but if I ever do change my mind and 
go after a moose, the bullet I shoot is 
going to be .40 or bigger. It is going 
to weigh three hundred grains or more, 
and is going to develop more than two 
thousand foot pounds muzzle energy. 
(NY of the modern guns that does 
all this is the .405. I have an old 
light weight ’86 model, .45-70, with a 
nickel steel barrel. I use it occasion- 
ally on deer and from its effect with 
high velocity ammunition, it would 
make short work of a moose at reason- 
able range. It kicks some, but is light, 
very fast, and easy to carry. I dropped 
two nice bucks in November, 1922, with 
it and did the whole thing in about ten 
seconds. Put a bullet through the first 
one’s ribs. He started along but I let 
him go. He spread blood like a street 
sprinkler and went down in forty yards. 
I missed the other one the first shot I 
fired at him but broke his back the 
second. I fired my fourth shell to keep 
the second deer quiet while I bled him. 
The gun is out of date, but the high’ 
velocity .45-70 is the type of gun for 
moose and it’s not bad for deer, either. 
Perhaps it kicks too much for deer, es- 
pecially for the many running shots 
you must make. 
But a running shot is rarely neces- 
sary on moose. The only thing essen- 
tial in moose hunting is to be there the 
same time the moose is, and then not 
lose your head. They are big, they 
move fast when they move, are very 
shy, but their sight is poor, they hear 
no better than man, and, if the 
is right, a standing shot at less 
a hundred yards is at least an 
bet, unless you are shooting across 
water. Calling moose is great sport, 
but many hunters won’t shoot a called 
bull. As for sport, it’s just as sporting 
to shoot the old brindle bull when he 
comes up to the pasture gate for a 
handful of salt. 
wind 
than 
even 
CALLED bull may come within 
easy range and hang around until 
he is shot. It’s worse than jacking 
deer, and I think that it will be pro- 
hibited by law everywhere within ten 
years. The bull has no show whatever, 
unless the hunter gets “buck ague.” 
The true sport is to call him, then de- 
cide his horns are too small (as many 
real sportsmen do) and let him go. 
In admitting my choice for big bores, 
please keep in mind that I have moose 
guns only in mind and that small bore 
bullets, high or low power, will kill al- 
most anything if properly placed. In 
1914, I met an Indian named Xavier 
Teninische, and got to know him fairly 
well. We were up on the Lievre River, 
nearly to the headwaters where the 
Transcontinental now runs. 
AVIER carried a .22 long rifle re- 
peating Savage. He said that he 
killed two moose with it the winter be- 
fore; shot one in the eye, the other in 
the heart. I don’t know whether he 
was lying or not, but I do know that 
a .22 is often the only gun a north 
woods trapper carries. And I know 
further that Xavier could put a whole 
magazine full of bullets into a mark 
the size of a silver dollar at fifty yards, 
and do it mighty fast. Many trappers 
carry a .25-20 and the .380-30 is about 
as big as any rifle seen in the north 
woods. The advantages of the very 
small bores are plain. The cartridges 
are light, they are cheap, and they are 
effective on small game. I killed as 
many meals of meat with a single shot 
Stevens .22 pistol, which I lost in a 
swamp several years ago, as I ever 
did with any gun. And, from a meat 
standpoint, a pistol is no toy if prop- 
erly handled. I had many a meal off a 
big moose shot with a .38 Special Smith 

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