744 
FOREST AND STREAM 
this theory it may not be out of place to here 
relate a little personal experience bearing on 
this subject. 
Imagine two campers on a lonely lake in the 
moose country. It was in October, night set¬ 
tled, and the moon shone forth over the black 
tips of the balsams. Over the lake the damp 
fragrance from the cedars was particularly no¬ 
ticeable to the occupants of a birch bark canoe, 
which glided through the darkness toward a 
bunch of islands in the far end of the lake. 
On a long, wooded island lying close to the 
shore of the mainland the two canoeists landed, 
and taking up suitable positions, prepared for 
what might be a long wait. Mackinaw coats 
were pulled tightly about the neck, for the chill 
of the October night was noticeable, and rifles 
were leaned against convenient trees. 
The two campers were hardly well seated in 
their position, when from the distance sounded 
a peculiar, harsh grunt, unmistakably the voice 
of a bull moose. He was evidently trailing the 
woods in search of cows, for at this time of 
year the mating season was well on. Here, an 
excellent opportunity was presented for the 
hunter with a birch bark trumpet. 
Although the Minnesota game laws prohib¬ 
ited killing bull moose before November, yet 
there was no law against calling them, and it 
was for this purpose that the two campers had 
come out into the chilly night. 
It is well here to state that there had been 
considerable campfire pow-wow as to what is 
the real attraction which draws a bull moose 
to an artificial call. It was argued that modern 
fiction writers and some well known artists lay 
especial emphasis on the act of the cow moose 
sending forth her alluring appeals through the 
wilds, being the seductive signal for the male 
moose to come forth. Also it was argued, on 
the other hand, that certain natural history 
books diagnose the hunter’s appeal through a 
birch bark horn as an attempt to imitate the 
lowing of a bull. During said discussion it 
was brought out that bull moose are sometimes 
attracted by sounds other than the usual 
trumpet of birch bark, for instance, whacking 
a tree with a dry shoulder blade of a moose, 
thus imitating the challenge of a rival. Per¬ 
sonal experience seemed to have shown these 
campers that in early mating season the cows 
take to the thickest woods, usually bordering 
lakes, and here they try in every way to elude 
the bulls, which were frequently heard as they 
went searching along the trails for the cows, 
uttering as they travelled, a hoarse, grunting 
sound. At this time the thickest woods favored 
the cows, as they had some advantage in slip¬ 
ping between the trees, where the bulls were 
slightly impeded by their antlers. Of course 
eventually it was almost impossible for the cows 
to escape the bulls, and this without calling. 
Nature has placed under the hair of the hind 
feet on every cow moose, high up between the 
hoofs, a musk gland. When a moose or deer 
runs, spreading the hoofs, the scent is more no¬ 
ticeable—thus can dogs, as well as bull moose, 
follow the trail of moose or deer. 
So it happened that after being assured that 
a bull moose was in the vicinity the would-be 
moose callers were somewhat perplexed to know 
whether to imitate the seductive alluring call of 
a cow, or the battle language of a bull. 
“We must decide upon a plan of action,” said 
the older camper, known as “Pardner Jack.” 
“Then,” answered his companion, “let the 
trumpet roll and shoulder blade method be dis¬ 
pensed with, on account of its commonness and 
let us, in a case of necessity, try the powers of 
the plain, unadulterated, human voice. Let said 
sound be one little known in the list of human 
or animal vocal accomplishments, and perhaps 
we may see how highly the curiosity of a bull 
moose is developed. At this season, any sound 
which might indicate the presence of the fe¬ 
male is likely to be investigated. Whether the 
bull believes it to be a cow, whether he thinks 
it a rival bull in possession of a cow, a lone bull 
wishing a fight, or just curiosity not to let any 
part of his search for cows escape him, is in our 
case a matter for experiment.” 
Just as the bull was in the act of uttering one 
of his grunts, when his ears were partly dulled 
by his own voice, Pardner issued the call. It 
was, as suggested, a peculiar sound, which I will 
not attempt to describe. Its only effect was 
that the bull ceased his grunting, and then fol¬ 
lowed a long spell of silent waiting. At last, 
just as the two watchers were about to despair 
of their efforts, there came the sound of thresh¬ 
ing antlers, a challenge sent ahead by the ap¬ 
proaching bull. 
In the moose country are what is known to 
woodsmen as “rubbing poles.” These small 
trees, situated in swamps or other likely places 
where moose travel, are easily detected by the 
fact that the bark is skinned off to the height 
or seven to twelve feet from the ground. The 
use of these certain rubbing poles is habitual 
with the males during the rutting season. The 
object seems to be to peel off any loose velvet, 
and as a signal place to work themselves into 
anger, thereby challenging all foes within hear¬ 
ing. No rival bull seemed in the immediate 
neighborhood, for the challenge went unan¬ 
swered, until Pardner again sent forth a pecu¬ 
liar sort of a groan. This caused the moose to 
cease his attacks upon the tree and he could 
be heard approaching through a swamp. 
Of particular interest to the two campers as 
the bull approached was' the different tones ut¬ 
tered from time to time, and which if written 
language could express them might sound some¬ 
thing like ee-unh—repeated at varying intervals, 
accents on last syllable. The voice, however, 
graduated from a deep, gutteral bass in the dis¬ 
tance to a higher, softer key as he drew nearer, 
until when but a short distance away the sounds 
were barely audible except to what he evidently 
believed was a listening cow. He seemed quite 
eager in his approach, for, to secure a cow with¬ 
out battling with a rival must have appealed to 
him as a real luxury. It might be added that 
his approach seemed entirely in accordance with 
•gallantry and attention of the natural male ani¬ 
mal trying to woo the female. He did not. seem 
to need any loud, luring cow-moose call to at¬ 
tract him to a possible trysting place; but that 
his ears were wonderfully well developed to 
catch the slightest sound, also that his sense of 
direction was remarkably accurate was here 
shown. As he came to hard ground his foot¬ 
falls were scarcely audible except for an occa¬ 
sional pebble loosened by his hoofs. Then even 
these sounds ceased and it developed that he 
had become suspicious and stopped. He was 
completely veiled by the overhanging foliage and 
for what seemed an age he stood there silently 
waiting. So far as his presence could be de¬ 
tected by eye or ear it might as well have been 
mere imagination. At such close quarters the 
moose caller’s vocal art is generally useless, but 
often the breaking of a branch or the swish of 
a paddle is all that is necessary to bring the 
animal to sight. 
Just as Pardner was in the act of putting the 
finishing touch to his experiment in moose call¬ 
ing, there came to our ears from far back in 
the woods the rasping of heavy antlers. The 
challenge of a rival bull, who had evidently been 
attracted from a considerable distance, was 
