Moose Bcok tn4^' •^"■"^•^ ^h -w" i^- '0^. ^ >' '^. '^T^ % Samuel jMehjul Glass ^ ^^? >0} Book />f y- COf^OUGUr DEPOSJT. © by Carl Rungius " Coming to the Call " From a Painting by Carl Rungius THE MOOSE BOOK FACTS AND STORIES FROM NORTHERN FORESTS BY SAMUEL MERRILL ILLUSTRATED WITH REPRODUCTIONS OF PAINT- INGS, DRAWINGS, AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY CARL RUNGIUS AND OTHERS NEW YORK E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 681 FIFTH AVENUE c,t ]K k Copyright, 1916 BY E. P. BUTTON & COMPANY Printed in the United States of America NOV 16 1916 ©CI,A446442 PREFACE The grand prize in the lottery of American sportsmanship is the moose. The domain of the giant deer stretches across the broad northland, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In this territory- thousands of moose are taken every year; to it tens of thousands of hunters go annually, in the cool autumn days, rifle in hand, seeking health and recreation, and hoping that they too may win the chief prize of the chase. Meanwhile no book has been published which has been devoted exclusively to the history of the moose, his habits and habitat, and the methods of hunting him. Much of the material contained In these pages was gathered during the hunting trips of many years in the best moose country of Eastern America. The experiences and views of many guides and many sportsmen, told beside the fires of many camps, jotted down at the time in little vest- pocket note-books, and sifted and verified by personal observation, have found their places IV PREFACE here, together with the fruits of the author's own experience. PubUshed works in various languages in which facts relating to the moose and his European kinsman are to be found have been carefully studied, and by free use of footnotes, citing authori- ties in every branch of the subject, the reader is given the bibliography of the moose and moose hunting. Most quotations from ancient writers are from the first editions, and the extracts con- form closely in the use of capitals and punctuation marks, as well as in spelling, to the originals. In the extracts from old French writers the accents to which modern readers are accustomed are in many cases lacking. This lack is due to typo- graphical carelessness in the ancient printing shops and not to oversight on the part of the present printers. American writers have generally ignored the elk of the Old World, albeit the moose and the Euro- pean elk are practically of the same species, and indistinguishable. Most of the facts given in these pages regarding the moose's European and Asiatic congener have been hitherto unpublished in English. The author wishes to acknowledge obligation to Mr. Carl Rungius, who has kindly consented PREFACE V to the use of reproductions of four of his paint- ings, and to the American Museum of Natural History, Mr. Julian A. Dimock, and others who have courteously permitted the use of their pictures in these pages. Cambridge, Mass. June I, 1916. CONTENTS PART I— THE AMERICAN MOOSE CHAPTER I.— The Moose and His History. n. — American Range of the Moose HI.— Traits and Habits of the Moose IV. — Still-Hunting V. — Calling the Moose VI. — Miscellaneous Hunting Methods VII. — Arms and Equipment . VIII. — Heads AND Horns IX. — Moose Meat as Food . X. — The Future of the Moose . XI. — The Names of the Moose XII.— The Moose in Indian Myth PART II— THE OLD-WORLD ELK XI 1 1. — The Elk, Past and Present . XIV. — Range of the Elk in Europe and Asia 3 32 63 99 120 132 152 166 204 220 232 245 271 288 Vlll CONTENTS CHAPTER XV.— Traits and Habits of the Elk XVI. — How THE Elk is Hunted XVn. — Antlers OF the Elk XVH I.— Misbeliefs about the Elk . Index ..... PAGE 300 334 346 357 ILLUSTRATIONS Frontispiece "Coming TO THE Call" From a painting by Carl Rungius Lescarbot's Moose .... Game in New Netherland In the Heart of the Moose Country From a photograph by the author Michigan's Heraldic Moose Present Range of Cervus Alces [map] From a drawing by the author An Alaska Moose .... From a painting by Carl Rungius MoosELEUK Mountain, Maine, from Munsungan Lake ....•••• From a photograph by the author A 55-Inch New Brunswick Head. From a photograph by Carl Rungius An Unrecorded Tragedy ..... From a photograph by Carl Rungius A Battle between Bulls From a painting by Carl Rungius ix PAGE 7" 20- 29' 32' 41- 56 65 65- Sv ILLUSTRATIONS A Calf Moose ...... From a photograph by Julian A. Dimock Skull of a Moose ..... From a drawing by the author November in the Moose Woods From a photograph by the author Hunting against the Wind Hunting with the Wind .... Good Country FOR Calling. Before the Battle ..... From a painting by Carl Rungius Crust Hunting in the Seventeenth Century Bringing in a Good Specimen From a photograph by Carl Rungius A Guide and a Trophy .... From a photograph by the author Antlers in the Velvet .... From a photograph by Carl Rungius The Record Spread — 78^2 Inches From a photograph The Reed-McMillan Antlers From a photograph The Niedieck Antlers .... From a drawing by the author From the Canadian Rockies PACK 88^ 99 III 1 12 123 130 >39 144 • / y / 162^' 172* 177 > 178" 179 181 ILLUSTRATIONS XI Mr. Selous's Yukon Trophy From a drawing by Carl Rungius Cast Antlers Found in British Columbia New Brunswick's Widest Spread Manitoba's Best Head Minnesota's Best Head A 7 1 -Inch Head from Ontario . F. H. Cook's New Brunswick Moose-head Measurement of Moose Antlers A Head cannot be Judged by Spread alone From a drawing by Carl Rungius A Hungarian Design ..... From a drawing by the author A Moosehorn Napkin Ring. Dewclaw Bones of Moose .... Trophies Brought TO Camp. From a photograph by Carl Rungius An Old Logging Camp, .... A Logging Camp in the New Brunswick Woods The Moose in Politics .... Restoration of Irish Elk .... From a drawing by Charles R. Knight A Vista in the Moose Country . From a photograph by Carl Rungius PAGB 182 183 184 184 184 185 188 190 >93 196 199' 200 217 232 232 234 244 257 xu ILLUSTRATIONS Good Moose Cover .... Hunting Russian Elk From a painting by Richard Friese An Elk Drive ..... From a painting by K. Wysotzki An Asiatic Rock-Carving . The Elk According to Munster (1554) Aldrovandus's Female Elk (1621) Head of Male Elk (Aldrovandus, 162 i) Buffon's Elk ..... Sledge Drawn by Elk (Magnus, 1555) Brought to Bay .... From a drawing by A. Erikson A Scandinavian Poacher's Device A Peculiar Siberian Type . Fossil Antlers from Russian Poland Best Elk Antlers at the Vienna Exhibition An Eight-Year-Old from Livonia Antlers of an Old Elk Alces Bedfordi/E .... Elk Attacked by Epilepsy (Pomet, 1735) , 1910 257 271 271 273/ 277. 278-' 279- 283' 308- 321^ 332 335 336 338 340 341 344 349 THE MOOSE BOOK Parti The American Moose CHAPTER I THE MOOSE AND HIS HISTORY In a plea for the preservation of the moose Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn, president of the New York Zoological Society, has said, "Nature has been a million years in developing that wonder- ful animal, and man should not ruthlessly destroy it!" A million years ! The imagination is helpless in attempting to grasp the idea of such a period of time, and the events which have taken place in it. The ancestral home of the moose {Cervus alces) in prehistoric times was probably in Asia. Pro- fessor Osborn quotes Sir Victor Brooke as main- taining that the Cervidce originated in Asia, and thence spread east and west.' But at just what stage in this little matter of a million years the first moose wandered into America over the land » The Age of Mammals in Europe, Asia, and North America (New York, 1910), p. 418. 3 4 THE AMERICAN MOOSE which then connected the two continents at Bering Strait, we shall never know. According to Professor William Berryman Scott of Princeton University the moose, the caribou, and the wapiti came from the Old World to the New not earlier than the Pleistocene.'' The moose seems to have preceded the caribou and the wapiti in the long migration. At any rate, the moose was present on the western half of the continent in the later Pleistocene, when the Glacial Era was drawing to a close.^ The ancestors of the white-tailed or Vir- ginia deer doubtless came from the same far-away Asiatic home, but in an earlier geologic age. How far south the moose ranged at that early day is not known, but his fossil remains are said to have been found south of the Ohio and Missouri rivers.'* 'A Hi tory of Land Mammals in the Western Hemisphere (New York, 1913), p. 413. 3 Ibid., p. 202. Geologists variously estimate the period which has elapsed since the Pleistocene as from 100,000 to 200,000 years. Those of us who carry split-second watches will wonder at the inability of the geologists to measure time with more precision. * Osbom, ubi supra, p. 449. Professor Osborn (pp. 471-472) mentions fossil bones of "Alces^' as found in southern South Carolina. He cites as an authority Francis S. Holmes in the American Journal of Science, 1858, pp. 442-443, and in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, 1859, pp. 177-185. But Professor Holmes in his list names the "elk" as represented among the fossil remains, meaning, no doubt, the American elk, or wapiti {Cervus canadensis), not the European elk, or moose {Cervus alces or Alces americanus). This is an instance of the confusion which has been entailed by the misnaming of the wapiti by the early settlers in America. See p. 237. THE MOOSE AND HIS HISTORY 5 It Is impossible to say what European traveler in North America first encountered the moose. The earhest explorers on this continent were not sportsmen; they knew little about the deer of Europe, and were untrained as writers. As a result they have left us meager Information relating to the characteristics or the numbers of the various species of deer which they found in their travels. Jacques Cartier, who explored the valley of the St. Lawrence In 1535, and spent the winter there, mentions various wild beasts which the Indians hunted. Including "dains" and "cerfz.*'^ Hiram B. Stephens, B.C.L., translates dains by the word "moose," but expresses doubt of the identity of the animal.^ In several other places Cartier mentions "Cerfz iff Dains," and tells how he bought the meat of these animals from the Indians In the winter for his men, who were dying of scurvy, and were unable to hunt. As the Indian equiva- lents of these words he gives " Aiounesta y As- quenoudoy" but these words are not to be found in any of the Indian word-lists of other writers. There is little reason to doubt, however, that one s Narration de la Navigation faite en MDXXX V et MDXXX VI par Le Capilaine Jacques Cartier aux lies de Canada, Ilochelaga, Saguenay et autres, fol. 31. ^ Jacques Cartier andHis Four Voyagesto Canada (Montreal, i89o),p. 71. 6 THE AMERICAN MOOSE or the other was the moose, for the great captain bought his winter store of meat from the Indians, and the Indians of that region depended largely on the moose for their own subsistence. Champlain in 1603, and Lescarbot a year or two later, visited "New France," and both left valuable accounts of the country, its inhabitants and its fauna. Both explorers adopted the Basque word orenac when referring to the moose, and both seemed to recognize the animal as identical with the elk of Europe. In The Savages, or Voyage of Sleur de Cham- plain made in the Year 1603, Champlain mentions " orignacs" first in a list of twelve species of ani- mals on which the savages of the St. Lawrence Valley subsisted. A year later, telling of his exploration of the lower Kennebec, he describes the winter hunting of the aborigines. On snow- shoes, with "filling" of moose hide, dressed in skins of beaver and moose, men, women, and children, armed with bows and spears, would take the trail into the moose country, in quest of their winter's store of food.^ Marc Lescarbot of Paris, historian of New ? " Durant I'hyver aufort des neges Us vont chasser aux eslans, &" autres bestes, dequoy Us vivent la plus-part du temps.'' — Les Voyages de la Nouvelle Fra7ice Occidentale, dicte Canada (Paris, 1632), p. 71. Les Voyages du Sieur de Champlain (Paris, 1613), pp. 56-57. THE MOOSE AND HIS HISTORY France, lawyer, poet, and Huguenot sympathiser, spent some time with de Monts' colony in Acadia. r'o'^.V.-l Lescarbot's Moose On his map of Port Royal (AnnapoHs Basin, Nova Scotia), he shows *' Rliviere] de I'Orignac." This is represented on recent maps under the name of Moose River. It is a short and insignificant stream when the tide is out, but twice a day. 8 THE AMERICAN MOOSE thanks to the extraordinary tidal action in the Bay of Fundy, it is capable of floating vessels of considerable size. Indeed, shipbuilding on a respectable scale has been carried on along its banks. This map is entitled ''Figure du Port Royal en la Nouvelle France, par Marc Lescarbot, i6og** On its lower margin, close to the river which was named in its honor, stands a moose. This is probably the earliest picture of the American moose which has come down to us. " First let us speak of the elk, '* writes Lescarbot, "which they [the Indians] call Jptaptou, and our Basques Orignac. ... It is the most abundant food which the savages have, except fish."^ Lescarbot describes a winter hunting trip of the savages, when with their dogs they sought out the moose, helpless by reason of the deep snow on which crust had formed. "We made a very luxurious repast with this tender venison," he writes. "After the roast we had soup, quickly prepared in abundance by a savage who made a trough with his ax, from the trunk of a tree, in which he stewed the meat. . . . This was accom- * " Premilrement parlons de I' Elian lequel Us appellent Aptaptou, fif noz Basques Orignac. . . . Cest la plus ahondante manne qu'ayent les Sauvages apres le poisson." — Lescarbot, Histoire de la Nouvelle France (Paris, 1609), p. 811. THE MOOSE AND HIS HISTORY 9 pllshed by putting stones, brought to a red heat in the fire, into the trough, and renewing them until the meat was cooked. Joseph Acosta says that the savages of Peru do the same thing."