100 THE AMERICAN MOOSE 



without first serving an apprenticeship as a hunter 

 of the whitetail or similar game. 



Through uncounted centuries the Instinct of 

 the moose was developed with a view to self- 

 preservation. The moose of today possesses this 

 instinct, the inheritance of his race, and it would be 

 adequate to enable him to cope with the cougar 

 and the wolf and his other traditional enemies 

 which are commonly called predatory. But the 

 most terrible animal of all is a late comer — and 

 he brought the rifle. Moose tactics furnish safe- 

 guards against creatures which stealthily follow 

 their intended victims by the aid of a powerful 

 sense of smell. But this late comer, who lacks 

 keenness of scent, often remains invisible, and 

 from a distance strikes a mortal blow. The 

 inheritance of instinct, alas, furnishes no safeguard 

 against the invisible bullet. 



The art of still-hunting consists in taking advan- 

 tage of man's superior reasoning power, his superior 

 eyesight, and the inventive skill which gives him 

 the rifle, to bring to bag the animals which could 

 easily outwit or outfight their fellow wild animals 

 which fight with teeth and claws. If still-hunting 

 IS more sportsmanlike than calling or jacking or 

 dogging, it is because in still-hunting man at his 

 best is pitted against the moose at his best, and 



