THE MOOSE AND WAPITI OF MANITOBA 



A PLEA FOR THEIR PRESERVATION 



and in every swamp and muskeg will 

 be seen tne deep-trodden, summer 

 runways. 



Each year in Manitoba the number 

 of moose killed increases, and strange 

 to say, each year it becomes easier for 

 the sportsman to secure a trophy. 

 Where twenty years ago only the na- 

 tive hunters could successfully track 

 anu lay low this elusive, ffiar' deer, 

 to-day anyone fitted to withstand a 

 little hardship and exposure, can bring 

 it to bag with rid'culous ease. All we 

 have read and heard of the wonderful 

 sagacity of the moose seemisi to be fail- 

 ing it as its enemies increase, and to- 

 day instead of a thorough knowledge 

 of the animal and its trickeries, the 

 hunter in most cases needs but to take 

 into the hush a modern rifle and a lit- 

 tle luck, if he would bring out an ont- 

 lered head and a bie story. I have 

 met unexpectedly with moose while 

 travelling straight down ' wind. and 

 have driven up to them ^'ith a team 

 of horses in a noisy, cumbrous bob- 

 sleigh, only to have them stare in- 

 quiringly at me and shamble slowly 

 off. On other occasions I have known 

 them to feed .c'ose to o^r camp night 

 after night, in spite of a hundred dif- 

 ferent noises from wood-chopping to 

 singing, which broke the silence of the 

 surrounding forest. Of course there 

 are exceptions to this, and there are 

 many old moose ranging through the 

 wilds of Manitoba, whose inherent, 

 protective instincts are such' that they 

 will unconsciously leal the hunter 

 away upon a lonf tramp, from which 

 he will invariably return empty-hand- 

 ed unless he be a master of his art. 

 Let the hunter but betray his pres- 

 ence through the agency of any of ^lie 

 clever precautions the animal will in- 

 stinctively take, as ho travels -I'ong. 

 and his hunt will be over for that day. 

 To such an animal th~ Precaution to 

 guard against the close approach of 

 an enemy comes naturally, and it is 

 through no premeditated planning, or 



immediate fear of danger, that it re- 

 sorts to artifice intended to warn it 

 of any trailing danger. Only the train- 

 ed hunter, and one who is fully eaual 

 to evading the animal's' keen powers 

 of scent and hearing, and who can ap- 

 proach unawares to within easy shoot- 

 ing range, is a match 



For This "Real" Moose; 



and more moose are killed each year 

 by sportsmen stumbling hlindly upon 

 them, or by a lack of protective in- 

 stinct on their quarry's part, than by 

 clever tracking. For this there iisi but 

 one explanation. The moose which in- 

 habit that part of the forest country 

 adjacent to the settled districts become 

 as it were half domesticated. They 

 in time get used to the noise of trains, 

 wagons, wood-chopping and many 

 other sounds, and are constantly hear- 

 ing or seeing things that woulri send 

 the shy, wary moose of the far north 

 into panicky flight. Even a rifle shot 

 at no great distance does not seem to 

 alarm them to any extent, so that it 

 is little wonder that the embryo moose 

 hunter usually attains his end with 

 surprising ease. As one gets farther 

 into the wildernesisi the moose becomes 

 correspondingly more difficult to hunt, 

 and in the great, silent forest of the 

 far north, it is practically immune 

 from all but the native tracker. Any 

 old resident of Manitoba will declare 

 that before the country was settled, 

 the successful Indian moose hunters 

 were few and far between, and when- 

 ever one succeeded in killing a moose 

 it was a matter quite worthy of com- 

 ment in the settlements. Now there 

 are probably five hundred moose kill- 

 ed annually by people from the cities 

 and towns, who know little more of 

 the animal other than its appearance 

 along a rifle barrel. 



In spite of the many dangers with 

 which the moose has to contend, it is 

 surprising how it adheres to its favor- 

 ite haunts in Manitoba, but there is 