^ An Indian banquet which Champlain witnessed near the mouth of the Saguenay he thus described: "After he had finished his speech we left his cabin, and they began their tabagie or feast, which they make with the flesh of the orignac (which is like beef), the bear, seals, and beavers, which are their most common meats, and game birds in quantity. They had eight or ten kettles, full of meat, in the cabin. These were some six paces from each other, and each with its own fire." The guests were seated on two sides of the cabin, each having his own bark dish. Champlain was not favorably impressed by the table manners of the Indians. "They eat in a very filthy manner," he wrote, "for when their hands are greasy they wipe them on their hair, or on their dogs, of which they keep many for hunting."'" Some years later Nicolas Denys, who lived among the Indians of Acadia, described the Indian method of making kettles. Huge fallen trees » Uhi supra, p. 813. " Des Sauvages, ou, Voyage de Samuel Champlain, de Brouage, faict en la France nouvelle, Van mil six cens trois (Paris, 1604), fol. 4. 10 THE AMERICAN MOOSE were utilized, the upper surface being leveled off, and a trough-like excavation made by the use of fire and stone axes. These kettles, laboriously made, determined the places of their camps, until the white men brought iron kettles, which could be easily carried on their journeys." Until the introduction of gunpowder the Ameri- can Indian was practically on even terms with the European hunter in respect to weapons for the chase. He still used stone, or pointed bones, instead of metal, for the heads of his spears and arrows, but his cleverness in fashioning barbed spear heads and arrow heads, with wonder- fully sharp edges, from flint, and in fixing them to the shafts, cannot be equaled by the men of today. Many of the Old-World hunters had replaced the long-bow by the cross-bow, and some had supplanted both by the arquebus, at the time when the Old World and the New first met. But the efl^ective range of the early firearms was wofully short. According to Greener, **a reliable match decided at Pacton Green, Cumberland, in August, 1792, resulted in a grand victory for the bow. The distance was one hundred yards, the bow placing " Description Geographique et Historique des Costes de VAmhique Septentrionale (Paris, 1672), vol. ii., p. 359. THE MOOSE AND HIS HISTORY ii sixteen arrows out of twenty into the target, and the ordinary musket twelve balls only."''' The Indian's bow was not so long as the English- man's, but he was very skilled in its use. Denys wrote from Acadia in 1672 that its effective range against moose was forty-five or fifty paces, '^ a range which offered less difficulty to the stealthy, soft-footed Indian than to us who are accustomed to walk on city pavements. The snares and pitfalls devised by the Indians, and the barriers erected to guide driven game into slaughter pens, as described by the earliest Euro- pean visitors to America, show a marked resem- blance to the contrivances in use for the same purposes in medieval Europe. Necessity is the mother of invention, and we need not wonder if similar necessities produced similar inventions. The narratives of the earliest European ex- plorers in America are given in the great folios which Samuel Purchas published in 1625 under the title Purchas His Pilgrimes. Quoting Sir Ferdinando Gorges he thus describes the moose: "There is also a certaine Beast, that the Natives call a Mosse, hee is as big bodied as an Oxe. . . . His taile is longer then the Single''* of a Deere, '' The Gun and Its Development, sixth edition (1897), p. 12. '3 Ubi supra, vol. ii., pp. 420-423. '•< The tail of a buck. 12 THE AMERICAN MOOSE and reacheth almost downe to his Huxens.** . . . There have beene many of them seene in a great Hand upon the Coast, called by our people Mount Mans ell, ^^ whither the Savages goe at certaine seasons to hunt them [by driving into the water]. . . . And there is hope that this kind of Beasts may be made serviceable for ordinary labour, with Art and Industry."'^ At the time of its publication in 1634 William Wood's Nezv Englands Prospect was the most com- plete account of New England, its climate, soil, fauna, etc., which had been written. The author had spent four years in the Colony. He wrote in a light vein, possessed a lively imagination, and some- times dropped into verse, his enumeration of the beasts of the country being in the following lines: The kingly Lyon, and the strong arvid Beare The large lirnd Mooses, with the tripping Deare, Quill darting Porcupines, and Rackcoones bee, Castelld in the hollow of an aged tree; »« Hock. ** Mount Desert Island. '' Purchas His Pilgrimes (London, 1625), tenth book, "English Dis- coveries and Plantations in New England and New-found-land," chap. i. Gorges, A Brief Relation of the Discovery and Plantation of New England (London, 1622), pp. 26-27. An earlier mention of the moose by this name — perhaps the earliest in any book — appears in the edition of 'PuTcha.s's Pilgrimage published in 1614, p. 755: "Captaine Thomas Hanham sayled to the Riuer of Sagadahoc 1606. He relateth of their beasts . . . redde Deare, and a beast bigger, called the Mus." THE MOOSE AND HIS HISTORY 13 The skipping Squerrell, Rabbet, purblinde HarCy Immured in the selfesame Castle are. Least red-eyd Ferrets, wily Foxes should Them undermine, if rampird^^ but with mould. The grim jaci Ounce, and ravenous howling Woolje, Whose meagre paunch suckes like a swallowing gulfe. Blacke glistering Otters, and rich coated Bever, The Civet sented Musquash smelling ever.^^ *The beast called a Moose," he explains, "is not much unlike red Deare, this beast is as bigge as an Oxe; slow of foote, headed like a Bucke, with a broade beame, some being two yards wide in the head, their flesh is as good as Beefe, their hides good for cloathing; The English have some thoughts of keeping them tame, and to accustome them to the yoake, which will be a great commoditie : First because they are so fruitfull, bringing forth three at a time, being likewise very uberous. Secondly, because they will live in winter without any fodder. There be not many of these in the Massachusets hay, but forty miles to the Northeast there be great store of them; These pore beasts likewise are much devoured by the Woolves/' Thomas Morton, the gay roysterer of Merry «» Ramparted. 19 Part i., chap. vi. 14 THE AMERICAN MOOSE Mount, who was devoted to hunting, described New England and its resources in his New English Canaan. Morton wrote "upon tenne yeares know- ledge and experiment of the Country." In the fifth chapter of his second book, "Of the Beasts of the forrest, " he describes three kinds of deer. "First, therefore I will speake of the Elke, which the Salvages call a Mose: it is a very large Deare, with a very faire head, and a broade palme, like the palme of a fallow Deares home, but much bigger, and is 6. footewide betweene the tipps, which grow curbing downwards: Hee is of the big- nesse of a great horse. "There have bin of them, scene that has bin i8. handfulls highe: hee hath a bunch of haire under his jawes: he is not swifte, but stronge and large in body, and longe legged; in somuch that hee doth use to kneele, when hee feedeth on grasse. "Hee bringeth forth three faunes, or younge ones, at a time; and being made tame, would be good for draught, and more usefull (by reason of their strength) then the Elke of Raushea. These are found very frequent, in the northerne parts of New England, their flesh is very good foode, and much better then our redd Deare of England. "Their bids are by the Salyages converted into very good lether, and dressed as white as milke. THE MOOSE AND HIS HISTORY 15 "Of this lether, the Salvages make the best shooes, and use to barter away the sklnnes to other Salvages, that have none of that kinde of bests in the parts where they live. Very good buffe may be made of the bids, I have seene a hide as large as any horse hide that can be found. There is such abundance of them that the Salvages, at hunting time, have killed of them so many, that they have bestowed six or seaven at a time, upon one English man whome they have borne affection to."^° With the establishment of the Jesuit missions in New France in 161 1 a new class of writers began making contributions to the history of the moose. The missionaries in their Relations, or reports of the events in their forest parishes sent from year to year to their superiors in the old country, make frequent mention of the animal which they call I'elan or rorignal. Like the Indians, the priests were dependent on the moose for food in winter, and like the Indians they went hungry when for lack of deep crusted snow the hunters with their primitive weapons were unable to «o New English Canaan (Amsterdam, 1637), pjj. 74-75. Morton was a lawyer of Clifford's Inn, London. His unpuritanical conduct twice entailed banishment from New England, and after the publication of his "scandalous book" his return to Boston brought him a year in prison. I6 THE Ah4ERICAhI MOOSE capture game. Often they tell of sustaining life by eating acorns, lichens, and remnants of moose skin, because the hunt had failed.^^ "The snow not being deep, as in other years," wrote Fr. Bressani, an Italian missionary, in 1653, **they could not take the great beasts ['gran bestie,* moose,] but only some beavers or porcu- pines. . . . An eelskin was deemed a sumptuous supper; I had used one for mending my robe, but hunger obliged me to unstitch and eat it. We ate the dressed skins of the great beast, though tougher than that of the eels. I would go into the woods to gnaw the tenderest part of the trees, and the softer bark. . . . The snow came toward the end of January, and our hunters captured some great beasts, and smoked their flesh, so much that it became as hard as a stick of wood." . . . Meanwhile some of the Indians in the neighborhood died of starvation." The Indians were the principal hunters of moose, though it was recorded that "many of our Frenchmen have killed thirty or forty apiece."^^ The skins were an important article of commerce, and at Tadousac, a trading post at the mouth »i Jesuit Relations (Cleveland, 1899), vol. Iv, (1670-71), pp. 151- 153; vol. xxxvii., pp. 193-195. " Ibid., vol. xxxix., pp. 113-115. " Ibid. (1659-60), vol. xlv., p. 193. THE MOOSE AND HIS HISTORY 17 of the Saguenay, more than five hundred moose skins were handled in the way of trade in 1648.^* This of course did not include the many used by the savages in making their clothing.^^ Several writers suggested the possibility of domesticating the moose, hoping thus to avoid some of the hardships of their long journeys to the distant missions. Fr. Le Jeune, superior of the "Residence of Kebec," wrote in 1636 that the French Governor had two bull moose and one cow in captivity, which he was seeking to domesticate.^* The experiment was evidently a failure, for no further mention of the captives is made. Many accounts are given of the Indian feasts. These functions were frequent, and varied in character, but the gluttony of the red men in times of plenty, and the disregard of rules of cleanliness in preparing the food, make the savage banquets seem anything but attractive. Each guest took with him to the feast his own bark dish and wooden spoon. The choicer por- '* Jes. Rel., vol. xxxii., p. 103. 's A good description of the moose-skin garments of the Indians is given by Fr. Le Jcune, writing in 1634-35. See Jes. Rel., vol. vii., pp. 15-17. The skin of the moose as material for clothing was valued by the white man also. Alexander Bradford of Dorchester, Mass., by his will, proved in 1645, bequeathed a "Moose Suite & a musket & Sworde & bandilieres & vest." (New England Historical and Genea- logical Register, vol. iii. [1849], p. 82.) '^ Jes. Rel., vol. ix., pp. 131, 165. 18 THE AMERICAN MOOSE tions were not divided. The tongue of a moose would be given to a single person, the tail and head of a beaver to another. These were the best pieces, and were called "the captain's part." "As for the fat intestines of the moose, which are their great delicacies, they usually roast them, and let every one taste them, as also another dish which they hold in high esteem, namely, the large intestine of the beast filled with grease, and roasted, fastened to a cord, hanging and turning before the fire."^^ In seasons of plenty some of the meat would be dried and smoked for future use. As a prelimi- nary the juice would be forced out, as far as possible, by pounding with stones and trampling with the feet. Whole sides of moose would be dried at once, the bones being removed, and where the masses of flesh were thick, deep slashes would be cut to enable the smoke to penetrate.^* The missionaries speak often of eating this dried '7 Fr. Le Jeune, writing in 1634. See Jes. Rel., vol. vi., p. 281. »* Ibid., vol. vi., p. 297. The dried meat of the western country is first cut into thin strips, and is seasoned with pepper and salt. The strips are laid for drjnng on a framework of poles about four feet from the ground, and a slow fire, preferably of black birch, furnishes heat and smoke for the curing process. When required for use the meat is pounded fine and made into soup, but it may be eaten dry. This sort of meat is commonly called "jerky" — a corruption of "char qui," a Peruvian word meaning dried meat. — See Kephart, Book of Camping and Woodcraft (N. Y., 1906), p. 222. THE MOOSE AND HIS HISTORY 19 meat, but none of them have any compHments to waste on it. It was hard and tasteless — but it would support life. The savages made no use of salt in their food, and vegetables and cereals were often lacking. The sole dish at many of their tabagies, or feasts, was an unseasoned stew into which were thrown masses of any meat that happened to be at hand, without regard to any culinary rules. In a vellum-bound folio, profusely illustrated with steel-plate engravings, Arnoldus Montanus told the people of Holland in the seventeenth century of the wonders of the two Americas. His book is entitled The New and Unknown World; or Description of America and the Southern Land.^^ It was published in Amsterdam in 1671. A trans- lation of Montanus's Description of New Nether- land is given in O'Callaghan's Documentary History of the State of New York?"" New Netherland, according to the Dutch writer, was bounded by Virginia on the southwest, by New England on the northeast, by the ocean on the southeast, and by the River Canada (St. Lawrence) on the »9 De Nieuwe en Onbekende Weereld: of Beschryving van America en 't Zuid-land. 30 Published in Albany, 1851; see vol. iv., pp. 75-83. 