Nov. 21, 1903.I 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
401 
f^wf^ ^nd 0ntL 
All communications intended for Forist and Stream should 
ilways be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Co., 
^ew York, and not to any individual connected with the paper. 
The Game Laws in Brief 
s the standard authority of fish and game laws of the United 
States and Canada. It tells everything and gives it correctly. 
!?ee in advertising pages list of some of the dealers who handle 
he Brief. 
A Peculiar Moose Head. 
"Editor Forest and Sti'eam: 
In answer to your letter requesting me to give you some 
nformation concerning the capture of my interesting 
noose, I inclose a photograph showing the unusual 
frowth of antlers ; a double palm on one side, double 
)row antlers 'on the other. 
The only incident of note in the capture was that my 
ifle missed fire twice. We were hunting at the head- 
Abaters of the Joco River in Ontario. I had seen ten 
noose on this trip without firing a shot, for none of the 
leads were of exceptional size. The cow and calf ac- 
:ompan3dng the old fellow started when we were about 
[25 yards away; my Indian Francois had been tracking- 
hem for some half hour; a moment later we saw the old 
)ull walking away showing only a little patch of his side 
lere and there as he passed between the hard wood trees. 
When the hammer of my rifle clicked he stopped and 
urned, apparently quite willing to dispute possession with 
my rival. At the second click he turned again and walked 
Driskly in the direction the cow had taken. There are 
10 oaths in the Indian tongue, but we have a few spare 
A'Ords in our language for such occasions, and with these 
Francois seemed perfectly familiar; not in loud boastful 
look alike. One stuffs the skin full to the limit of its 
stretching capacity, giving your moose an altogether 
Hebraic expression; another folds the skin under, tucks 
It away, shrivels it up till your moose looks ashamed of 
having a nose at all. The truth is, the nose is ever chang- 
ing in shape. 
The nasal bones are shorter than in the horse or ox, 
and the septum nasi much longer and deeper, and it is the 
depth of this cartilage varying greatly in different speci- 
mens that gives some moose the pronounced Roman nose. 
The muscles that lift this heavy muffle are particularly 
well developed (especially the levator labii superioris 
aUeque nasi), and the play of these muscles are ever 
changing the shape. The upper lip, unlike the wapiti and 
deer, in which animals it is devoid of hair between the 
nostrils, is well clothed in the moose except for a little 
T-shaped depression in the median line; thus making the 
bulk}', ungainly looking muffle the daintiest of instruments 
with which to pick up a sprig of ground hemlock or pull 
down a twig of viburnum. 
I have on several occasions been fortunate enough to 
creep very close to moose when feeding — within fifteen 
yards, perhaps — and had opportunity to watch the play of 
their nostrils, when, upon showing ourselves, they tried 
to wind us. One time we came so close that when we 
stood up an old cow immediately flattened her ears and 
charged. Francois threw his hat in her face; this dis- 
mayed her for a moment, and then she turned to follo^v■ 
the others into the balsam thicket. It is amazing how 
silently these animals can move through the forest. There 
has been much written about their low shuffling gait, 
but, on the contrar}', they trot with high knee and hock 
action, as any animal of necessity must that travels on a 
walk or trot over so much fallen timber. 
There is one point in connection with the shedding of 
antlers that may be w-orth mentioning. The circular 
artery which nourishes the antler through the vascular 
covering popularly known as the velvet, is constricted by 
tlie hardening burr at the base of the antler when the 
A PECULIAR MOOSE HEAD. 
profanity of the city, but in suppressed, almost unintel- 
ligible tones he cursed me, the moose, the ammunition, 
even the rifle that he had come to believe infallible. 
You may know that I was a little flurried; more so, 
perhaps, than in any hunting experience, for I could sec 
that the moose was of great size, and 1 realized that if the 
next cartridge failed he would be out of sight; but the 
third cartridge did not fail. 
While paddling across Island Lake to camp, I asked, 
"What were you trying to tell me when my rifle missed 
fire ?" The answer was : "Seems want get very big moose, 
seems dunno how." 
While no harm can come to any gregarious species 
through the killing of a few old males, yet the killing, 
the taking of life, is the only unpleasant part of a hunt- 
ing trip. Childhood is destructive. The boy who ex- 
periences no sensation save of delight, providing the 
teacher does not catch him while pulling the wings from 
a fly, or in successful rifle practice upon the neighbor's 
cat, growing into the wider fields of sport and thought, 
following the game into its home, acquiring a knowledge 
of its life, becoming acquainted with it, begets an interest 
and a love for it above the killing, and frequently the most 
successful hunters become the strongest advocates of game 
protection. 
