FOREST AND STREAM 
11 
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4 
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westward to the Bell River (Nottaway Station). 
Here we had breakfast and killed three hours’ 
time, waiting the arrival of our outfit on the 
Special. Finally it got in and after a quick 
change and a portage of everything down to the 
“putting in” place we were off, “Northward Ho,” 
for an unknown country with its unknown possi¬ 
bilities. 
From where the big National Transconti¬ 
nental steel bridge crosses the Bell one paddles 
about half a mile to a widening of the river. 
The current is north, as we are above the 
height of land, on the direct route to James 
Bay, 200 miles away. For almost sixty miles 
one can run without a carry—surely soifie 
route for through cruisers. The widening 
of the river is only about two miles long, 
when it swings between two points of big 
boulders into a fairly wide stream that in turn, 
two miles further north, comes into a widening 
that is really a long arm of big Shabogama lake. 
It was rapidly getting dusk as we came into this, 
so we made camp for the night in a burned-over 
forest of birch that blackened everything that 
came into direct touch with it. 
Up for an early breakfast next morning (Oc¬ 
tober 9th) we were soon off for the further 
north waters of Shabogama lake proper. We 
were now in green timber. It was a typical clear 
October day—the lake was calm as a mill pond 
and in the crisp autumn air points seemed less 
than half the actual distance ahead. Away 
above we could hear a fusilade, which we found 
out later was due to two canoes of Indians at¬ 
tempting to kill a bunch of duck—result of at 
least ten shots was one Scoter. 
By noon we had scouted some seventeen miles 
northward and decided to return south about 
two miles to a lovely location that looked unsur¬ 
passable as a site for a permanent camp. Here 
we located and here I selected a location for a 
camp for sportsmen for next season, reference 
to which is made below- 
Essentially my time was given to cruising, as 
it was possible to locate the country only in this 
way. The map of the National Transcontinen¬ 
tal 'Commission proved absolutely unreliable, 
once the steel was left. I spent considerable 
time following into big bays and in turn going 
up small streams that lead to unmapped lakelets. 
Again, bush hiking, traveling only by compass, 
was resorted to, and we found hidden waters. 
One exceptionally beautiful sheet of water, 
stretching some three miles in length and about 
one mile across at its widest point, I named 
“Canuck” lake. Another is Moose lake, into 
which flowed a creek about i,ooo yards in length, 
called Moose Creek. Everywhere was moose 
and bear sign; the first day we got in on Moose 
lake we just missed a big bull that hoofed it for 
300 yards or more over the clay flats at the far 
end of the lake less than an hour ahead of us. A 
big bear had crossed the creek just ahead; the 
water still muddy from his paws. , 
On Thanksgiving Day in Canada (October 
12th) we spent the day exploring and hunting in 
the vicinity of Moose lake. At noon we “biled 
the kittle” at its far end and had a warm lundh. 
Separating. I explored a number of dried-up 
creek bottoms that led westward, while O. D. 
struck into the bush and Charley, after accom¬ 
panying me for an hour, struck back to the up¬ 
per end of the lake to where he had cached the 
canoe. Toward evening I returned to the foot 
of the lake and took a stand on the off-chance of 
a big bull showing up. The previous two days 
had been wet and cold and the game was just be¬ 
ginning to move again. O. D. came out across 
from me about 600 yards and trailed the shore 
toward Charley and the canoe; I decided to 
follow up, as it was getting pretty dark. In the 
meantime a big bull and his cow came out from 
a neighboring deadwater and down to the shore 
of the creek just about 150 yards above where 
Chariey stood. He looked them over and wait¬ 
ed for O. D.’s arrival, hearing him coming along 
the shore. Then they both stood and looked— 
it was just dark and the bull stood well in 
against the bush. Anyway, without being able 
to see his sights and simply “browning” the big 
fellow, O. D. pumped somewhere around twelve 
shots from his .35 Remington Auto at his majes¬ 
ty. By this time I had arrived and slipped the 
canoe into the water. Charley came back and 
we both drove the canoe down the creek and 
landed; it was now pitch dark, and a cloudy 
night. A bark flare was soon gotten and lit and 
we trailed the bull to the edge of the bush- 
blood showing in spurts at every step. Every¬ 
thing looked favorable to locate him next day, so 
On the evening of the 13th I sat in a shore 
blind and watched for some forty minutes an 
immense cow and two yearling calves play in the 
creek and on its clay shores, at times within 
forty yards of me. An old bull stopped behind 
me less than 100 yards in a thicket of alders and 
grunted until he got my wind, when he struck off 
toward “Canuck” lake. Finally a two-year old 
bull came out on mischief bent—his motto was 
cherchez la femme and the big cow was not far 
away. I decided, owing to need for meat in 
camp and as it was imperative '.hat more cruis¬ 
ing be done during the balance of the trip—thus 
preventing further hunting—to take him; one 
shot with the “Imp,” just missing the hear', did 
the trick. We opened him, removed the vis¬ 
cera and after considerable trouble got him into 
the canoe and to camp, where we skinned out 
and cut up the meat; I never tasted nicer meat 
than this fellow provided; his liver gave us a 
grand supper that night. 
Everywhere we cruised fresh sign was seen. 
Repeatedly fresh bear tracks were crossed in the 
early morning, the claw marks showing sharp’y 
in the ice-coated clay and bogs. One big fellow 
we all hiked for camp and supper. Sad, sad to 
relate, it proved not as easy as it looked. Trail¬ 
ing for some 800 yards was easy, as blood was 
plain, on the ground and on the tag alders where 
he pushed through; here he bedded and undoubt¬ 
edly it was from this spot we started him again, 
in company with four or five other moose. He 
had stopped bleeding now and the others ap¬ 
peared deliberately to cross trails, thus making it 
impossible to follow further. It was a sore 
touch—a “bore” as O. D. expressed such disap¬ 
pointments—but all a part of the game. That 
he died within a mile of his bed I am positive— 
he was staggering badly, the trail told its story 
plainly. 
with a broken claw on his rear off-foot had been 
within fifty yards of our camp during the dark¬ 
ness. of the preceeding night. 
Robins were noticed on October 20th; a great 
many large hawks, ravens and horned owls were 
regularly seen whenever we bush-cruised. Snow- 
shoe rabbits were jumped in numbers and quite 
a few grouse, both the Canadian ruffed grouse 
and the spruce partridge; ducks were plentiful. 
Foxes were also numerous, while muskrats and 
mink were always seen. 
One could well spend two or three months ex¬ 
ploring this immense district. Owing to my 
limited time, only one small area was properly 
(Continued on page 63.) 
