434 MOOSE HUNT. 



at this season, go off at great speed, and unless the snow is extremely 

 deep, soon outstrip the hunters. They usually go in the direction of the 

 wind, making many short turns to keep the scent, or to avoid some bad 

 passage ; and although they may sink to the bottom at every step, they 

 cannot be overtaken in less than three or four days. The females, on the 

 contrary, are remarkably fat, and it is not at all unfrequent to find in one 

 of them a hundred pounds of raw tallow. But let us return to the young 

 buck, which had regained the yard. 



We found him still more untractable than the female we had left in 

 the hovel ; he had trodden down the snow for a small space around him, 

 which he refused to leave, and would spring with great fury at any one 

 who approached the spot too near ; and as turning on snow-shoes is not 

 an easy operation, we were content to let him alone, and try to find one 

 in a better situation for capture, knowing that if we did eventually secure 

 him, he would probably in the struggle injure himself too much to live. 

 I have good reason to believe that the only practicable mode of taking 

 them uninjured, except when they are very young, is, when they are ex- 

 hausted and completely defenceless, to bind them securely, and keep 

 them so tiU they have become pacified and convinced of the uselessness of 

 any attempt at resistance. If allowed to exert themselves as they please, 

 they almost always kill themselves, as we found by experience. 



On the following day we again set out, and coming across the tracks 

 of two young bucks, which had been started by the Indians, we pursued 

 them, and in two or three miles overtook them. As it was desirable to 

 obtain them as near the camp as possible, we attempted to steer them 

 that way. For a while we succeeded very well in our scheme, but at last 

 one of them, after making many ineffectual attempts to get another way, 

 turned upon his pursuer, who, finding himself not very safe, felt obliged 

 to shoot him. His companion, who was a little more tractable, we drove 

 on a short way, but as he had contrived to take many turnings, he could 

 approach us on his back-track too swiftly, so that we were compelled to 

 shoot him also. We " dressed" them, taking with us the tongues and 

 muffles, which are considered the most delicate parts. 



We had not walked more than a quarter of a mile, when we perceiv- 

 ed some of the indications before mentioned, which we followed for half 

 a mile, when we came across a yard, and, going round it, we found where 

 the Moose had left it, though we afterwards learned that we had missed 

 a fine buck, which the dogs, however, afterwards discovered. We soon 



