When the winter snow lies heavy and deep,
In rounded hillock and drifted heap,
When the shaggy moose and the caribou,
With clattering hoofs scarce wallow through,
Then forth to the howling wilderness
The hardy trappers and hunters press:
Their limbs are of iron, and strung to toil,
And the snows are crimsoned with their spoil.
ISAAC MCLELLAN.
THE North American Elk, or Moose, is principally found in the Eastern States and Canada, though a few are still to be met with in the northern parts of the State of New York. Its habitat extends to the frozen regions of Hudson’s Bay. But I do not propose to write of it as a naturalist, but as a sportsman, and I shall therefore confine myself to the region wherein it is generally hunted. Maine, New Brunswick, and the country north of Quebec, between the Saguenay and Ottawa rivers, is the best sporting range.
The moose is the largest of the Cervidœ; a full-grown male stands from seventeen to eighteen hands high, and weighs from one thousand to twelve hundred pounds. In appearance they are very ungainly, owing to the big head, short neck, and disproportionately long fore-legs, which characterize them. The summer coat is of a light ash color, excepting on the legs and belly, where it is of a lighter hue; the hair is long and exceedingly brittle: in winter, the coat assumes a much darker hue, becoming almost black in an old bull, a bristly mane of a few inches in length, and a tuft of coarse hair under the throat, sum up their distinguishing characteristics. The cow is smaller than the bull, and is of a redder color; she has but one at a birth at first, but subsequently very generally two. It is stated by some writers, that the young remain with the mother until the following year, which is a most unusual circumstance. The growth of the horns is a very slow process, growing only about an inch the first year, and so gradually until the full growth is attained. In very large animals they sometimes measure six feet from tip to tip. They are generally shed very early in the spring, yet so rapid is the growth, that they are again fully developed by early summer. The young males do not shed theirs until late in the spring, and are consequently later in reproducing them. Major King states that the horns of an old moose will weigh from fifty to sixty pounds.
Moose-hunting begins in October, and lasts until late in the spring. By the game-laws of Canada, it is not lawful to kill after the 1st of February; but in Maine it is carried on until much later. It is greatly to be desired that sportsmen in the two countries would endeavor to have a stringent game-law passed to prevent the wholesale destruction that has of late been going on among them. Various methods are adopted at different seasons to hunt the moose, but the most common are calling, stalking, and hunting them in winter on snow-shoes. For a description of the former method I am indebted to Major King’s “Sportsman and Naturalist in Canada.”
“Calling, which is practiced generally in September and October, as soon as the bellow of the bull begins to be heard at night, is thus managed: On a calm, light night, the hunter, accompanied by an Indian or Canadian, skilled not only in wood-craft, but in the imitation of the call or bellow of the cow-moose, repairs to the forest or swamp in which the animals are known to be feeding. The instrument by which the call is produced is a cone or trumpet of birch-bark, about a foot and a half in length. With this the native mounts a high tree, in order to enable the sound to travel further.
“After the startling sound of the call has echoed away through the dusky forest, the ordinary deathlike silence again ensues, till the answer of the bull is faintly heard in the distance, for the range to which the call reaches on a still night is almost incredible. When necessary to guide or encourage the advance of the approaching moose, the call is repeated; but he generally makes straight to the point with wonderful accuracy, even from a distance of a mile or more. Listening for the first response to the call, and still more anxiously for the slightest indication of an approaching animal, is a period of some excitement; but the moment the formidable beast is heard actually advancing nearer and nearer, crashing heavily through the obstructing branches in his onward course, now emitting a dull hollow grunt, now striking his antlers sharply against the trunks of the trees, every nerve is strung to the highest pitch, till the mighty tenant of the forest stands before the concealed hunter, who hardly dares to draw his breath as he steadies his hand for the fatal shot.
Sometimes an animal on approaching comes to a stand, apparently seized with vague doubts, and the caller lures him on again with a suppressed grunting sound, the imitation of which at close quarters is the most difficult part of the accomplishment. If the sounds are clumsily executed, the disappointed animal, though he would not hesitate, if confronted, to attack any one rash enough to meet him, takes alarm at an invisible danger, and beats a rapid retreat, at the very moment when the anxious watcher was about to realize the reward of his toil and patience. When this unfortunately happens, the sport is over for the night, and there is nothing to be done but light a fire and smoke, or lie down and sleep till a little before daylight, which is a very favorable hour for calling, and by that time the alarm has generally subsided, or other moose have fed up within call.”
Should it happen, as is sometimes the case, that two bulls chance to meet, a terrific combat immediately ensues; they will rush at each other with tremendous force, roaring and bellowing in a most furious manner. Their antlers occasionally becoming locked, and thus both perish.
The greatest caution is necessary when hunting the moose in the foregoing manner, as he is very wary, and invariably comes up wind, often making considerable of a detour to do so, and therefore not easily led into ambush.
The moose is also hunted by being driven to the hunter by Indians, in the same manner as red-deer are hunted with hounds. The hunter posts himself on a likely stand or “run,” and patiently awaits the coming of the gigantic game. The Indians, having ascertained the covert where the moose is concealed, get round it, and advancing through, drive him up toward the sportsman.
When moving through the forest, they carry their heads thrown back, with their noses pointed high in the air. It is astonishing with what speed they will go through the densest wood, avoiding striking their vast horns against the trees all the while. Their gait is a kind of slouching trot, though I believe they are capable of a gallop if hard pressed.
