474 



RECREATION 



GOT OUR PREMIUM AND A MOOSE. 



Editor Recreation: 



In your letter of September 18 you ask me 

 to let you know about my hunting trip. A 

 party of six or- us hit here September 14, 

 1905, and went back some twenty miles on 

 the old St. John post road, known as the 

 "old Shepody road." We found an ideal spot 

 and pitched our new 12 x 12 "Carpenter" tent 

 and made things snug. Birds being plentiful, 

 I shot five with a .22 Stevens rifle. The 

 ruffed grouse here are quite tame, and get- 

 ting them with a shotgun doesn't seem fair. 

 The next day was the opening of the big 

 game season, while out with the .22 I ran full 

 on a fine bull moose, less than 40 yards 

 away — and I with a .22. I said nothing, but 

 I thought a heap. After inspecting me for 

 four or five minutes the moose walked away. 

 I got back to camp in a hurry, only hitting 

 the high places. Getting the heavy rifle and 

 one of the boys, we made tracks for his 

 Royal Highness, but he had received an ur- 

 gent call elsewhere and was not to be found. 



That afternoon four of us made our way 

 to a meadow, something like a mile and a 

 half from the road, and surrounded by 

 spruce, fir, and alders. We started calling 

 about 4 o'clock, and a few minutes past 5 

 a fine bull moose appeared on the scene. 

 With many a grunt and snort he made his 

 way to the meadow and across a corner of it, 

 stopping in a clump of bushes. I was about 

 200 yards away, but I could see the head, 

 horns and a part of the right shoulder. 1 

 placed a soft-nosed bullet from a .32 Win- 

 chester special repeating rifle fitted with the 

 Lyman sights obtained of Recreation for 

 getting subscribers, just forward of the 

 shoulder. He turned and made off, snorting 

 and coughing, but only went about 50 yards, 

 and then fell like a thousand of brick. He 

 never got up again. 



The bullet broke two ribs, then mush- 

 roomed and split all to pieces, tearing the 

 lungs into a clotted mass ; it also cut a "hole 

 in the windpipe and broke two i;ibs on the 

 opposite side, not going . through. All that 

 was found of the bullet were numerous small 

 bits of lead and a badly battered piece 'of the 

 metal jacket. The meat dressed over 800 

 pounds, and the live weight would be close 

 to 1,400 pounds. The spread of the horns was 

 55/4 inches, which is considered a very large 

 head ; in fact, the largest one shot in this sec- 

 tion this year as far as I can find out. The 

 head and horns are nearly perfect, being very 

 evenly matched both as to shape and color. 

 I am now having the head mounted in St. 

 John, N. B. 



The Lyman sights are O. K. I used the 

 rear combination, and ivory hunting front 

 sight in shooting the moose, and without 



them I might have missed him at that dis- 

 tance. 



This was the only moose we got on our 

 two weeks' trip. W. J. Baldwin, 



Albert, N. B., Can. 



We hope to reproduce Mr. Baldwin's pho- 

 tographs of this fine moose in our December 

 issue. — Editor. 



ANIMALS' SIGNALS OF ALARM. 



BY HARRY B. BRADFORD. 



One of the first things noticeable on ap- 

 proaching a covey, flock or herd of wild ani- 

 mals is their alarm at the sight or scent of a 

 stranger. 



Probably all gregarious animals have some 

 way of giving an alarm of danger to those 

 that make up the rest of their herd. 



Those animals which hunt singly need no 

 such alarm. All that concerns them is to see 

 that number one is safely out of danger. 



In union there is strength, and also more 

 liberty in daring, therefore the animal that 

 prowls about alone ( is usually shy and crafty, 

 and keeps well out of sight, while those 

 which move in companies may take more 

 freedom. 



Some animals detail one or more sentinels 

 to out-guard their band or flock while they 

 are feeding or traveling. It is understood 

 with others that those on the outskirts of 

 the herd will act in such a capacity on their 

 own intuition, and the hunter's or explorer's 

 experience, in approaching wild creatures, ac- 

 quaints him with the cunning manner in 

 which such signaling is carried out. 



How rarely we ever come across a rabbit 

 sitting still in the woods ! If we could come 

 upon a small group of them, just before we 

 saw them on the hop, we might hear their 

 signal of alarm. It is a short, smart stamp 

 upon the ground with their hind, padded feet. 

 At this sound every rabbit in the vicinity 

 pricks up his ears, while some sit upright 

 and become temporarily immovable, except 

 for a slight trembling in an endeavor to re- 

 main perfectly quiet. 



I have often imitated their stamp on the 

 ground and seen forty or more, domesticated 

 rabbits even, stop chewing the grass or leaves 

 which they had in their mouths. 



This signal is simply a warning, and if they 

 hear nothing unusual, they continue their 

 feeding, but if an enemy is heard or scented, 

 there is a general scamper for the thicket. 

 They rarely run far without stopping to lis- 

 ten again, and if they find the enemy means 

 business, they endeavor to show him that they 

 are equal to the occasion. 



There is no discount on the hearing of rab- 

 bits, but their sight, strange as it may seem, 

 is very poor, especially in the albinos. If 



