4-o6 



The National Geographic Magazine 



AFTER MOOSE AND DEER IN NEW 

 BRUNSWICK 



During the first week in July, 1907, 

 I spent a pleasant week in New Bruns- 

 wick hunting moose and deer with the 

 camera and flashlight. Although I had 

 traveled through this famous game' coun- 

 try a number of times en route to New- 

 foundland, previous plans had prevented 

 -a visit into its wilds. 



In company with Adam Moore, the 

 lamous guide, trapper, and woods phi- 

 losopher, we ascended the Tobique River 

 seventy miles to its head-waters, Nictau 

 "Lake. Heavy and almost continuous 

 rains the previous month had kept the 

 banks full, or, as Moore expressed it, at a 

 "logging stage" — a most unusual condi- 

 tion for a mid-summer month. The Up- 

 per Tobique is peculiar in that it has no 

 rapids, no falls, and no slack waters, ex- 

 cepting an occasional salmon pool, for 

 some sixty miles ; yet it is one of the 

 swiftest streams I have ever attempted to 

 paddle. I say attempted, for the grand 

 rush of this stream, supplemented by un- 

 usually high water, made the bow paddle 

 useless, and all our. motor power was con- 

 centrated in a ten- foot pole shod with 

 steel, which Moore, a giant in stature and 

 avoirdupois, standing aloft in the stern 

 of the canoe, wielded with an expertness 

 and strength that slowly but surely over- 

 came a current against which four pad- 

 dlers would have succumbed. Aside from 

 a sudden dash from one bank to the other 

 in order to escape water at times too deep 

 for the shoving pole, no paddles were 

 used in the three days taken to ascend 

 the stream. 



Did space permit, much might be writ- 

 ten on the beautiful scenery, the moose 

 and the deer crossing ahead of us, but 

 beyond the camera range, on the slow 

 contest with the current, or the attrac- 

 tiveness of the camp each night with the 

 appetizing trout that lived to enjoy life 

 until the blazing campfire was the signal 

 for casting the artificial fly across this 

 spring- fed stream. 



Two days later, as we entered the nar- 

 row connecting creek between Lower and 

 Upper Xictau Lake. Moore, scanning the 

 stream carefully, remarked, "there were 



plenty of moose in the water today." 

 Although I had hunted moose for many 

 years, I neither observed any disturbance 

 in the muddy bottom nor any tracks upon 

 the bank, having failed to observe that 

 floating here and there upon the current 

 were numerous gray-brown hairs shed 

 by the moose as they fed on the aquatic 

 plants in the adjoining lake. A few 

 minutes later we reached Moore's cabin, 

 situated in a secluded corner, at the lower 

 end, where a view of the entire lake was 

 possible. And here, on the well-cleared 

 bank, with a more or less continuous 

 smudge, we were able to fight the sand 

 fly, black fly, and mosquitoes, and yet be 

 in a position to enter the canoe in a mo- 

 ment should a moose appear. 



The next day was dark, warm, and 

 wet, while it fairly rained moose ; and 

 their utter disregard of dampness was 

 noticeable from the fact of their wading 

 out in the deeper portions of the lake, 

 where they would go entirely out of 

 sight after the roots of acquatic plants. 

 But the moose is so dark in color and its 

 movements so rapid when chased by a 

 canoe that I refrained from attempting 

 to picture them under such unfavorable 

 conditions. 



The following days were more propi- 

 tious, though showers fell occasionally. 

 Many times during the day we silently 

 paddled along the dark-fringed shores 

 until close enough to a feeding animal to 

 overtake it by rapid paddling after we 

 had been finally discovered. Like all the 

 deer family excepting the antelope, the 

 moose has a poor and undiscriminating 

 eye, depending upon its keen nose and 

 sense of hearing for protection, and 

 therefore when the head was freqrently 

 submerged it was not hard to approach 

 with a canoe. During the next five days 

 a dozen or more pictures were taken by 

 this means, several of which are shown 

 in the present article. 



But when I returned each afternoon 

 to camp it was only to prepare for a 

 much more exciting camera hunt after 

 darkness shrouded this little lake. At 

 about q p. m. smaller lenses were substi- 

 tuted for the large ones used in davlight 

 work, and. entering: the canoe with the 



