GAME OF THE KENAI PENL\SUEA, 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 

 friendly 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 steppmg 



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, offered 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. 



thh; big moose; lick of skilak lake 



"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. FamiHar 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- 

 lowed 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 



