HEADS AND HORNS 



171 



yearling. As a two-year-old the same moose 

 would have two points on a side, and he would be 

 known as a "crotch-horn." The three-year-old 

 usually has three points on a side, and a small 

 palm appears, while in the four-year-old the 

 antlers assume the adult form, but of small size. 

 After the moose is three years old the age can be 

 only approximately estimated from the antlers. 

 At about seven years of age the bull is in his 

 prime. His antlers have now attained their full 

 development. 



The antlers of the crotch-horn are not dropped 

 until about April. Each subsequent winter the 

 antlers are shed earlier, and by the time the bull 

 reaches his prime they are dropped by the last of 

 December or early in January. One often wonders 

 why he so rarely finds in the woods an antler shed 

 in some previous season. Those which are found 

 are usually mutilated, having been gnawed by the 

 mischievous woods mice or by porcupines. Many, 

 too, are dropped in swampy country, where the 

 weather causes early decay. ^ 



The new antlers begin to grow late in April. 

 At first the growth is very slow, but as summer 

 advances it becomes exceedingly rapid. The 



^ Hon. George Shiras, 3d, in the National Geographic Magazine for 

 May, 1912, pp. 450-454, 460-463, describes a rich harvest of moose 

 antlers which he found on the ground in the Kenai Peninsula. 



