XI AWAY TO THE MOOSE-GROUND 213 



out the good heads. But I am convinced that in 1903 in 

 the forest around Kussiloff Lake the big bulls did not 

 commence to run much before the end of September, and I 

 was even counting on getting the best heads in October. 

 A sudden and unexpected ending was, however, put to our 

 trip, just after the moose had begun to run freely. Pitka 

 would frequently return to camp after a blank day, saying, 

 " Old man moose, he no walk around yet." On September 18 

 I moved camp to a fresh bit of country, leaving Glyn and 

 Little in the old camp. We pitched our tents in a very 

 dense part of the forest at a spot in which we afterwards dis- 

 covered that it was no easy matter to find the camp after dark. 



On the evening of the 19th I had a message saying that 

 Glyn had bagged his first moose, but that he was disgusted 

 to find he had not seen a good view of his horns, and that 

 they did not measure 50 inches, although the head had 

 appeared to be much bigger. On one of my blank days I 

 had an annoying experience with a black bear. A number 

 of these beasts came out on the open tundra from the timber 

 every morning to eat the blue-berries. 



Having gone out early one morning as far as the edge 

 of the timber line, with the express purpose of looking for 

 black bear, I soon saw one feeding about two miles away on 

 the open tundra. The beast was at no great distance from a 

 deep gully, which was full of dense brush. It was my object 

 to cut him off from this, and calling Pitka, who accom- 

 panied me, we started running at our best pace. Before we 

 could get within shot, the bear had disappeared somewhere 

 into the gully. I decided to try a drive, and leaving 

 Pitka at the head of the gully, with instructions to walk 

 along it when I had reached a place where I might be 

 able to see a clearing in the brush, I made a wide detour, 



