MY NEW BRUNSWICK MOOSE 



m 



moose heard the noise that Lee was 

 making he would be scared out of the 

 country never to come back again. You 

 may imagine my surprise when after 

 the second or third call that he made I 

 plainly heard a large animal grunting 

 and breaking down the brush about 

 400 yards back in the woods. I was still 

 more surprised when a bull moose 

 came into an open space across the 

 river. We were hidden on a small 

 island. He stood for perhaps a minute, 

 grunting all the while ; then he came 

 towards us and slid down the bank into 

 the water, which was very shallow, not 

 being above 3 or 4 inches deep. The 

 moose kept coming right along towards 

 us. I began to think of shooting or run- 

 ning, about once for shooting and about 

 four times for getting somewhere be- 

 sides in his path. Lee saw that T was 

 beginning to get nervous and wanted to 

 shoot at the moose, but he told me not 

 to shoot, as the head was too small, the 

 moose was then about 60 feet from 

 where we were laying. I told Lee that 

 he was as near as I cared to have him, 

 and if he did not get out of the way I 

 should shoot or get out of there myself. 

 Then Lee stepped out of the bushes and 

 yelled at the moose and asked him what 

 he was there for. The moose stopped 

 then about 30 feet from where we were, 

 and I did not think he would go away, 

 as he did not seem frightened at us, but 

 I was frightened, I will admit., for I do 

 not care to play with moose in that way. 

 We had a camera with us, but I was not 

 thinking of taking his picture at that 

 time. After standing and looking at 

 Lee for two or three minutes, I think, 

 though Lee says it was not more than 

 half a minute, he turned around and 

 walked slowly back across the stream, 

 and when he got to the place where he 

 slid into the river he stopped and looked 

 back at us, and he did not seem inclined 

 to leave the stream. I suppose he still 

 thought there was a cow moose some- 

 where around, and we were keeping 

 her out of sight. Lee wanted to stone 

 him, but I did not think it best, as he 

 might charge us and we would have to 

 shoot him, and as his head was not 



worth the price of a $50 license and the 

 mounting I did not want to anger him, 

 so we let him alone, and lie at last wenl 

 into the brush and we saw nothing more 

 of him. It was getting dark, so we got 

 into the canoe and went back to camp, 

 which was only half a mile. Then we 

 built a fire and by that time Or. B— 

 and the guide had returned without get- 

 ting any answer or seeing any game, 

 after telling about the moose that we 

 had seen, and being warned by Green/, 

 not to let another get as near as that 

 one, as moose are dangerous during 

 mating season. We all turned in for the 

 remainder of the night on our beds of 

 spruce boughs. Having made five trips 

 into the Maine woods after moose and 

 deer I expected to be routed out of the 

 best part of my sleep, which is about 4 

 o'clock in the morning. But I slept un- 

 til 8 o'clock the next morning and got 

 up because I was hungry, finding both 

 Greene and Lee still in bed. Not want- 

 ing to get them into the habit of getting 

 up and waking me up if there was no 

 need of it, I took the 22-calibre rifle be- 

 longing to Lee and went down the path 

 alongside of the river, which was made 

 by the moose and other game. Hear- 

 ing partridges drumming all around 

 me I soon saw one on a rotten log. 1 

 shot him and three more, also a rabbit, 

 not being gone more than half an hour 

 from camp. When I returned to camp 

 I found Dr. B — > — up, with fires going 

 in the stove and in the fireplace. Greene 

 stuck his head, out of the tent and 

 wanted to know what we were up so 

 early for, and it was 9 o'clock. We said 

 we supposed it was time to get after the 

 moose, but Greene said that he never 

 had any luck until afternoon, so he al- 

 ways took it easy in the morning while 

 in camp. 



We set about getting breakfast and 

 had things cleared up by 10 o'clock. 

 Then we took a lunch and started hunt- 

 ing about 11 o'clock, the guide and Dr. 



B going down stream and Lee and 



myself going up the river. We stopped 

 where we called the one out the night 

 before ; saw tracks of a small moose 

 which Lee thought was the same 