Still-hunting is also practised in the pursuit of the moose, and great care and skill are here necessary to ensure success; for the moose is very wary and keen of scent, the sense of hearing being also very acute. When the hunter arrives in the neighborhood where he expects to find moose, he exercises great caution in his movements through the forest, as the snapping of a dry twig may send a herd scampering off in hot haste, and he may have to travel weary leagues ere he again sees the game. I do not purpose speaking at length on this part of the subject, as I feel sure that no one will set out to hunt moose in this manner, unless he has an Indian guide, who will be eyes and ears and all things necessary to him, or he has already taken his degrees in wood-craft; and to whom any instructions I could offer would be but a repetition of that which he perhaps knows better than myself. The proximity of moose is known by a faint smell of musk that taints the air, and this should put the hunter doubly on the alert. In the fall their color so closely assimilates to surrounding objects, that not unfrequently the first knowledge that the hunter has of the near presence of a moose, is the flapping of his great coarse ears.
On the Upper Ottawa, the lumbermen and Indians “shine” the moose, in a manner similar to that practised in the Southern States in the pursuit of the common deer; only that instead of a fire in a cresset, they ordinarily use a small bull’s-eye lantern. I have heard of Indians in this manner approaching a moose so close that they could lay their hand upon him. But, as I said before, he is pursued in season and out of season, and all kinds of means are adopted to secure the prey. I will not further dwell upon those methods, but come at once to that in general use in Eastern Canada and the Lower Provinces, and which tests a man’s endurance and mettle to the very utmost; no standing quietly on a runway, no easy “drive,” but downright hard work, that sweetens the reward all the more, when the noble fellow has been made to bite, not the dust, but the frozen snow.
Having been furnished with every requisite for camping in the bush, and well provided with snow-shoes, we will suppose our hunters arrived at the farthest point practicable for winter vehicles. Here the impedimenta are packed on tabogans, or light boards turned up at the end, to serve as hand-sleds, and drawn by the Indians. Every thing being in readiness, they set forth on their tramp into the trackless wilds of the northern forest, the dusky guide needing no path, his unerring instinct serving to guide him in the right direction. Having arrived at a likely place a camp is made, a snug and sheltered spot being selected; the snow is dug or scooped out, and a lot of “sapin” branches being gathered and placed on the ground, the buffalo robes are spread over them, and the bivouac is complete. A blazing fire adds cheerfulness to the scene, and enables the hunters to boil their pot and fry their fat pork. On turning in for the night, all hands lay with their feet to the fire, and pack together as closely as possible, as it may be well imagined that it is no easy matter to keep up the caloric exposed to the rigors of a Canadian winter, the thermometer often marking as low as forty degrees below zero.
The Indian guide having found “sign,” all is in commotion; camp is broken up, and the excited hunters, donning their snow-shoes, and looking carefully to their priming, are ready for the fray, and eagerly set forth in pursuit of their noble quarry. Having come upon the tracks, great care is taken to keep to leeward of them, and every nerve is strained to overtake the fleeing moose, but this is not a matter of easy accomplishment; for though the laboring creature sinks knee-deep at every stride, cruelly lacerating itself against the hard crust, it is able to go at such speed, that ofttimes hours, and even days, of tremendous effort are necessary to come up with the chase. When sighted by the hunters, renewed exertions are put forth to secure the prize, but this is met by the hunted deer by desperate efforts to escape, and again the pursuers are left in the rear; but on and on they press with a will that knows no defeat, and soon again they close with the now exhausted yet furious animal, who, seeing escape hopeless, turns at bay, and with heaving flanks and distended nostrils, presents a grand yet terrible sight, and woe is he that possesses not a cool head and steady hand to send the leaden messenger on its deadly errand. The noble beast being dispatched, the Indians immediately set about flensing him, and selecting the choice bits for the hunters, who meanwhile are making preparations for a “snack,” which will be eaten with a zest, such as the choicest viands prepared in Delmonico’s best style would fail to induce; and while enjoying that greatest solace of a hunter, a good smoke, arrangements are made for a homeward tramp, or if the chase has lasted till late in the afternoon, as is often the case, they arrange a bivouac, and prepare to pass the night as best they can. The choice parts are the tongue, palate, mouffle, and marrow-bones, though the flesh, when in good condition, is excellent, resembling beef somewhat, though much coarser in grain. The fat is quite soft, differing in this respect from all of the Cervidœ, that portion of it known as the depouillé, being the layer covering the chine, is greatly esteemed. I should have mentioned that the mouffle is the upper lip, which is of extraordinary length and prehensile power, enabling the animal to obtain its favorite food of young twigs, and the small and tender shoots of trees, at great height.
It will be apparent from the description that the pursuit of the moose requires a rare combination of skill and endurance, and to be successful, requires such a trial of these, that none but the most robust need hope to endure. The hunters in this pursuit use snow-shoes, the form and construction of which, I presume, are perfectly familiar to my readers, and so I need not give any description of them, but state that they are very trying at first, and unless the tyro practises somewhat before setting out on a hunt, he will be laid up completely, the strain on the muscles being so severe.
Some parties prefer a double-barreled rifle for moose-hunting, but I should counsel a good breech-loader. I would like to see it fifty-four caliber, as it takes a heavy ball to administer the coup de grace to an old bull, and, if wounded, he is apt to be an ugly customer. But chacun à son gout, each one to his taste, and so long as a man has a good gun and dry powder, he will do well enough. A breech-loader has a vast advantage in the cold weather, as the cartridge is easily inserted, while with the muzzle-loader, it takes some time to load, more particularly with the thermometer thirty or forty degrees below zero; and then the misery of fumbling, with half-benumbed fingers; the cap.