2 20 THE AMERICAN MOOSE north, while "northwesterly, inland, it remains wholly unknown." "South of New Netherland," writes Montanus, "are found numerous elks (eelanden), animals which, according to Erasmus Stella,^^ constitute Game in New Netherland a middle class between horses and deer. They appear to derive their Dutch appellation from elende (misery), because they die of the smallest wound, however strong they may otherwise be; also, because they are frequently afflicted with epilepsy. . . . When hunted they spew hot water " Stella wrote, in Latin, early in the sixteenth century, of the elk of Prussia. THE MOOSE AND HIS HISTORY 21 out on the dogs. They possess great strength of hoof, so as to strike a wolf dead at a blow. Their flesh, either fresh or salted, is very nutritious; the hoofs cure the falling sickness." Montanus was evidently writing of the moose, which is the elk of Europe, but he was clearly at fault in placing the habitat of the moose south of New Netherland. His plate, showing some of the wild animals of New Netherland, is reproduced herewith. In it are shown the moose, the unicorn (which Montanus said was found "on the borders of Canada"), and a great blood-drinking eagle. A beaver, in the foreground of the picture, seems to be amused at the company in which he finds himself. John Josselyn, an English physician, the son of a baronet, who made two extended visits to New England in the seventeenth century, spending much of his time in what is now Maine, has left us a description of the moose. "The Moose or Elke is a Creature, or rather if you will a Monster of superfluity," he writes. "A full grown Moose is many times bigger than an English Oxe, their horns as I have said elsewhere, very big (and brancht out into palms) the tips whereof are sometimes found to be two fathom asunder (a fathom is six feet from the tip of one finger to the tip of the other, that is four cubits). 22 THE AMERICAN MOOSE and in height from the toe of the forefoot, to the pitch of the shoulder twelve foot, both which hath been taken by some of my sceptique Readers to be monstrous lyes."^^ Before we criticise too severely Josselyn and others of his time who made statements which seem to us willfully exaggerated, we should consider the circumstances under which they wrote. Cre- dulity, not mendacity, was the failing of the age. Independent thought and research were dis- couraged, and in some fields forbidden. The gallows had not yet been erected on which to hang the witches of Salem. . . . Perhaps some- one had seen limbs of small trees broken by brows- ing moose at a height of twelve feet from the ground, and had foolishly assumed and asserted that there were moose in the woods which were twelve feet tall: if Josselyn had seen a thousand moose, none of which exceeded six feet in height, he would have been simply following the example of his age if he accepted the larger dimension without a question. In his earlier work, Nezu Englands Rarities Discovered (London, 1672), Josselyn paid some attention to the medicinal and culinary qualities ^^ An Account of Two Voyages to New England, hy ]ohn Josselyn, Gent. (London, 1674), p. 88. THE MOOSE AND HIS HISTORY 23 of the moose. "Their flesh is not dry like Deers flesh/' he writes, "but moist and lushious some- what like Horse flesh (as they judge that have tasted of both) but very wholsome. The flesh of their Fawns is an incomparable dish, beyond the flesh of an Asses Foal so highly esteemed by the Romans, or that of young Spaniel Puppies so much cried up in our days in France and England'' The scientific men of Josselyn's time took the old doctor seriously, and his account of the moose was published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of London, "to the right honourable and most illustrious the President & Fellows" of which he dedicated his book. Another writer in the Transactions of the Royal Society was Hon. Paul Dudley, F.R.S., Chief Justice of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Judge Dudley lived in Roxbury, which is now a part of Boston. His paper, published in 1721, is entitled A Description of the Moose-Deer in America. His statements are derived "partly from my own Knowledge, and partly from the Information of Men of Ingenuity and Probity, that are better acquainted with it." Judge Dudley begins by referring to Josselyn's account of the moose, which he called "imperfect." "Of Moose there are two sorts," he writes. 24 THE AMERICAN MOOSE "the Common light grey Moose, by the Indians called JVampoose;^^ these are more like the ordi- nary Deer, spring like them, and herd sometimes to thirty in a Company. And then there are the large, or black Moose, of which I shall now give you the following Account. First, That he is the Head of the Deer-kind, has many things in Common with other Deer, in many things differs, but in all very superiour. . . . He has a very short Bob for a Tail. Mr. Neal, in his late History of this Country, speaking of the Moose, says they have a long Tail; but that Gentleman was imposed on, as to other things besides the Moose. Our Hunters have found a Buck, or Stagg-Moose, of fourteen Spans in heighth from the Withers, reckoning nine inches to a Span; a quarter of his Venison weighed more than two hundred pounds. A few Years since, a Gentleman surprized one of these black Moose, in his Grounds within two miles of Boston; it proved a Doe or Hind of the fourth Year: After she was dead, they measured her upon the Ground, from the Nose to the Tail, between ten and eleven Feet, she wanted an Inch of seven Foot in height. The Horns of the Moose, when full grown, are between four and five Foot from the Head to the Tip, and have seven Shoots IS The wapiti. jiiR ^'v ' . ^\WM M '^Kg^ . ^M '-^m In the Heart of the Moose Cotintry THE MOOSE AND HIS HISTORY 25 or Branches to each Horn, and generally spread about six Foot/'^^ The range of the moose will be discussed in a subsequent chapter. The causes which would affect the numbers of moose within this range were very different in the Colonial period from those which prevail today. The moose's enemies were then wild animals and crust-hunting Indians who were only a little less wild. He enjoyed no protection from the law-makers, but he was not required to face modern firearms. How the winter death-rate among those of his species two centuries ago would compare with the autumn death-rate in this era of game laws and high-power rifles will always be a matter of speculation. Champlain on his map of New France, drawn in 1632, notes '' Chasse des Eslans'' in three places on the Gaspe Peninsula, but no doubt moose were equally numerous through a vast area south and west of that section. Gabriel Sagard-Theodat, who visited the vari- ous Indian missions in Canada a few years after Champlain's time, writes: ^^ Les eslans ou orignats . . . sont frequents iff en grand nombre au pays des Montagnais, iff fort rare a celuy des i* Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 1721, pp. 165 et seq. 26 THE AMERICAN MOOSE Huronsy^^ This may be freely translated by saying that moose were found in great numbers in the country north of the lower St. Lawrence River, but were very rare in the district between Georgian Bay and Lake Ontario. In the latter half of the seventeenth century Peter Esprit Radisson, a French trader who wfote an account of his travels in English, made extended journeys to Hudson Bay, and to the upper Mississippi Valley. Telling of a season spent in the region southwest of Lake Superior he wrote: "The spring approaches, w*^^ [is] the fitest time to kill the Oriniack. A wildman and I w*^ my brother killed that time above 600, besides other beasts.'* ^^ Perhaps moose were a little less numerous than Radisson's statement would imply. Most of us will question, at any rate, whether their antlers were as heavy as he would have us believe. Writing about 1660 he says: "I have scene of their homes that a man could not lift them from of the ground. They are branchy & flatt in the midle, of w'^^ the wildman makes dishes y* can well hold three quarts."^' Denys wrote in 1672 that moose, which formerly 35 Histoire du Canada (Paris, 1636), p. 749. 3* Voyages (Boston, 1885), p. 220. Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, vol. x., part ii. (St. Paul, 1905), pp. 502-505. 37 Voyages, p. 156. THE MOOSE AND HIS HISTORY 27 were found in great numbers on the island of Cape Breton, had been exterminated by the Indians, and that the Indians themselves had then been forced to abandon the island for lack of game.^^ Prince Edward Island also was destitute of moose, though there were some caribou, "which are an- other species of moose/' ^^ Perhaps the disappearance of this class of game from the Acadian Islands was due to the com- mercial demands of Europe. Describing the terri- tory at the head of the Bay of Fundy Denys wrote: **The Sieur d'Aunay in his time [1645-1650] traded in moose skins there to the extent of 3000 skins a year, besides beaver and otter, which was the reason why he dispossessed the Sieur de la Tour of it."'*° No doubt many of the Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island moose skins had gone to the European market by way of Sieur d'Aulnay's trading post. The Indian killed only to supply his simple needs, until the white man came and sought skins for export. But the price of peltries was paid in the Frenchman's brandy,'*^ and the death-rate among the moose soon mounted rapidly. 3^ Description Geographique et Historique des Cosies de VAmerique Septenlrionale. Avec VHisloire naturelle du Pais. Par Monsieur Denys^ Couzerneur Lieutenant-General pour le Roy, vol. i., p. 163. 39 Ubi supra, vol. i., p. 202. '•" Ubi supra, vol. i., p. 50, •" Denys, vol. ii., chap, xxvii. izS THE AMERICAN MOOSE Moose and beaver skins were chiefly in demand. From the former buff-leather was produced. This was a soft, pHable, uncolored leather, originally made from the skins of the buffaloes of the Eastern Hemisphere. It was used for clothing, and many other purposes. Charlevoix, who lived in Quebec as a Jesuit missionary for four years following 1705, writing (March 11, 1721) from St. Francis on the St. Lawrence, says that moose had been very numerous in that vicinity at the time of the first settlement of the colony, but had been heedlessly slaughtered, or frightened away, by "those who preceded us in this country."''^ And Fr. Sebastien Rasle, in a letter to his brother from Narantsouak (now Norridgewock, Maine), wrote : " Our savages have so destroyed the game of their country that for ten years they have no longer either moose [ori- gnaux] or deer [chevreuil]. Bears and beavers have become very scarce. They seldom have any food but Indian corn, beans, and squashes."^^ This was written October 12, 1723, less than a year before the missionary's tragic death. As colonization advanced the moose retreated. *' Journal d'un Voyage fait par Ordre du Rot dans VAmerigue Septen- trionale, Paris, 1744. **]Je5uit Relations, vol. Ixvii., p. 213. Michigan's Heraldic Moose THE MOOSE AND HIS HISTORY 29 In the hunting territory which was easy of access the heedless slaughter of which Charlevoix com- plained continued through the Colonial period, and the larger game animals became a constantly diminishing factor in the life of the white settlers. As for the Indians of Maine and Canada, it was necessary for them to make longer and longer journeys in the winter, to find this class of game in the profusion to which they had been accustomed. The early histories of the northern States remote from the seaboard contain few references to the moose. The settlers were too busy to engage in hunting for its own sake, and game soon became an immaterial consideration with them as a source of food supply. With the Indians it was different. Schoolcraft, writing in Territorial days of the nat- ural resources of Michigan, says: "The moose is confined to the portions of country northwest of Lake Huron, where it is still relied on by the Indian tribes as among the means of their preca- rious subsistence."'*'^ A reminiscence of the time when the moose still frequented the northern woods of Michigan, is found in the coat-of-arms of that State. This coat-of-arms, as blazoned on the Great Seal, has ** Historical and Scientific Sketches of Michigan (Detroit, 1834), p. 185. 30 THE AMERICAN MOOSE for supporters a conventionalized moose rampant on one side and a wapiti rampant on the other/^ In Canada conditions were similar. But the great wooded wilderness of the north was never far away, and moose are, and always will be, a more important economic factor in the Dominion than in the States farther south. Robert Bell, Jr., in an article on the Natural History of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, published in the Canadian Naturalist and Geologist in 1859, said: "For the last few years most of the hunters have devoted their time to killing the moose simply for the sake of their skins, which now command a higher price than formerly, and this they do at any season of the year which suits their own convenience. We were informed that a party of these hunters had procured three hundred skins the previous winter, and that another party of only three Indians had killed during the same season between ninety and one hundred on one expedition, as many as six sometimes falling a prey to them in one day, yet still these noble animals roam in vast numbers over the district.*' American Natural History (N. Y., 1914), vol. ii., p. I20. 68 THE AMERICAN MOOSE The hair is coarse and brittle, the color assuming various shades of brown, brownish black, and gray. Only the extremities are dark, the hair near the skin being white. Albino moose are unknown. The long hairs, or bristles, of the mane and throat are sometimes used by Indians for ornamenting moccasins, belts, pouches, and similar articles made of mooseskin or buckskin. The hairs are dyed in various colors, and are commonly employed in applique patterns, as porcupine quills and beads are used. From four to ten bristles are used together, according to the design, and they are stitched down with cotton thread.^ The hairs themselves are too brittle to be threaded into a needle and drawn through buckskin. The "bell" is common to males and females. Its physiological purpose is unascertained. It usually shows its best development in young bulls, from ten to fifteen inches being the ordinary length. In an older specimen the bell would be shorter and wider, and a bull in his prime, with massive antlers, commonly has merely a wattle or dewlap in place of the bell. A cow moose is said to have been taken in Manitoba in 1903, ' See "Huron Moose-Hair Embroidery," by F. G. Speck, in American Anthropologist, Jan.