FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



NEW BRUNSWICK MOOSE AND CARIBOU. 



FRANK H. RISTEEN. 



The finest country for moose, in North 

 America, is the province of New Bruns- 

 wick. It is also the most prolific region for 

 caribou, with the single exception of the 

 distant and (to the sportsman whose time 

 and means are limited), almost inaccessible 

 plains of Newfoundland. 



While every hill and valley in the wilder- 

 ness of Maine has for the past 5 years re- 

 sounded with the crack of the hunter's rifle, 

 and big game, with the exception of deer, 

 is now threatened with extinction, the 

 moose and caribou of New Brunswick are 

 dying of old age, or of indigestion brought 

 on by lack of proper exercise. In this gen- 

 tle, bounteous wilderness is still to be found 

 the forest primeval. Through the valleys 

 wander streams whose sources are un- 

 known. Here are vast areas of timber land 

 undefaced by the greed of man; lofty cat- 

 aracts whose hoarse soliloquy is seldom 

 heard by human ear; beautiful nameless 

 lakes whose stillness is broken only by the 

 splashing flight of ducks, the leap of the 

 land-locked salmon, the uncanny laughter 

 of the loon, or the plunging stride of the 

 giant moose. 



The hunting season of 1897, in this prov- 

 ince, has witnessed the pioneer invasion of 

 an army of American sportsmen who have 

 heretofore sought the moose and caribou 

 elsewhere, and sought them vainly. The 

 returns of the Crown Land Department 

 show that something less than 100 Ameri- 

 can amateur hunters have this year visited 

 our hunting grounds. Of this number only 



6 persons, so far as known, failed to kill 

 either moose or caribou. The majority se- 

 cured specimens of both of these noble 

 game animals, beside an occasional bear 

 or deer. 



Until the present year, the record moose 

 for New Brunswick, as well as for Maine 

 and Nova Scotia, was that shot by Sir 

 Hany Burrand, on the Canaan river. Its 

 horns measured 5 feet 3 inches, from tip to 

 tip. This noble head was presented to the 

 Prince of Wales. It fell to the lot of an 

 American visitor last September, however, 

 to bring down a moose, on the Tobique 

 river, with horns spreading 5 feet 6 inches. 

 The lucky sportsman was Mr. Stephen De- 

 cataur, of Portsmouth, N. H. No less than 



7 moose were shot, on the Tobique, the 

 Restigouche and the Nepisiguit, last season, 

 with spreads of over 5 feet. It is now re- 

 ported that Honorable John Costigan has 

 shot a moose on the Tobique lakes with a 

 spread of 6 feet, but as the head has not yet 

 reached the settlement, the report cannot 

 be verified. 



The game laws of the province are liberal 

 in their terms, and still well adapted for the 

 proper protection of the game. With the 

 exception of grouse, the open season for 

 every kind of game is uniform, extending 

 from September 1 to January 1. The law 

 is in the interest of morality, if nothing else. 

 It reduces lying to a minimum. Nobody 

 thinks it necessary to hunt for one kind of 

 game under pretence of hunting for some- 

 thing else. The shooting of cow moose and 

 female moose calves is prohibited under 

 heavy penalties. Each hunter may shoot 2 

 moose, 3 caribou and 3 deer in a season. 

 At the next session of the legislature the 

 law will probably be amended, reducing the 

 maximum to one moose, 2 caribou and 2 

 deer. Non-residents who desire to hunt 

 moose and caribou in the province are re- 

 quired to take out a license; paying a fee 

 of $20, and giving a bond of $100, that they 

 will observe the law. Residents pay $2. 

 No license is required for the hunting of 

 deer. During the past season some doubt 

 arose, among the various game officials, 

 as to whether, under the wording of the law, 

 a tax was placed on non-resident guides. 

 The law will be made definite on this point 

 at the next session of the Legislature; and 

 it is practically certain that a tax of $20 will 

 be imposed upon non-resident guides 

 operating in this province. This will not 

 be welcome information to some of the 

 Maine guides who contemplate hunting 

 here next fall. The law will be nothing 

 more than just, however, for the game law 

 of Maine shuts out non-resident guides en- 

 tirely. 



By some non-resident sportsmen, objec- 

 tion is taken to the license fee of $20 which 

 they have to pay. The tax is defensible on 

 several grounds. In the first place the en- 

 tire proceeds are applied to game protec- 

 tion. Then it tends to keep out such reck- 

 less and irresponsible individuals as have 

 over-run Maine, like a devouring host. It 

 is not the wish nor policy of the Govern- 

 ment that sportsmen should come here in 

 such numbers as to reduce our game sup- 

 ply. When they do so, the regulations will 

 be made still more stringent. What is $20 

 to the man who gets his' moose? It was 

 Gordon Parker, one of the most deservedly 

 popular of American sportsmen, who said: 

 " There is a vast difference between hunt- 

 ing moose and a moose hunt, and the place 

 to have the latter is in New Brunswick." 



Owing to its central location, both from 

 a railroad and geographical^ standpoint, 

 there is no more convenient point of depart- 

 ure, for the big game hunter, than Fred- 

 ericton, the capital of the province. If a man 

 were to place the palm of his hand on a map 

 of New Brunswick with its base resting on 



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