THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
depend entirely on the quantity of the interior food supply, and having 
found a spot full of young birch, alder, willow, etc., they are content, and 
only move when driven forth by man, wolves, or by starvation. 
That moose can live and even increase close to civilization, provided 
that the whole of their range is not attacked, is proved by the abundance 
of moose close to the large town of Winnipeg in Manitoba. Mr G. H. 
Measham, writing from Shoal Lake, and quoted by E. Thompson Seton, 
in his “Life Histories of Northern Animals ” (p. 154), says: 
“ The moose is, however, far from being scarce or in much danger 
of becoming extinct. I can safely say that within fifty miles of Winnipeg 
there are hundreds of moose, and that within 100 miles there are 
thousands of them. 
“ For example, in the districts of St Lawrence and Oak Point there 
must be sixty or seventy hunters. Gutting them down to two moose 
per annum, that would mean 130 moose killed. Now it would be more 
nearly true to state the year’s kill at 500 head of deer, mostly moose, 
and all killed in the municipality of Posen and the greater part in 
townships 21 and 22, ranges 5 and 6 west of 1st Meridian. This 
slaughter has gone on for years, yet the moose are still there, and 
lots of them. The fact is, that though there are districts (like Fisher 
River, Posen, Lake St Martin and so on) that are much hunted, yet 
there are vast districts that are practically untouched. The Indian 
hunter does not, nowadays, travel very far from his reserve, and I 
have reason to believe that the moose are not only holding their own, 
but increasing.” 
In very bad weather moose are often hard put to find a living in their 
yard, for although they may trample the first snow down by the repeated 
making of paths, subsequent falls often bury the best part of their food 
and force them to live on the loftier branches. Therefore they are often 
forced to leave a yard and seek for fresh ground in the depth of winter 
when the attacks of wolves are most to be feared. In most cases they will 
stay in the same yard until the melting of the snow in spring, when life 
again becomes easy to them. 
Moose generally leave the yard sometime about the end of March, the 
bulls going off by themselves to grow their new antlers and frequenting 
swampy regions where there is an abundance of hardwood trees on which 
to browse. They live on the twigs and leaves of many deciduous trees, 
notably salix, moosewood, striped maple, rowan and birch. They also 
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