-March, 191 1. TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE MOOSE 69 having a bell thirty-eight inches long, exclusive of hair.^ The moose's tail is of insignificant proportions. Indeed, one old writer denied him the possession of any tail at all.'" In a full-grown specimen the tail, exclusive of hair, will not exceed 4^2 inches in length. In intelligence the moose is superior to most other varieties of the deer family. But "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing," for moose as well as men. If in a given tract of ample dimen- sions there were fifty moose and fifty whitetail deer, and they were hunted with a view to exter- mination, the last moose would probably be killed long before the last of the whitetails fell a victim to the rifle ball. The reason is that the moose has a well-defined instinct, developed through the ages when his ancestors were pursued by carnivorous enemies, and has a certain definite motive for each measure of self-protection to which he resorts. The foolish whitetail knows no reason for seeking safety from pursuit by going " down the wind/' The cautious moose learned ages ago that by this expedient he could escape the wolf- 9 Life Histories of Northern Animals, vol. i., p. 163. '" Pierre Boucher, Histoire Veritable et Naturelle des Moeurs el des Productions du Pays de la Nouvelle France (1663). 70 THE AMERICAN MOOSE pack which might be following his track by the sense of smell. But man, cleverer than the moose, and more formidable than the wolf, thanks to his rifle, knows the devices to which the moose will resort — and governs himself accordingly. "Of all quadrupeds deer are the greatest fools," writes Hornaday." In his foolishness in many cases lies the safety of the whitetail, for no hunter knows what to expect him to do. The moose's heaviness and lack of grace have sometimes given him the reputation of being stupid. But the moose belongs to one of the oldest families in the animal kingdom, and it is by intelligence rather than by stupidity that the family has been able to survive the changes of climate, the attacks of predatory animals, and all the other vicissitudes of the countless ages since the moose first appeared on the continent. If a moose, suddenly confronted by a man with a rifle, stands for a few seconds to look toward the source of danger, it is not because of lack of intelligence. He seeks as best he can to ascertain the nature of the peril — if indeed there is cause for fear. His brief halt is to give time for his senses — of smell, of hearing, and of sight — to furnish him with a reason for adopting some particular course " American Natural History, vol. i., p. xxviii. TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE MOOSE 71 of conduct. Most other species of deer would take refuge in unreflecting headlong flight, giving no thought to the nature of the peril that was left behind. And the moose's caution would involve no hazard if it were not for that unaccountable rifle. If the moose cannot fathom the mysteries of firearms he at least is no worse oflp than those sportsmen who, similarly deficient, are responsible for the shooting accidents of the hunting season. A moose is easily tamed. If captured as a calf he shows little fear of men. He is playful and good- natured when young, but bad temper shows itself later, during the rutting season, and in old moose the temper is likely to be uncertain at all seasons. In general the moose has been credited with a better disposition than most other species of deer. But deer of all species, including the moose, are more dangerous when domesticated than when wild, for the fear of man, which is man's safe- guard in the woods, is then lost. It is rare that moose have been successfully bred in captivity, nor do captive specimens often live long. Two moose were secured in Maine In 1895 for the Cincinnati Zoological Garden, and lived there in captivity nearly six years. They bred once in that time, but the calf lived only 72 THE AMERICAN MOOSE about four weeks. They were fed crushed oats, bran, fine sweet clover hay, and willow twigs. In winter they were always in good condition, but in summer they suffered greatly from the heat, and lost flesh. Cincinnati is just north of the 39th parallel. No other experiment in keeping moose in strict captivity in this country has ever been so successful. Usually the experiment ends in the death of the captive from gastro-enteritis, or inflammation of the stomach and intestines, in the second or third year. A German writer attributes the short life of moose in captivity in part to lack of the amount of tannin in their food to which they are accustomed. Moose also probably need more exercise than they usually get when in the ordinary game park of a city." The propagation of moose and deer in private preserves for commercial purposes is discussed in a bulletin of the Biological Survey of the Depart- ment of Agriculture, issued December 31, 1910.'^ Experiments in this field have been chiefly with the wapiti and the Virginia deer, but the author of the bulletin states (p. 18) that "perhaps no other " See pp. 307 et seq."^ " See also a paper by Frederic C. Walcott in Wild Life Conservation in Theory and Practice (New Haven, 1914), pp. 195-222. TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE MOOSE 73 American deer is naturally so well adapted to domestication as the moose." As the writer of the bulletin states (p. 52), "the chief obstacle to profitable game propagation in the United States lies in the restrictive char- acter of State laws affecting the killing, sale, and transportation of game." In the interest of the game propagator a distinction should be made between wild game and game legally acquired and kept in private possession for commercial purposes or for private use. But "in more than half the States and Territories the sale of venison from private preserves is illegal at all times," and the owner at the same time is forbidden to use the venison for food^in his own family. The tendency of recent legislation, however, is more favorable to the game propagator. Disease is not known to have been a factor in reducing the numbers seriously in any portion of the moose's American range, but the elk of Europe suffer often from such ailments as malignant anthrax {milzbrand) and rinderpest.^'* Doubtless moose living in close proximity to domestic cattle, however, as in Europe, are more exposed to epizootic attacks than those in forests remote from civilization. The age which moose attain under '^ See pp. 305-307- 74 THE AMERICAN MOOSE favorable conditions is believed to be eighteen or twenty years. The moose rarely resorts to a running gait, unless charging an adversary. This may be because his shoulders are higher than his hind- quarters. His usual gait is a rapid shambling trot. He does not jump like other deer, but, thanks to long legs, steps over obstructions which a whitetail would clear by a bound. A moose will sometimes escape without noise over ground where an Indian could hardly pass without being heard. Moose have many times been driven to harness. For a short distance, on a good road, a good horse would prove the better traveler, but at the end of the fiftieth mile the horse would be hopelessly distanced. Snow of a depth which would offer great difficulty to a horse or to cattle does not greatly retard a moose, whose long legs are admi- rably adapted for travel on rough woods roads or in deep snow. Prof. Spencer F. Baird of the Smithsonian Institution, in a paper on the domestication of deer, bison, etc., published in the report of the Commissioner of Patents for 1851,'^ says: "A gentleman near Houlton, Me., some years since '5 Part ii. {Agriculture), p. 115. TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE MOOSE 75 trained a pair [of moose] to draw a sleigh, which they did with great steadiness and swiftness, sub- ject, however, to the inconvenience that, when they once took it into their heads to cool them- selves in a neighboring river or lake, no efforts could prevent them/' New Brunswick guides tell of a moose which was driven on the ice of the St. John River many years ago from Fredericton to St. John and return in a single day, the entire distance being 160 miles. He was warm but showed little evidence of fatigue at the end of the journey. His owner gave him the shelter of a stable the following night, with the result that the moose died. An animal which can survive a winter in the open air at the Arctic Circle needs no other stable than that which nature furnishes in every forest thicket. While a moose is able to travel great distances in a short time, nevertheless, if undisturbed, and in a section where browse is plenty, he by choice will remain indefinitely in a relatively small area. The moose is fond of the water. It is his refuge from the serious insect pests of summer, and there is^ an abundance of feed in the shallow bays. The moose swims well, but not rapidly. Like the caribou, his shoulders are well above the water when swimming. Stone relates how an Alaska bull 76 THE AMERICAN MOOSE moose two or three years old swam eight miles without showing evidence of exhaustion.'^ Unlike the whitetail, a moose will not go on ice if he can avoid it. In common with some other creatures of the woods, the moose has gained a reputation as a dangerous animal which his disposition does not justify. Attacks upon men made by moose are very rare, even in the rutting season. The occasional authenticated cases of such attacks are generally due, in all probability, to the moose in his passion mistaking his adversary for another moose. Wounded, and at close quarters, with all chance of escape cut off, a moose will of course attack a man as a measure of self defence: a squirrel would do as much. The chief causes which have tended to give the moose a reputation for pugnacity have been the weaknesses and eccentricities incident to the rutting season, and his errors of judgment when confused by the glare of light from a jack carried by fire hunters in a canoe.'' In many camping trips in the moose country, seventeen of which have been made in the open season, when moose hunting was the chief subject '* The Deer Family, p. 318. '' See pp. 146-147. TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE MOOSE 77 of conversation beside the evening fire, the author has sought to learn the experience of guides and sportsmen in this and similar matters. Once, years ago, on the head-waters of the Aroostook River, the after-supper subject of discussion was the moose as a dangerous antagonist of man. A number of guides and others took part in the conversation, but none had ever been attacked. William Atkins was, as usual, silent. Atkins had had more experience in moose hunting than anyone else in camp, so I sought to draw him out. "How is it, WilHam.?" I asked. "What do you know about moose attacking men?" "Well," drawled Atkins, "I expect I've been attacked by moose as many times as most anyone." Atkins smoked busily for a minute or two, and we had to wait for the interesting details of his hair-breadth escapes. Meanwhile the smile which played around the corners of his mouth might mean most anything. "Lots o' times, " said Atkins finally, "IVe wished that the moose would get to chasin* after me, instead o' leavin' me to chase forever after them. But I've never yet seen a moose that wasn't mighty glad if he had a chance to run away. There's only one dangerous animal in the woods," 78 THE AMERICAN MOOSE he added. ''That's a man with a gun which he don't know how to use." This was an unusually long speech for Atkins to make, and he lapsed into silence again. A remarkable instance of seeming hostility on the part of a moose toward men is related by Theodore Roosevelt in Scribners Magazine for February, 191 6. Mr. Roosevelt with two guides was hunting from a canoe on a lake in the Ste. Anne River country northwest of Quebec. On the morning of September 19, 1915, he shot a bull with antlers spreading fifty-two inches. Late in the afternoon of the same day the party en- countered another large bull on the same lake. The bag limit was one moose, so the men in the canoe paddled about, not far from shore, watching the moose, which in turn watched them. "When we turned he followed us back, and thus went to and fro with us. Where the water was deep near shore, we pushed the canoe close in to him, and he promptly rushed down to the water's edge, shaking his head, and striking the earth with his fore hoofs. We shouted at him but with no effect. . . . Altogether the huge black beast looked like a formidable customer, and was evidently in a most evil rage and bent on man-killing. For over an hour he thus kept TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE MOOSE 79 us from the shore, running to meet us wherever we tried to go." Finally the moose left, following a stream which flowed parallel with the portage trail which the party In the canoe must take to reach their camp. After waiting a few minutes the party landed and started up the trail. "A couple of hundred yards on, the trail led to within a few yards of the little river. As we reached this point a smashing in the brush beyond the opposite bank caused us to wheel, and the great bull came headlong for us, while Arthur called to me to shoot. With a last hope of frighten- ing him I fired over his head, without the slightest effect. At a slashing trot he crossed the river, shaking his head, his ears back, the hair on his withers bristling. "'TireZy msieUy tirez! vite, vitef* called Arthur; and when the bull was not thirty feet off I put a bullet Into his chest, in the sticking point. It was a mortal wound and stopped him short. . . . "I do not believe that this vicious bull moose had ever seen a man. I have never heard of another moose acting with the same determina- tion and perseverance in ferocious malice; It be- haved, as I have said, like some of the rare 8o THE AMERICAN MOOSE vicious rogues among African elephants, buffaloes, and rhinoceroses." An affidavit attesting the facts satisfied the Secretary of the Department of Colonization, Mines, and Fisheries at Quebec, and no official notice was taken of the technical breach of the game law. Conflicting opinions regarding the pugnacity of moose in their relations with human beings may be reconciled if we consider that moose some- times — but not often — experience a condition akin to insanity among men. The normal moose is harmless. If there are more than three or four authenti- cated cases of men losing their lives in the woods as the result of being attacked by moose, the author has been unable to find them mentioned in the published literature relating to moose hunting, or in the stories told by woodsmen whom he has met. He is thus forced to the conclusion that the danger of attack is a negligible quantity. "The hunter has been injured much oftener by the common Virginia deer than by the moose. Near Fort Norman on the Mackenzie, a few years ago, a wounded bull charged and killed an Indian hunter who in his effort to escape was held by his clothing catching on a snag. Had the bull missed 3 5 (U M ^ a 0) d '3 OJ cu m TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE MOOSE 8i him in his first charge he would not have renewed it; few wild animals will return to a charge, failing in the first."