114 THE AMERICAN MOOSE 



The tactics here described are much less resorted 

 to where moose are plenty than in places where 

 they are more rarely met. Indeed, it is always 

 in the places where the difficulties of the hunt are 

 greatest that the most skillful hunters are found. 



When a yarding place of moose is found, indi- 

 cated by browsing and peeling, the tracks crossing 

 and recrossing, the hunter should at once seek the 

 leeward side, and work his way into the yard by a 

 system of zigzags, keeping a close watch to wind- 

 ward as he advances. 



Much of the moose country of the remote 

 Northwest is sparsely wooded, but in the portions 

 of the moose's range which are most frequently 

 visited by sportsmen the cover is comparatively 

 thick. Under the latter conditions, if a moose is 

 a hundred yards away he is usually concealed by 

 trees and underbrush, and he is often invisible to 

 the hunter at half this distance. In the summer 

 and early autumn, to be sure, the moose is fre- 

 quently seen in and about the water, at a distance 

 of several hundred yards, but later, in the still- 

 hunting season, the game is found among the 

 thick growth of the ridges. The hunter, of course, 

 prefers the more open woods, but he must take 

 conditions as he finds them. For a fair marks- 

 man, armed with a good rifle, a shot at two hundred 



