MOOSE HUNT. 433 



measure recovered from its terror and state of exhaustion, it began to 

 think of getting home, and was now much enraged at finding itself so se- 

 curely imprisoned. We were unable to do any thing with it, for if we 

 merely approached our hands to the openings of the hut, it would spring at 

 us with the greatest fury, roaring and erecting its mane in a manner that 

 convinced us of the futility of all attempts to save it alive. We threw 

 to it the skin of a deer, which it tore to pieces in a moment. This 

 individual was a yearling, and about six feet high. When we went to look 

 for the other, which we had left in the woods, we found that he had 

 " taken his back-track," or retraced his steps, and gone to the " beat," 

 about a mile and a half distant, and which it may be interesting to de- 

 scribe. 



At the approach of winter, parties of Moose Deer, from two to fifty 

 in number, begin to lessen their range, and proceed slowly to the south 

 side of some hill, where they feed within still narrower limits, as the 

 snows begin to fall. When it accumulates on the ground, the snow, for 

 a considerable space, is divided into well trodden, irregular paths, in which 

 they keep, and browse upon the bushes at the sides, occasionally striking- 

 out a new path, so that, by the spring, many of those made at the begin- 

 ning of winter are obliterated. A " yard" for half a dozen Moose would 

 probably contain about twenty acres. 



A good hunter, although still a great way ofi^, will not only perceive 

 that there is a yard in the vicinity, but can tell the direction in which it 

 lies, and even be pretty sure of the distance. It is by the marks on the 

 trees that he discovers this circumstance ; he finds the young maple, and 

 especially the moose-wood and birch, with the bark gnawed off to the 

 height of five or six feet on one side, and the twigs bitten, with the im- 

 pression of the teeth left in such a manner, that the position of the ani- 

 mal when browsing on them may be ascertained. Following the course 

 indicated by these marks, the hunter gradually finds them more distinct 

 and frequent, until at length he arrives at the yard ; but there he finds 

 no moose, for long before he reaches the place, their extremely acute 

 smell and hearing warn them of his approach when they leave the yard, 

 generally altogether, the strongest leading in one track, or in two or three 

 parties. When pursued they usually separate, except the females, which 

 keep with their young, and go before to break the track for them ; nor 

 will they leave them under any circumstances until brought down by their 

 ruthless pursuers. The males, especially the old ones, being quite lean 



VOL. II. E e 