^« Moose fight with others of their own kind only in the rutting season. At this season those of the fighting sex are equipped with antlers, and the antlers are the weapons for attack and defence in such contests. Against animals of other species the moose deems his hoofs his most effective weapons, but such battles are generally fought in seasons when horns are lacking. Indeed, the moose rarely has occasion to fight, since in most of his range the wolf has been exterminated. The growth of the antlers of the bull moose,'* and the brief season of mating, are physiologically closely associated. With antlers fully grown, the i8 Andrew J. Stone in The Deer Family, p. 314- A writer in The Big Game of North America (Chicago, 1890), page 25, tells how a few years before a moose was attacked while swimming in Clear Water River in Idaho by a party of rivermen in a bateau. The men used axes, cant- hooks, and other implements of the woods as weapons of offense. The writer tells us that the boat contained six men and three tons of cargo. "The moose struck the boat with his antlers, and raised it clear out of the water, turning it upside down so quickly that the men were all frightened and stunned, and two of them were either killed or drowned." We are told that it was a large moose. A moose that can lift a bateau with six men and three tons of cargo by his antlers while swimming has to be large. But the moose of Idaho are not noted for excessive size, and this story, like that of the Rocky Mountain bull by the same writer (see p. 64), may be dismissed as the work of one who was careless with regard to facts. »9 See Chap, viii., on "Heads and Horns." 6 82 THE AMERICAN MOOSE bull sets out to find a mate, manifesting a variety of emotions and qualities in his encounters with moose and men which are doubtless as little understood by himself as by any hunter who may chance to observe him. Those who have written of the moose differ widely on the question whether moose are monoga- mous. If they were monogamous they would be alone in the deer family in this respect. An argument against the theory that moose are monogamous is the fact that in territory where the cows are protected, and the bulls freely killed, there is no undue proportion of barren cows. Successful hunting in the calling season pre- supposes close study of the moose's habits, and especially his habits as affected by the mating instinct. Those who have observed the moose most minutely at this season generally agree that the male and female remain together, if undis- turbed, a week or ten days. The female then no longer desires a mate, and the male seeks other companionship. The male thus may have several mates in the short season of the rut. If the bull is driven out by a hunter, or is a loser in a contest with another bull, he will leave the cow of his choice, and then will readily respond to the call of any unmated cow whose voice he may chance TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE MOOSE 83 to hear. There is no reason whatever to suppose that the same pair will mate together for successive seasons. Contests between bulls in the mating season are of frequent occurrence, and the skins of old bulls often show the scars of many such battles.'" If a cow is a spectator of a contest between two bulls which have come in response to her call, she is an indifferent one. Indeed, a cow has been known to accept the attentions of a crotch-horn bull while two older bulls were engaged in a frenzied combat to determine which should enjoy her companionship. Concerning the wallow, a small shallow excavation in the ground which is frequently observed in moose territory, opinions are at variance. Its chief characteristic is an evil odor caused by the urine which the moose deposit there. It is associated with the period of the rut, but is not, as some assume, a trysting place of the sexes. It is made by the male, but apparently not for the purpose of attracting the female. A cow moose usually has one or two calves at a tijne— very rarely three. Most species of deer are less prolific. In the southern portion of the " The eflfects of such a fight are described by Thomas Martindale in Hunting in the Upper Yukon (Philadelphia, 1913), PP- 161-165. 84 THE AMERICAN MOOSE moose's range the calves are born late in April or early in May. Farther north the time is somewhat later. The birthplace of the ungainly little things is usually a densely wooded island, or other place which the mother deems safe from bears. If the birthplace is an island the grotesque youngsters may be seen, when still very young, swimming with their mother's aid. The calves boldly follow the mother into the water, and if distrustful of their own clumsy paddles support themselves by placing their fore hoofs on the mother's back, and thus convoyed make their way across broad reaches of water to the mainland. Long loose-jointed legs, with short little body and high shoulders like a hunchback, give the calf moose an almost uncouth appearance. At six weeks of age he will weigh less than a hundred pounds, but will be as tall as a mature buck deer of the white-tail variety weighing two hundred and fifty pounds or more. The calf's neck is so short that he must kneel to touch the ground with his nose. His hair is woolly, of a sandy or light bay color, but as a yearling he assumes the blackish brown of adult life, the brown shading into yellow- ish gray on the legs and belly. The nose and upper lip are undeveloped In the calf. The calf's growth is exceedingly rapid. Ac- A Calf Moose (Age about One Week) (Reproduced by Permission of Mr. Julian A. Dimock) TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE MOOSE 85 cording to Andrew J. Stone '^ a calf a week old, weighing sixty-five pounds, will stand thirty-three inches high at the shoulders ; the same calf at five months will be about sixty-seven inches high, and weigh six hundred pounds. But most moose at five months old are smaller than this. Calves usually remain with their mother until their little half-brothers or half-sisters are born, and a yearling bull will often remain in the com- pany of his mother — or not far away — even when she is with her new mate. As a crotch-horn, however, he would be driven away by the bull, if not by the cow herself. The cow does not show the courage in defending her calf from apprehended attack with which she is credited. Calves manifest little or no fear of men, but of course will generally follow their mother in flight. Major Charles W. Hinman, who has a longer list of moose on his score of game killed than any other sportsman of my acquaint- ance, tells of capturing two calf moose in Nova Scotia and photographing them while the mother discreetly retreated to the shelter of the neighbor- ing woods. It was on a meadow on the Shelburne River, May 17, 1915, and the calves, a male and female, were no more than two days old. The •' The Deer Family, p. 295. 86 THE AMERICAN MOOSE youngsters manifested no concern at being aban- doned by their mother. The party in two canoes were in quest of trout. When the camera had done its work the men returned to their canoes and pushed off from shore, but the young moose followed into the water. Both showed some distress at being abandoned by their new-found friends, and one put his fore feet over the gunwale of one of the canoes in an effort to climb into it. The two calves were then taken back to the land, and carried by the guides some distance from the shore, where they were left, the guides returning at top speed to the canoes. As the canoes were paddled rapidly up the river the calves were seen making their way as fast as their feeble young legs would carry them toward the shore again, but the mother was nowhere in sight. Later in the day the party returned that way, but could find neither the cow nor calves. No doubt the little family, reunited, was safe in some friendly thicket." The moose is a ruminant, and is often seen standing listlessly chewing the cud. His dietary is more varied than that of most deer. It in- »' See "How We Tamed Calf Moose," by Chauncey J. Hawkins, in Outing for November, 191 1. See also "Baby Moose," by A. W. Dimock, in Country Life in America for May, 19 10. TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE MOOSE 87 eludes the twigs, leaves, and occasionally the bark of a variety of maples, including the striped maple or moosewood. It includes also willow, birch, alder, poplar, mountain ash, and witch hazel. Moss and lichens too are on his menu, and in the summer the stems, roots, and pads of lilies and various other water plants. In the autumn and winter young spruces and ground hemlock are favored articles of diet, and the leaves and twigs of other coniferous trees. Burnt land, with one or two seasons' fresh growth of willows, is an especially popular feeding ground. Like all mam- mals, moose are fond of salt. In table manners the moose shows little of the gentility of most of the deer. He of necessity straddles like a giraffe to reach moss or other browse which is close to the ground, and often rears on his hind legs to reach attractive morsels which cannot otherwise be nibbled from the limbs of trees. He frequently "rides down" saplings by walking over them, bringing the tender twigs at the top within easy reach. In good moose country hundreds of the smaller deciduous trees will be seen which have been "peeled," the moose by an upward movement of the head stripping off the bark with his chisel-like Incisors. He peels only one side of 88 THE AMERICAN MOOSE a tree, with the result that the tree is not killed. Like most of the ruminants, the moose has no front teeth in the upper jaw. In addition to the eight sharp-edged incisors in the lower jaw, the moose has a battery of molars which would serve as a model for a pulp mill. These molars easily Skull of a Moose grind up twigs as thick as a man's finger. The milk teeth in the single line of incisors are narrower and more pointed than the permanent ones. They are gradually replaced, those in the center of the row being the first to give way. Little attention has been paid by American naturalists to the subject of the moose's teeth. The author, like most sportsmen, has had scant opportunity to study the teeth of cows, or im- mature bulls, and the published works on zoology TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE MOOSE 89 give little information concerning the time when the milk teeth make way for the permanent ones in any of the moose family. Professor Nitsche of the Academy of Forestry at Tharand, Saxony, says that the milk teeth of the moose and other CervidcB are replaced much earlier than in the case of the Bovidcs. The incisors of the male calf, he says, are replaced "at the time of the growth of the first antlers, accordingly at the age of from eight to twelve months; the molars are replaced at the time of the second antlers, or at the age of fifteen or sixteen months."''^ The author cannot believe, however, that the full set of permanent teeth is attained at so early an age. In old age the incisors are gradually lost, thus increasing the difficulties of subsistence. There is little difference between the night and the day in the routine of a moose's life. He travels and feeds at night as well as by day; he lies down to rest by day as well as by night. He usually browses until an hour or two before midday, and then for two or three hours is likely to lie down and chew the cud of idle contemplation. As he is more on his guard when resting the hunter should increase his own caution in proportion. »3 A. Martenson, Der Elch (Riga, 1903), p. 8. 