4 8 



RECREA HON. 



A BELLIGERENT BULL MOOSE. 



We were camping on the East branch of 

 the Penobscot, in 1891, between the head 

 of Grindstone' falls and the mouth of Wis- 

 ataquoik stream. Priest was an old guide 

 and hunter, but had been converted to a 

 lumberman. He was short and heavy, and 

 had a stiff leg. One day he started out 

 exploring for lumber. About 9 o'clock he 

 was going through a pine growth, when he 

 ran upon a large bull moose. The animal 

 charged him at once. Priest started up a 

 tree, but before he got 5 feet from the 

 ground, the moose was upon him. The 

 man had always been in the woods and was 

 accustomed to shinning up trees, so man- 

 aged to keep on the side opposite the bull. 



Three times the moose reared and struck 

 down the sides of the tree, his hoofs swish- 

 ing by Priest's head like rifle bullets. He 

 kept on climbing, and soon was out of 

 reach. Reaching a large limb, he seated 

 himself, lit his pipe and awaited develop- 

 ments. The moose kept rearing and strik- 

 ing the tree, knocking off bark and pieces 

 of wood. Well, the old man was kept there 

 until about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, 

 when the bull went away, releasing his 

 prisoner. 



Priest slid down the tree and came to 

 camp as fast as his stiff leg would carry 

 him. 



That evening he prepared a birch-bark 

 horn, for calling. After dark he and I 

 started up the river in a bark canoe. The 

 old man was mad, and wanted to kill some 

 kind of a moose, to relieve 'his feelings. 



The bank, where we intended to watch, 

 was steep and high; the water deep along 

 shore, but about 70 feet out it ran off shoal 

 to a gravel bar. I held the canoe by a 

 bush, from the bow, while my companion 

 called, from the stern. 



When everything was ready, Priest gave 

 a long, low bellow on the horn, that rang 

 for miles around. In about 2 minutes we 

 heard an answer. After 20 minutes another 

 call was given. The answer was nearer 

 and louder. 



On the bull came to within 30 yards, and 

 stopped. Priest filled his horn with water 

 and let it drip into the stream. In an instant 

 the old fellow came with a bound and a 

 roar. Before I had time to shove the 

 canoe from the shore, he plunged over the 

 bank, striking his forefeet fairly into the 

 middle of the boat, driving them through 

 the bottom. Kicking with his hind feet in 

 the water, he was sending the canoe out 

 toward the gravel bar. When we got into 

 shallow water, I jumped and sang out to 

 Priest to fire. He did so, and one shot 

 did the work. This was the biggest moose 

 I ever saw. 



_ I have seen the old man many times 

 since, and he never fails to recall the moose 

 hunt, on the East branch. 



C. E. H., Medway, Me. 



North Platte, Neb. 



Editor Recreation: Duck and goose 

 shooting was good last spring, although no 

 one has made large bags of Canada geese, 

 and many hunters returned empty handed. 

 The unusual amount of rain and snow filled 

 the sloughs and overflowed the prairies, so 

 that the ducks had a large territory over 

 which to feed and were comparatively safe 

 from the hunters. Some of the best bags 

 were made shooting from sandbars in the 

 river. Redhead ducks were more abundant 

 than usual and canvasbacks rather scarcer. 

 The snow geese, or white brant, as they are 

 commonly called, were so abundant, at 

 some points along the Platte river, as to 

 fairly whiten the fields where they feed; and 

 an engineer recently told me he saw a 40- 

 acre corn field literally covered with them. 

 For some reason they are not hunted so 

 much as the Canada geese, although they 

 are much less wary. They are not consid- 

 ered so good for eating. 



Old prairie chickens were more abundant 

 last spring than for 3 or 4 years, and we 

 hope for another season of good chicken 

 shooting. As I was dressing, this morning, 

 the booming of the cocks floated in at the 

 open window, from the prairies adjacent to 

 town, and raised bright visions of fine 

 sport, with the large coveys, in the fall. A 

 wet spring is always most favorable, here, 

 to a good hatch and an abundance of full 

 grown grouse in the fall. 



M. K. Barnum. 



Sportsmen are beginning to realize that 

 game is becoming less abundant each sea- 

 son. The conclusion reached by many, 

 therefore, is that game laws are either 

 loosely regarded, throughout the country, 

 or the present laws are not strict enough. 



Even in the olden times there were many 

 strict laws for protection of game, which 

 made poaching no less a crime than theft. 

 The promptness with which General Wash- 

 ington acted, on one occasion, in punish- 

 ing a poacher, might serve as an example 

 for the proper treatment of pot hunters. 



There was a certain worthless fellow, 

 notorious as a poacher, who was known to 

 frequently trespass on the grounds belong- 

 ing to Mount Vernon. He had been 

 warned time and again, by Washington, 

 but continued his depredations. He would 

 cross the river in a canoe, and with fowling 

 piece make havoc among the canvasbacks 

 that flocked to the low marshlands. 



One day, as Washington was going 

 about the plantation, he heard the report 

 of a gun in the direction of the river. Sur- 

 mising what was in the wind, he spurred 

 his horse toward the sound. Dashing 

 through the bushes, he came upon the cul- 

 prit, just as he was pushing from shore. 

 The fellow, seeing his danger, cocked his 