It is not the sportsman who destroys the game, it is 
the sportsman who protects it; but so long as man is a 
flesh-eating animal, so long as the law of the survival of 
the fittest obtains, so long as one life must be sacrificed 
that another may be prolonged, so long will mawkish 
' sentimentality be out of place in game preservation. 
And yet are there not thousands of hunters who each 
year pack upon their backs meat that someone has killed 
in Chicago, labor for days to carry it in to some remote 
camp, and eat of this product of life that someone has 
taken for gain rather than kill their friends of the wnlder- 
jiess — friends they have learned to love? 
I have written all this because there seems to be a wide- 
spread impression that the man who goes for a little 
while each year to be rich without gold, content without 
gratified ambition, for a little while to be free— an im- 
pression that he goes to slay. 
One of the first questions visitors ask in examining my 
inoose heads is, "Why do they have such a nose?" No 
two moosf }ppk alike. No two taxidermists make them 
latter has attained its growth. The velvet now dies and 
drops or is rubbed off against saplings. A little circula- 
tion is still maintained directly into the base of the antler. 
In verification of this I once found a dead moose that 
had become cast bv his thigh being caught beneath a pro - 
jecting point of rock. Whether he had been shot before 
being in this predicament or cast by accident I am un- 
able to state, as he was lying in such a position that we 
could not turn him over to examine the under side for a 
bullet wound. In his struggles he had broken off both 
antlers at the shedding point, but before the shedding 
season— it being about the middle of October. The moose 
had so recently died that the blood was still oozing from 
the skull surface where the antler had been attached. But 
very little blood passes in this wzy, however, and so far 
i.s nourishment goes the antler is practically dead tissue. 
There has been a great blood supply given to the 
rapidly growing antler; this is suddenly cut off and 
deviated into the general circulation. Isn't it quite possi- 
ble that the physiological congestion so produced has some 
bearing upon the sense of vigor that comes over males of 
all the" deer family at this season, and accounts for that 
restless, running, fighting mood which constitutes thr 
running time, and which precedes the rutting period? 
Hamilton VREEr^ANn. 
The Connecticut Game Supply. 
New York, Nov. 14.— Editor Forest and Stream: As 
mv summer residence is. in New Haven county. Conn., 
each fall during November I hunt there after partridges 
and quail, and it is a painfully but plainly evident fact 
that o-ame of all kinds is not gradually but rapidly disap 
pearing. This fall partridges and quail were scarce 
indeed. ^ ^ . ,., 
Unless the Legislature of Connecticut speadily passes 
a law making not less than two closed seasons on gamt 
bird'; and further allowing shooting only during the 
month of November, there will soon be no game birds 
at all, The imp.-rative need of this is staring us in the 
face, ' There should be no halting in decidmg that closed 
seasons must at once he ordered, 
Every effort possible should be exerted to save and 
protect the game in Connecticut. 
^ CoU9Ti^ND Babcock. 
The Adirondack Deer Season. 
Utica, N. Y., Oct. 16. — Guides, woodsmen and vet- 
eran hunters generally seem to be of the' opinion that 
there are more deer in the Adirondacks now than there 
were twenty years ago or even a decade since. The 
fact that the deer are apparently gaining ground slow- 
ly but surely under the partial protection that is af- 
forded them is extremely gratifying, for it seems to 
indicate clearly that with an augmented corps of game 
officials and a better enforcement of the existing laws, 
they would in a few years become so plentiful that al- 
most anyone who desired to do so could easily obtain a 
shot. 
It is not thought that the aggregate number killed this 
fall will greatly exceed the total of a year ago. More sat- 
isfactory results could not reasonably be expected than 
were obtained in 1902, for the number of deer killed 
then exceeded that of the average for recent years. 