90 THE AMERICAN MOOSE Wild animals often appear to be practically color blind. The creatures of the woods seem to pay little more attention to a scarlet coat, such as some apprehensive woodsmen wear, than to one of more subdued color. Thus a flaming garment may be a partial safeguard against the reckless hunter who is inclined to shoot at every moving thing which he sees, while the same garment, if its wearer is standing still, will arouse no especial suspicion on the part of the moose. It has been remarked that wild animals recognize danger only in life, and life only in motion. A man standing still in the woods, in plain view, even if dressed in conspicuous colors, will often be dis- regarded by moose, provided the wind does not carry the scent of the man in the direction of the animal. A slight movement on the man's part, however, will tell the moose that he is in dangen The sense of sight in all the deer family is obtuse and uncertain. In this respect man is altogether superior to most animals. On one occasion in Nova Scotia we were on our way to a calling stand a mile and a half from camp, and were crossing one of the broad barrens which are the chief characteristic of the moose territory of Canada's "Province In the sea." We had traveled a mile or more, laden with packs contain- TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE MOOSE 91 ing a canvas lean-to, blankets, extra clothing, and provisions for a supper and breakfast. When in the middle of the barren we noticed two moose standing in the edge of the sparse timber which fringed the broad open bog. We had no glass, but the guide, with younger eyes than his employer, was sure he saw antlers on both heads. It was a long shot. I had killed a dozen moose before that, but had perhaps never fired at one at much more than half this distance. It seemed to be more than four hundred yards. I had targetted my rifle at various measured ranges up to three hundred yards, so I threw off my pack and raised the rear sight to the three hundred yards' mark. The wide expanse of hardback and low white alders which covered the bog would hide the moose from view if I tried a knee rest, so standing up and aiming from the shoulder, but holding for a point just over the moose's back, I pulled the trigger. Both animals at once started, and ran toward us. It seemed a strange maneuver on their part. They came diagonally about fifty yards nearer, and stopped. I fired again, at the same one as before, but they stood rigid. A third shot, aiming high as before, caused my moose to make a convulsive movement, which told me that I had scored a hit. He ran back, soon stopping 92 THE AMERICAN MOOSE and looking in our direction, while his companion took another course, but keeping for some time in vieWo My moose made one or two short runs, and finally disappeared in the thicket and scattered timber which formed the background of the picture. The sun would set in another half hour. It was slow work crossing the bog and the sluggish stream which lay between us and the trail of the wounded moose, and it was still slower work tracking on the bare ground by the aid of scattered drops of blood. The trail of blood led us half or three-quarters of a mile. The moon, which was nearly full, contributed more light than the sun, which was already below the horizon, when we finally came upon my moose lying down. He got upon his feet, but only to receive the coup de grace. The previous shot had hit low in the hind-quarters, but he had suffered no broken bones. We discussed that unexpected movement, when, after the first shot, the two animals ran toward us, and agreed that their dim eyesight had shown them merely two unidentified figures, moving on the open bog. They stood at attention, looking toward the dark moving objects, when the first bullet probably struck a rock behind them, toward TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE MOOSE 93 the edge of the timber. The noise of the un- expected blow on the rock near at hand no doubt seemed to them a more imminent peril than the report of the rifle far off on the barren, and they ran from the nearer danger. The subsequent shots, and the crippling sting in the hind-quarters, told one moose that danger was abroad on the barren, and the retreat of the wounded bull told his companion that it was time to seek a change of scene. Probably neither moose could see the dark objects on the bog with sufficient distinctness to identify them as the chief enemies of their race, but Judson Gray, expert moose hunter and caller, with the eyes of a man in his prime, could easily see the antlers on the heads of the moose. It seemed to me to be a clear demonstration of the inferiority of the moose's vision. The moose's superiority in his sense of smell and hearing, much more than offsets his deficiency of vision. Sometimes the moose's ability to scent danger and escape it is surprising. In other cases he shows a degree of indifference to the scent and sight of man that is inexplicable. It has been said that this occasional indifference is met only in sections where moose and men have been 94 THE AMERICAN MOOSE close neighbors. But George Shiras, 3d,^^ relates instances of the moose's disregard of men in the Kenai Peninsula more striking than any ever observed by the author in Eastern Canada and Maine. Mr. Shiras tells how he photographed an old cow at a mud-hole much frequented by the moose. "Determined to try for a close picture, and to test her disposition when thus interrupted, I boldly walked In view, crossing the bare and much-trampled field to within fifty feet. She stood broadside, head up, and unquestionably looking at me out of one eye, but to all appear- ances utterly indifferent to my approach. Taking a picture, I went a little closer, when she turned away without looking, and again the camera recorded the scene. "While changing plate-holders, I was surprised to see the moose turn about and come toward me on a slow trot. To the uninitiated this would probably have meant a bold charge, and to the nature faker sufficient grounds for an exciting story. . . . Wishing to avoid alarming her so soon, I backed across the field to the edge of the marsh, but she still followed. Turning my back to the animal, I walked ahead, and upon reaching a place '■• National Geographic Magazine, May, 1912, pp. 447, 449. TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE MOOSE 95 where the ground was almost impassable with fallen timber, I stopped. . . . The cow immedi- ately came up, circled almost within reach, and then was struck by the scent. The effect was instantaneous and remarkable. . . . With a quick awkward plunge, she made off at her fastest gait." F. C. Selous, in his Recent Hunting Trips in British North America, tells of still-hunting in the snow in the Yukon Mountains "where in all probability the foot of a white man had never trodden before." "I stood literally within ten paces of the sleeping moose," he writes. A bullet in the neck gave the Englishman a fine fat moose with antlers spreading 58^ inches.^^ On another occasion, two years later, in the East Yukon country, firing at a large bull from a rocking canoe he made a miss. The distance was less than thirty yards. "He stood perfectly still, right in the open ground, and broadside on, with his head turned toward us. . . . But the moose never moved a muscle until my second shot struck him. . . . Then he turned slowly round and walked toward the forest behind him." Mr. Selous was using a single-shot rifle. Two more bullets ended the hunt."^^ *s Pages 16, 182. The moose was shot September 8, 1904. a6 Ubi supra, p. 371. 96 THE AMERICAN MOOSE Paul Niedieck gives the details of a moose hunt near Tustumena Lake, on the Kenai Peninsula, in October, 1906. There had been no hunting in that region for three years, he said. On the day in question, after seeing more than a dozen moose, and hearing others, he finally shot a bull. "When the moose fell," he writes, "the woods became alive about me. From all sides the moose came forward — some twenty in all. They stood and looked at me, each one wishing to satisfy his curiosity. A cow came directly toward me, as if she wished to avenge her mate, and would not leave until my guide threw sticks at her. I was busy removing the antlers, which had a spread of 65 inches, when a smaller full-grown bull came on the scene. He gave me time to put a fresh film in my camera, and I was able then to photograph him several times."""^ Andrew J. Stone refers somewhat disparagingly to Maine as affording opportunity for "a parlor moose hunt.'"^ And Madison Grant writes: "It is difficult for a hunter whose experience is limited to Maine or the maritime provinces, to appreciate how very shy and wary a moose can be."''^ But '1 Kreuzfahrten im Beringmeer (Berlin, 1907), p. 216. »8 The Deer Family, p. 323. »» Seventh Report N. Y. State Forest, Fish,and Game Commission, 1901, p. 230. TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE MOOSE 97 the author, with considerable experience in hunting moose in Maine and the maritime provinces, has never found moose so nearly "halter-broke" as those described by Mr. Shiras, Mr. Selous, and Mn Niedieck. Deep snow, crusted, leaves the moose compara- tively helpless in the presence of wolves, cougars, and men. At no other season need a full-grown moose fear any animal which seeks his prey without the aid of firearms. When the snow becomes deep moose gather in "yards.'* The little community usually consists of from three to half a dozen animals, mostly young bulls, cows, and calves. The old bulls are inclined to keep by themselves. The yarding place is chosen where feed is plenty, and a network of paths admits of considerable movement within a limited area. When the feed is exhausted in this area a path is broken to some neighboring thicket, and so, by an occasional short migration, the food problem is easily solved. If a season's snowfall chances to be light, the moose do not yard at all, yarding seeming to be dictated solely by an instinct which thus provides protection for the weaker animals, at the season when escape from danger by flight is impossible. With the 98 THE AMERICAN MOOSE melting of the snow in spring the little herd dis- perses, the cows, with the calves, seeking a quiet retreat where the calves of the next generation may be born in safety. In Nova Scotia the moose rarely find the snow in winter much more than knee-deep. Conse- quently they do not remain in restricted yards, but are frequently seen crossing the open snow- covered barrens, seeking the sweet fern, which is a favorite article of their food. In the remote Northwest, too, contrary to common supposition, the snowfall is much less than in the woods of Maine and New Brunswick, and the moose move about with nearly as great freedom in winter as in the spring and autumn.^° J" See article by Tappan Adney, " Moose-Hunting" with the Tro-chu- tin, " in Harper's Magazine for March, 1900. Mr. Adney gives an interesting account of a winter moose-hunting trip with a large party of Klondike Indians. The hunt lasted three months, and yielded about eighty moose. November in the Moose Woods CHAPTER IV STILL-HUNTING Still-hunting, or "stalking," as it is often called, is the commonest present-day method of hunting the moose. It is perhaps the only method which always and everywhere — if moose hunting is permitted at all — measures up to every stand- ard of sportsmanship, and falls under no legal ban. The strategy of still-hunting is in many respects the same whether one is seeking moose or other large game. An experienced hunter of the smaller species of deer is likely, however, to fail signally if he seeks the moose in a section where moose are few and wary, unless he has familiarity with the moose's habits, and can read aright the special "signs'* which are relied upon to lead one within gunshot of the coveted head. For the purposes of the present work the writer will assume that the reader is familiar with deer hunting in general, for it is rare that one sets out in quest of moose 99 100 THE AMERICAN MOOSE without first serving an apprenticeship as a hunter of the whitetail or similar game. Through uncounted centuries the Instinct of the moose was developed with a view to self- preservation. The moose of today possesses this instinct, the inheritance of his race, and it would be adequate to enable him to cope with the cougar and the wolf and his other traditional enemies which are commonly called predatory. But the most terrible animal of all Is a late comer — and he brought the rifle. Moose tactics furnish safe- guards against creatures which stealthily follow their intended victims by the aid of a powerful sense of smell. But this late comer, who lacks keenness of scent, often remains Invisible, and from a distance strikes a mortal blow. The inheritance of Instinct, alas, furnishes no safeguard against the Invisible bullet. The art of still-hunting consists in taking advan- tage of man's superior reasoning power, his superior eyesight, and the inventive skill which gives him the rifle, to bring to bag the animals which could easily outwit or outfight their fellow wild animals which fight with teeth and claws. If still-hunting is more sportsmanlike than calling or jacking or dogging, it is because in still-hunting man at his best is pitted against the moose at his best, and STILL-HUNTING loi the result is never a foregone conclusion. Still- hunting is possible at all seasons, and in the pursuit of all species of deer. Calling is effective for a limited season; it is eifective only when the moose is thrown off his guard by the violence of his passions. Successful still-hunting presupposes a considerable degree of alertness and skill in woodcraft, on the part of sportsman and guide alike. Calling, it has been said, presupposes experience and vocal skill on the part of a guide, and little but patience on the part of his employer. A good still-hunter possesses the gift of exact observation in a high degree. Book knowledge will never serve as a substitute: it may aid in giving direction to the powers of personal observa- tion, but it can do little more. And besides the power of close observation, the still-hunter must possess vigilance, unremitting vigilance. A sportsman and a guide once followed a moose track for three or four hours in two feet of soft snow. There were no snowshoes within fifteen miles. Snowshoes would have been of little assistance in any event, for they would have sunk deep in the light dry snow, but walking without them was slow and tedious. Further- more, moose were few and very worldly-wise. 102 THE AMERICAN MOOSE As a result, if one found a track whose freshness gave any sort of promise, he was incHned to make the most of it. When first seen the track was nearly two days old. The hoof-prints were not those of a moose which would break any records, but it was almost the end of the season, and it would not do to be too particular. After two hours or so the track was much fresher, for several round beds in the snow had been passed where the animal had lain to rest and ruminate. The timber was open hard- wood, and while the track seemed to be that of a bull, the evidence was not conclusive, and the desired evidence that a good pair of antlers was waiting at the other end of the track was entirely lacking. Dinner time came, with the convenient brook for water. The dinner pack disclosed some slices of venison steak and a small frypan — an unusual utensil under the circumstances. "I guess we are booked for a cold lunch,'* remarked the hunter, having in mind the com- paratively fresh moose works. "0, he's three hours ahead of us!" said the guide. "We may as well have some hot tea and steak." While the guide was coaxing a fire out of two or STILL-HUNTING 103 three handfuls of dry sticks the sportsman went down to the brook to fill the tea pail, and he agreed that the track of the moose where it crossed was several hours old. Dinner caused a delay of thirty minutes per- haps, and the men resumed the trail across the little brook. ... I am not at liberty to