an 
image, still gazed at the three heads peer- 
ing over the edge of the grass." 
And here it may be interpolated that 
no antlered animal of the earth is more 
obtuse and stolid than the moose, and no 
animal, when finally alarmed, is a greater 
victim of an increasing and progressive 
fear than this. At times it seems almost 
impossible to alarm them, and then, 
when this is accomplished, one wonders 
whether they ever recover from the 
shock. 
Twenty years' association throughout 
their general range, with dozens of pic- 
tures by daylight and a hundred taken 
under the blazing, roaring flashlight — 
some only 20 or less feet away — make 
such conclusions irrevocable in the wri- 
ter's case, whatever others may say re- 
garding the supposed sagacity of the 
moose and the alleged skill required in 
accomplishing its undoing. 
"Getting out of the canoe, I counted 
on a picture as he swung clear of the 
tree ; and, walking slowly, got within 50 
feet, when he backed a few yards and 
then peered under the branches from the 
other side. Taking a picture in this un- 
satisfactory position, I again advanced, 
when he slowly turned about and walked 
away with the spruce intervening. 
"Somewhat disappointed, I returned 
to the water, and, when about stepping 
into the canoe, noticed the bull was com- 
ing back, and in a minute he was gazing 
once more through the branches of the 
spruce ; but as it was now time for his 
noonday rest, and since he evidently was 
determined to see the thing out in a com- 
fortable way, he unconcernedly lay down, 
and then for the first time I was able to 
see, in all their symmetry, the great horns 
just above the top of the high grass. 
"This led to a change in my plans, and, 
detaching the smaller and faster lense, I 
got out a big telephoto for the purpose 
of obtaining, by a slower exposure, a 
picture of the great antlers. Armed in 
this way, I began a slight advance to 
where the footing would be firmer, when 
he got up with considerable energy, and 
all I could see on the focusing mirror 
was his slowly retreating rear — an unat- 
tractive target for the camera, however 
vulnerable to a ball projected by a mod- 
ern rifle. 
"Thus three big bulls had, in the course 
of ten minutes, ofifered easy shots to the 
veriest tyro, while a picture, worthless 
beyond its power to recall the scene, was 
the result of my first encounter with the 
giant moose. 
"Pleased by the prospective and disap- 
pointed somewhat by the retrospective, a 
search for the lick was then begun, which 
I felt sure was not far away. 
THE BIG MOOSE EICK OE SKIEAK EAKE 
"A short distance beyond the canoe, 
in the left-hand corner of the little bay, 
we found a mud-hole around which the 
grass had been trampled for some weeks, 
and the riled condition of the water 
showed that one or more moose had been 
there within a few hours. Looking be- 
yond and through a fringe of trees, I 
could see a big bare field, the surface of 
which was plainly several feet below the 
surrounding marsh. Familiar with simi- 
lar conditions. I felt certain that this was 
one of the greatest resorts of its kind I 
had seen in many years, for every inch 
of soil removed was either eaten or swal- 
low^ed in the process of guzzling the 
mineralized water, oozing out here and 
there and covering a considerable part of 
the surface (see page 448). 
"It was plain, too, on closer inspection, 
that the long drought had begun to affect 