The conditions were such during a good part of this 
season as to render it difficult to move about in the 
woods a great deal without making noise enough to 
alarm anything but a fool deer. In the Adirondacks 
deer answering to this description are notably scarce, 
for their education has nofbeen neglected, and they 
invariably act as if they knew Dy instinct, intuition or 
knowledge born of past experience, when the hunting 
season begins and whether a man is carrying a gun 
or a fishing rod. It has repeatedly been observed that 
deer which were apparently quite tame and lacking in 
fear of man during the summer months, would forsake 
their old haunts with the advent of September and flee 
for their lives at the cracking of a twig under the hu- 
man foot. They may not have been shot at or pursued, 
but they seem to realize that they are in danger, and 
act accordingly. It may be argued that this is purely 
imagination on the part of the hunters, but there are 
many who believe that the deer know a thing or two 
which the public generally does not give them credit 
for knowing. In various portions of the Adirondacks 
this peculiarity of the deer was particularly noticeable 
this year. 
During the summer the animals were seen in un- 
usual numbers, often times in localities which they had 
not frequented before for many years, and they were re- 
ported to be very bold. But after Sept. i their habits 
underwent a decided change, for they manifested _ no 
inclination whatever to show themselves. It is time 
that a few of the less wary ones were shot during the 
opening days of the season by hunters who were watch- 
ing for them on the ponds, lakes and .streams in the 
wilderness, but these were exceptional instances, and 
subsequently this mode of hunting proved almost futile. 
Still-hunting was attended with but little better results 
so long as the foliage remained intact on the small 
trees and bushes, for it was impossible to see any con- 
siderable distance in the depths of the woods, i^y the 
last week in October, however, the leaves had mostly 
fallen, and the conditions for hunting were vastly im- 
proved, particularly so as there were two or three 
light falls of snow. Hunters then began to do more 
deadly work than they had been doing previously, and 
it is safe to say that the bulk of the deer killed this 
fall were shot within the past three weeks. It is a sub- 
ject of such common remark among hunters who have 
visited the Adirondacks this year that they have seen 
a good many deer which for various reasons they did 
not shoot at, it tends to strengthen the belief that deer 
are more numerous there than they were at one time. 
Owing to the unfortunate precedent which has been 
established in past years, the public has come to look 
for a formidable list of shooting accidents m the Adi- 
rondack region, during the deer hunting season. This 
fall, as usual, there have been a number of such casual- 
ties, although not as many as in some years. Deer 
hunters are" evidencing a greater degree of caution 
than thev did at one time, and it is gratifying to note 
that the 'dangerous practice of firing at every moving 
bush on the theory that there is probably game behind 
it, is rapidly dying out. Many hunters now wear red 
hats, red coats, red or white sweaters, and red shirts, 
while roaming about the woods in quest of deer, and 
it is believed to be a very commendable idea and a wise 
precaution. Bright colors do not alarm the deer, and 
the hunter who Ts attired in red has exactly as good a 
chance of obtaining sight of game as he would if he 
wore brown, gray or black, while the rusk of his being 
mistaken for a deer or bear by some other hunter and 
perforated with a rifle ball is materially lessened. In 
the majority of cases the hunter who frightens a deer 
so that it escapes before he can obtain a shot at it, 
does so by some noise which he makes and not by the 
color of his clothing. Men who are experienced in 
woodcraft insist that it makes little or no difference, so 
far as alarming the deer goes, what colors a person 
may see "fit to wear, for it is his movements, which in 
nine cases out of ten cause the game to become sus- 
picious and seek safety in flight. Even though the 
hunter is moving noiselessly, if the deer sees him and 
observes that the strange object which has attracted 
its attention is in motion and probably approaching, 
that IS sufficient, as a rule, to frighten the animal. In 
view of these facts, it is safe to assert that the red- 
coated hunter, if he happens to be standing or sitting 
still at the moment a deer discovers him, will be tar 
le'=s likely to alarm the animal than a man attired m 
any color would while moving about. Guides and 
hunters alike have come to recognize the necessity of 
exercising great caution in order to guard against 
shooting casuahies, and it is now a common thing for 
members of a hunting party to warn each other be- 
fore starting a day's trip not to shoot at any object 
unless they know positively that it is not a human be- 
ing It is sincerely hoped that people who frequent the 
witderness on hunting excursions will continue to use 
due caution in this respect, as this is apparently the 
onlv way in which shooting accidents can be prevented. 
Reports from Sullivan county indicate that the deer 
hunting season in that part of the State, which began 
Nov. I and closed yesterday, has been an exceedingly 
lively one. There were upward? of 500 hunters on hand 
for the openijig of the ^p^rX, an^ H is probable therft 