print what the guide said when he had gone thirty yards or so up the other bank. Not that it was confidential — it was merely unprintable. For that track three or four hours old was crossed by another hardly an hour old, showing that the moose had made one of his frequent loops, and, crossing his own track, had lain down for a noon- day siesta less than a hundred yards from where the miserable fire of the dinner camp had sent out its notice to everything in the neighboring woods that men were abroad. There was the bed in the snow, and there were the long strides of the frightened fugitive leading from it. But we never saw that moose. Eternal vigilance is the price of moose steak. We didn't pay the price, and we didn't get the steak. The guide's attempt at consolation by concluding that it was only a cow moose, after all, reminded me merely of the fox's opinion that the inaccessible grapes were not sweet enough to eat 104 THE AMERICAN MOOSE anyway, without lightening the burden of a homeward journey empty-handed. In addition to vigilance, persistence and some measure of physical endurance are needed by the still-hunter. Since the mountain will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet must perforce journey to the mountain. Occasionally one stumbles on a fine moose and gets a shot without the long patient search, but this is a rare exception to the general rule. One sunny afternoon in early October I was idling about a Nova Scotia camp. I was giving little thought to moose, for my hunt had ended successfully three days before. In front of the camp stood a wagon on which my moose was loaded; in the rear the oxen which were to draw the load to the settlement were peacefully eating their supper. A young man named Lovitt, who lived in Yarmouth, and his guide, Clarence Gray, were making us a visit. Lovitt had been hunting unsuccessfully for ten days or so, making his headquarters at a camp five or six miles below us. I chanced to be on the platform before the camp when I heard a commotion inside. Lovitt had sprung to his feet and seized his rifle, and was rushing to the open window. I stepped to the STILL-HUNTING 105 end of the platform to see what was causing the excitement, and looking around the corner of the cabin saw a large moose facing me twenty- five yards away. At that instant Lovitt's rifle cracked, and two or three seconds later he was on the ground outside. After firing, seeing the moose retreat, he stepped from a chair to the top of the dining table, and then plunged through the window, his shoulders breaking the casing above the opening as he threw himself in great excite- ment into the open air. Two more shots were fired and the moose fell dead sixty-eight yards from the cabin. The moose was old and battle-scarred. He bore antlers spreading 49 inches, and having 11 -l-/ points. This moose had approached the camp from the leeward — perhaps in flight before a younger and more vigorous antagonist. The odors of the oxen and the smoke from the camp stove had had no deterring effect. It was Lovitt*s first moose. In a lifetime of hunting he may never get another with so little effort. A windy or rainy day is favorable for still- hunting moose, because the sound of a stick breaking under the hunter's foot will then be less noticeable. Wet leaves, furthermore, will not io6 THE AMERICAN MOOSE rustle under the feet as dry ones will. Moose lie down often for an hour or two, and always lie down at midday. They are more watchful when lying down than when traveling or feeding. At midday, accordingly, especial watchfulness is incumbent on the hunter. The track of a moose is like that of a domestic cow, but larger, and somewhat more pointed. The means by which the freshness of a track may be determined are various. In this respect there is no material difference between tracking moose and tracking the smaller species of deer. It is necessary to take notice of atmospheric condi- tions. Aided by knowledge of a recent shower, or flurry of snow, or the effect of freezing, one can judge how much time has elapsed since the animal which made the track passed that way. On bare ground a track made two hours ago generally looks very much like one that is only ten minutes old, but this is not the case when hunting on snow. Snow freshly turned up has a sparkle which is soon lost by disintegration of the crystals at the surface. The experienced tracker always seeks by a com- prehensive view to see a long series of footprints at once, and thus keep the general direction in which they lead, rather than to waste time by looking in succession at the individual footprints close at hand. STILL-HUNTING 107 With some study one can learn to distinguish between freshly nibbled twigs, and twigs which were cropped several hours earlier, by the color and moisture of the exposed inner bark and the wood. Similarly the freshness of the peeling of bark on the trunks of trees may be judged. But most hunters rely less on such signs than on those pertaining to the tracks of the animal. Two men can hunt more effectively together than one alone, if they are equally painstaking. A guide, leading the way and studying the tracks, the evidences of browsing, and the many other things which demand attention, may easily frighten the animal which made the tracks, if the animal chances to be a hundred yards away and looking along his back track as he feeds. But the sports- man following the guide, if he keeps a sharp lookout for a possible quick shot, paying little attention to the tracks, Is ready with his rifle for just such an exigency. Where a sportsman has a little experience, and enters thoroughly into the spirit of the hunt, it is probable that he will see the game that he Is seek- ing before his guide sees It twice out of three times. This Is no disparagement of the guide. In the division of activity as above outlined it is to be expected. io8 THE AMERICAN MOOSE Moose show fear of the tracks of men only when the tracks are fresh, and still hold the human scent. In snow the scent quickly disappears, but on bare ground, in warm weather, it will remain for hours. A number of times I have observed fresh moose tracks leading to the track of a man made an hour or two earlier, and then following alongside the human track without crossing, as if it were a barrier to be dreaded. Sometimes the moose had followed alongside for some rods, and then jumped across and fled, run- ning as if he thought the tracks could chase him. The size of the moose is fairly indicated by the size of his footprint, but the spread or quality of his antlers cannot be so easily estimated. Body and hoof increase a little in size after a bull passes his prime, while the antlers deteriorate in old age. The length of the stride in walking, and the height at which the moose can reach browse on the trees, are other indications of size. If places are found where a moose has gone between trees, the spread of his antlers, if he has any, may often be closely estimated. On one occasion I followed the track of a moose which led up a hill, and between some small trees. The guide studied the evidences carefully. STILL-HUNTING 109 "No!" said he finally. "That moose can't have any horns. If he had, they'd have knocked the snow off that fir, or else he'd have scrope the other tree." I was not sure that "scrope" was a correct past participle of the verb "to scrape," but I was quite sure that the pair of antlers I was looking for had not been carried between those trees. Little assistance in judging the age or size of a moose is afforded by the teeth-marks on trees, where the bark has been peeled. After the moose has lost his milk teeth, and has come into posses- sion of those of maturity, there is no increase in their size. An old moose is likely to have defective incisors, but often the front teeth of a three-year- old will show similar defects. The middle front teeth of mature moose are about half an inch in width. They are like gouge chisels, but are often scalloped into a sort of double gouge, which would give the hunter, intent on studying the "peelings" on trees, the impression that the teeth were much smaller than they really are. Further- more, a large moose often leaves on the tree-trunk the marks of the narrower incisors at the end of the little row of chisels, causing the hunter to infer that the peeling was the work of a yearling.^ ' See pp. 87-89. no THE AMERICAN MOOSE Many a clever stalk, which has led to a moose within easy gunshot, has ended in the disappoint- ing discovery that it was only a cow moose, after all. The first question then, when a track is found is, is it a bull or a cow? The visible differ- ences are not certain and precise. The hoofprint of the cow is generally more pointed than that of the bull. The cow rarely peels bark; the bull often does, especially in the fall. The cow rarely browses fir; the bull rarely browses birch. The balls of excrement of the cow are oval and long; those of the bull are more nearly spherical, and flattened by being pressed together. If two or three moose are traveling in company, as frequently happens, certain tracks are likely to lead between trees which are close to- gether, while the track of one animal may turn out — indicating the possession of a pair of antlers that could not be easily maneuvered in narrow quarters. If a moose track leads to windward, and is three or four hours old, it is safe to follow it rapidly, for the animal's scent will not tell him that he is pursued. If the track is much fresher, but the moose is not stopping to feed, it may be followed somewhat rapidly. When, however, the track is STILL-HUNTING i" fresh, and it is evident that the animal is not far away, and has been feeding, the hunter should leave the track, making a series of zigzags across it, and keeping a close watch to windward. The purpose of this maneuver is to avoid getting on the weather side of the moose if he has made one A—- Hunting against the Wind of his customary loops "down the wind" as a preliminary to lying down. In the diagram the arrows indicate the direction of the wind. The dotted line represents the track of the moose from A to windward as far as B, where he loops down the wind to C for a rest. The hunter, seeing that the track is fresh, zigzags DEFGH, and at I, if he has conducted the stalk skillfully, he may get a shot. On the other hand, if the hunter followed the moose track without zigzagging, he would not go far beyond 112 THE AMERICAN MOOSE B before the animal would get his scent, and take flight. If the track leads "down the wind" the hunter may as before follow rapidly so long as the track is some hours old. In general terms it may be assumed that the moose will lie down for an Hunting with the Wind hour or two at a time, and he will lie down a number of times in a day. When a place is reached where the moose has lain, the "sign" will of course be fresher after he has left his bed, and caution must be exercised accordingly. When it is judged that the moose is not more than two or three hundred yards away, and is not traveling rapidly, as shown by his feeding, it is time to maneuver for the leeward position. This is done by making a series of loops, as in the diagram. The moose is going down the wind, from K to L. The hunter. STILL-HUNTING 113 knowing that the wind favors the moose, makes a loop, MNO, the loop having a radius of a quarter of a mile or more. He finds, however, that the moose is still ahead of him. He may make several such loops before heading the animal. When he makes the loop OPQ without coming upon the track, he assumes that he has the leeward position, and begins a series of zigzags, QRS, to hunt out the moose from the leeward side, as before. At S he ought to get a shot. Of course, at O, or an5rwhere else, for that mat- ter, the hunter may find that he has by chance come too close to the moose, where perhaps a thicket shielded him from view, and where the moose had the leeward position. In this case he may have to content himself with a running shot — or merely with an opportunity to measure on the ground the long strides which an unseen but frightened moose makes when a favoring breeze has brought to his nostrils the dreaded human scent. A breaking stick under the hunter's foot may similarly bring to naught a stalk which has been in other respects most skillfully managed. It is this uncertainty, this necessity for keeping every sense and every nerve keenly on the alert, that makes still-hunting in the moose country the finest sport that America affords. 114 THE AMERICAN MOOSE The tactics here described are much less resorted to where moose are plenty than in places where they are more rarely met/ Indeed, it is always in the places where the difficulties of the hunt are greatest that the most skillful hunters are found. When a yarding place of moose is found, indi- cated by browsing and peeling, the tracks crossing and recrossing, the hunter should at once seek the leeward side, and work his way into the yard by a system of zigzags, keeping a close watch to wind- ward as he advances. Much of the moose country of the remote Northwest is sparsely wooded, but in the portions of the moose's range which are most frequently visited by sportsmen the cover is comparatively thick. Under the latter conditions, if a moose is a hundred yards away he is usually concealed by trees and underbrush, and he is often invisible to the hunter at half this distance. In the summer and early autumn, to be sure, the moose is fre- quently seen in and about the water, at a distance of several hundred yards, but later, in the still- hunting season, the game is found among the thick growth of the ridges. The hunter, of course, prefers the more open woods, but he must take conditions as he finds them. For a fair marks- man, armed with a good rifle, a shot at two hundred STILL-HUNTING 115 yards offers less difficulty than is usually met in still-hunting a moose which cannot be seen by the sportsman until he has come within fifty or seventy- five yards of his quarry. If the moose is successfully stalked — that is, if the hunter comes within view and gunshot without frightening the quarry away — still the hunter should not fire without getting a good look at the head. It has happened many times that the animal which is seen is not the one whose tracks the hunter has been following. The moose which is seen may be a yearling or a cow casually met by the big bull which made the tracks — and the yearling and the cow are entitled to protection. If the head is not in sight, and it is inexpedient for the hunter to change his position, he may make a low "zvahf* sound, and thus cause the moose to turn his head. If it is not the head you want perhaps the call will bring the desired head, and its bearer, into view. In any event, if the head suits you you must shoot quickly, for once under way a fleeing moose is not likely to stop until he has measured off a long reach of timber land, and if again pursued he is sure to be on his guard. A whitetail, when surprised, is quicker to start ii6 THE AMERICAN MOOSE than a moose, but runs a much shorter distance. He may often be overtaken and shot after a run of two or three hundred yards. Occasionally a bull moose, if in the company of a cow, and with the duty of guarding the rear in a retreat, will stop after a few rods' run to find what the danger is that threatens. A bull alone will rarely do this. When, at the end of a long and exciting stalk, a patch of black seen through the trees seems to tell the hunter that his moose is in sight, nerves should be kept in subjection and vigilance redoubled. One rarely sees the whole figure of the animal at such a time. The first question then is, is it a moose .