Volume XV. 



RECREATION 



SEPTEMBER, J90J. 

 G. 0. SHIELDS (COQUINA), Editor and Manager. 



MOOSE HUNTING IN NOVA SCOTIA. 



Number 3 



J. L. DEVANY. 



The residents of Nova Scotia enjoy 

 an abundance of game unsuspected 

 by the majority of outside hunters. 

 Blue nose moose hunters may fairly 

 be termed game hogs, though they 

 are not of the common order. They 

 would, as a rule, scorn the wanton 

 slaughter of game, but they neverthe- 

 less want it all themselves. To that 

 end they demand of every foreign 

 hunter wishing to share the sport a 

 license of $30; and they usually pre- 

 fer that their own successful trips and 

 the size of the giant antlers captured 

 be not reported in the press, lest they 

 attract outside sportsmen regardless 

 of expense. Protective laws have re- 

 sulted in an abundance of moose in 

 the Province and have at the same 

 time confined the methods of hunting 

 employed to decidedly clean sport, 

 making them fair contests between 

 the hunter's skill and knowledge of 

 woodcraft and the watchful sagacity 

 and fleetness of the moose. 



The hunting season includes Octo- 

 ber, November and December, and 

 the methods of hunting are practically 

 limited to 2. Hounding is a thing of 

 the past, and as there are no run- 

 ways, or regular traveling places, 

 for moose in the Nova Scotia woods, 

 the successful hunter must either 

 creep upon them in their forest cover 

 or attract them into the clearings by 

 means of the birch bark call. The 

 hunter, however, who thinks he has a 

 cinch in either of these methods will 

 in time learn his error. Indeed, it is 

 not uncommon for beginners to con- 



sider the talk of moose calling a fable, 

 when after several trials, with all 

 chances apparently favorable, the 

 moose fails to put in an appearance. 

 The experience of a young New 

 Yorker will serve to exemplify both 

 the uncertainty of moose calling and 

 the manner in which it is prosecuted. 

 He was hunting in the Bear river 

 woods and accompanied by the most 

 expert as well as the most conceited 

 of Bear river's Micmac guides. Two 

 nights of calling proved fruitless. The 

 sportsman frankly told his guide he 

 had no faith in it, and that he did not 

 believe a moose would come to the 

 call of a man. This considerably ruf- 

 fled the guide's conceit, and he re- 

 solved if possible to make a lasting 

 impression to the contrary on the 

 mind of his employer. That afternoon 

 an ideal place for calling was chosen. 

 The tent was pitched beside a giant 

 boulder, on one side of which a nar- 

 row, open bog stretched away be- 

 tween wooded banks, and on the 

 other a sort of natural park extended 

 to the foot of a ridge covered with 

 hard wood. The guide exacted the 

 promise that his companion would 

 not shoot till he gave the word. All 

 arrangements being complete, as the 

 sun was nearing the Western horizon, 

 the guide climbed to the top of the 

 boulder and sounded the call. 



Almost immediately, from the 

 ridge, about 2 miles away, came the 

 deep voiced answer of an old bull. A 

 few moments sufficed to show that he 

 was coming at a rapid rate. The 



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