^ There may be other black objects in the woods. Is it a bull.? Don't shoot a cow, even if the law permits it. Are the antlers worth the shot.? Remember there is a bag limit, and a mis- take cannot be corrected after the bullet has left the muzzle of the rifle. A hunter once followed a promising moose track in soft fresh snow, when conditions were favorable for a somewhat rapid advance. For nearly two miles the moose traveled at a steady walk, stop- ping rarely to nibble a few mouthfuls of browse. Then the track of another bull, accompanied by a cow, crossed at right angles. The hunter kept the STILL-HUNTING "7 straight course. Suddenly, less than a quarter of a mile beyond where the tracks crossed, off at one side, sixty yards away, could be seen the body of a moose, standing. A little inspection showed that it was a bull, and that the head would be a prize worth winning. A shot was fired, and the moose disappeared, while the hunter ran forward to be ready to fire again if he again came in sight of his victim. A few yards, and a second shot was fired; a few more, and a third. The next run forward brought Into view an unexpected spectacle. On the ground lay a bull dead; nineteen yards beyond stood another bull mortally wounded and unable to travel, while fifty yards farther off stood a cow, a puzzled spectator of the tragedy. The second bull dropped in his tracks without another shot. The cow stood for two or three minutes while a surprised and disgusted sportsman discussed the unusual event with an equally surprised guide. If there had been a single moose down, bearing on his head either pair of antlers, the sportsman would have been amply satisfied. The lesson which this episode teaches Is that the hunter should exercise all the care that is possible —it may still be insufficient. ... The legal bag limit was one bull moose. . . . Ii8 THE AMERICAN MOOSE The moose, like Fuzzy- Wuzzy, requires a good deal of punishment to make a post-mortem possible. And it was said of Fuzzy-Wuzzy, it may be re- called, that -'. . . Vs generally shammin' when 'e's dead." Belmore Browne' tells of an early autumn hunting trip in Alaska with A. J. Stone, in quest of speci- mens for the American Museum of Natural History. Two bulls were shot one morning, the pair falling about a mile apart. The party were engaged In dressing the smaller moose, intending afterward to take care of the larger one, when they were visited by a bull which appeared to be frightened. As they wished only two bulls they took little notice of the Intruder. "We had been skinning for only a few minutes when one of the Indians gave a grunt of surprise, and in an instant our noble red men were franti- cally shinning up the nearby spruces. Turning we saw the bull running toward us through a grassy glade, and we stood quietly watching him as he came on. He had seen the flurry ©n the knoll as the Indians scattered, but he seemed to be uncertain as to which course to follow, for he dropped into a walk and continued to approach un- ' Outing, October, 1915. STILL-HUNTING 119 til he was only thirty feet away, where he stopped and looked over us. The Indians were jabber- ing excitedly on their perches, just in front of him the dead bull lay, Stone and I were standing in plain view, and yet many seconds passed before he turned and left us." Later, on seeking the second moose, whose life was supposed to have ended several hours before, they found that he had disappeared. "There in the grass was the depression made by his great body, and numerous gashes in the earth showed where his antlers had torn up the sod. For a mo- ment we stood dumfounded, then the realization came to us that our friendly visitor was our van- ished prize!" The hunters hurriedly took their back track, and found and finished the wounded bull in a grove of alders. The moral of this tale is obvious: be sure your moose is dead. CHAPTER V CALLING THE MOOSE In some portions of the moose's range the close season is so adjusted as to include the period of the rut. This policy is encouraged by those who look with disfavor on calling as unsportsman- like, and by those who advocate a considerable restriction of the kill of moose. The number of moose killed by aid of calling no doubt constitutes a small minority of all which are shot. Still, calling affords excitement, and it affords the enjoyment of the woods in twilight hours when Nature is in one of her most delightful moods. The calling season extends, in general terms, from the middle of September to the middle of October. In northern latitudes, and at high elevations, it is a little later. The voice of neither bull nor cow is often heard at any other time. There are well- authenticated instances, however, of bulls respond- ing to the call long after the close of the rutting season — even as late as the end of November. 120 CALLING THE MOOSE 121 The best bulls are likely to "come in" to the call in the first week or two of the season. After they have mated, the smaller specimens, and defeated suitors for female favors, will make bold to respond when they hear the cows' melodious confession of loneliness. With regard to the conditions surrounding the practice of calling there has been some conflict of opinion. Stone, in The Deer Family,' ridicules the claim that a bull moose will respond to a hunter's call in the belief that the sound is the call of a cow. But Mr. Stone's experience with the moose has been in the Northwest, where calling is almost unknown. Other writers de- scribe the "loud bellow of the bull" as he rushes through the woods in the rutting season, seeking female companionship, assuming that it is the bull which calls. These writers either lack experi- ence in the moose country, or have gained their experience on the Pacific side of the continent, where, as stated, calling is rarely practiced. The statement that moose in Alaska and western Canada will not respond to a call is untrue. Wil- fred H. Osgood of the United States Biological Survey relates how two bulls responded to a call sounded by Carl Rungius, the well-known sports- « Page 310. 122 THE AMERICAN MOOSE man and painter of big-game subjects, while the two gentlemen were engaged in a September hunting expedition in Alaska some years ago.^ And F. C. Selous tells of successful calling, of which he was an auditor and spectator, by Charles Sheldon and a half-breed guide in Yukon Territory of Canada September 25, 1904. The moose came within twenty-five yards, but was lost by the misfire of a cartridge.^ Sportsmen and guides who have been much in the moose ranges of Lower Canada and Maine agree that the bull is easily deceived in the rutting season by a skillful caller, and that it is the cow which calls, the bull's voice being rarely heard, except when, by a sort of grunt, he responds to a cow's call — or its imitation/ The usual time for calling is the dusk of a still moonlit September or October evening or morning, and the preferred place is the edge of a broad barren. Can Imagination picture a stage setting more beautiful in the eyes of one who loves the woods ! » National Geographic Magazine, July, 1909. ^Recent Hunting Trips in British North America, pp. 227-232, Mr. Selous said the reply of the bull when responding to a call seemed to come from the throat, and reminded him "irresistibly of a human being in the throes of sea-sickness." * An old writer describes moose calling among the Micmac Indians of Acadia two hundred and fifty years ago, the voice of the female being imitated. — Denys, ubi supra, vol. ii., p. 423. o u I o O o CALLING THE MOOSE 123 If the vicinity of the stand is too open, the call may fail owing to the bull's disinclination to trust himself far from shelter; and there must be cover enough to conceal the hunter and the caller, of course. Furthermore, no intelligent moose would respond to a call from a place so open that a cow obviously could not remain concealed in it. On the other hand, too much shelter will give the bull a chance to view and scent the situation at close quarters without offering opportunity for a shot. The immediate vicinity of the stand, however, should be free from brush or other obstructions more than four feet high, for the sportsman must have an opportunity to inspect his quarry and judge whether the head meets his approval. Some- times a bull, which has been coaxed forward for an hour or two by a skilled manipulator of the birchen horn, will stand for another hour partially in sight, but with his head concealed from view, while daylight, merging slowly into dark- ness, drops a curtain over the scene, and the hunt ends in disappointment. An ideal calling stand is perhaps a high flat rock, with a fringe of brush affording concealment for the hunter. Height is desirable, so that the call shall carry its maximum distance. Height, too, decreases the chance that the moose will get the 124 THE AMERICAN MOOSE scent of the man. Sometimes, indeed, the caller sounds his first invitation from a tree-top, the hunter remaining on the ground. The call is a low quavering tone, long drawn out — "Mwar!" or "Oo-oo-aw!" It is sometimes described as a whine. It begins in a high key and gradually descends an octave or two. The sound can be plainly heard two or three miles away, nature's wireless telegraph having a surprising radius when the air is not disturbed by wind. If it is necessary to repeat the call, the repetition is not given for ten or twenty minutes,^ and the second call is usually louder and more plaintive than the first. If a bull hears the invitation, and is inclined to accept, his hoarse grunt, "0-oh-ah!" audible across a mile or more of barren or forest, tells the waiting caller that the imitation of the cow's voice was excellently managed. After the bull's answer — and answers may s A writer in Blackwood's Magazine for August, 1908, seriously asserts that the noise of a steam siren heard at a distance resembles the call of the cow moose, and that moose in Canada have often been shot after having been lured to the seashore by the steam sirens of ships passing in the fog. If a bull moose will respond to a fog signal sounded every minute or so, thinking it is the voice of a female of his own species, the long interval between calls in the practice of most moose callers would seemingly be unnecessary. But the English sportsman and magazine writer was probably the unconscious victim of some Canadian humorist. CALLING THE MOOSE 125 come from two or more — breaking of dry branches as the animal charges through the woods may afford further encouragement to the waiting hunter. But there are Hkely to be long pauses in the ap- proach of the moose. If two show a disposition to accept the invitation, the question of right of way may have to be decided. This is often done by the younger or weaker confessing his inferiority and leaving the field to the stronger. Occasionally the question of superiority is deter- mined by wager of battle. If it is, and the two belligerents are in view of the hunter, he will have a spectacle which would be worth a small fortune if transferred to a moving-picture film. If only one bull answers, or if one alone comes to the supposed trysting place, he is very likely to stop many minutes at a time to be sure a close approach is prudent. Often, if of an unusually suspicious turn of mind, he will completely circle the source of the sound, to make sure that no rivals are present, and that no danger is to be apprehended from any source. The freedom from wind is now the safeguard of the hunter, for if it were a windy night, the keen scent of the bull would detect the hunter, when the moose was in the lee of the hunter's position. To meet this maneuver of a crafty bull, when wind seems to 126 THE AMERICAN MOOSE favor the moose, the hunter will sometimes leave the caller, and going "down the wind" one hundred and fifty yards or so will stand ready to catch the bull off his guard while making his precautionary circle. A bull's ability to follow a straight course through the woods to the supposed amorous mate is a source of wonder to sportsmen. His approach can often be noted by his responsive grunts, and by the sound of his antlers vigorously beating dead limbs of trees, making the greatest possible noise, as if to show the female what a fine fellow he is, and to intimidate all possible rivals. If he is seen at some distance coming slowly across a bog or other open space, the sportsman may perhaps advance cautiously toward him, while the caller remains behind to entice the bull along by occasional low notes on the bark trumpet. The last twenty or thirty rods are likely to test the caller's skill severely. The responding bull is frequently suspicious or unduly deliberate, in which case he must be coaxed by various pleas and plaints, uttered in cooing tones, the caller at last, muffling the sound by holding the mouth of the horn close to the ground. When other expedients fail, the caller will sometimes "speak bull," or imitate the bull's voice, to provoke the CALLING THE MOOSE 127 laggard to a fancied contest with another of his own sex. In some places calling from a canoe on a pond or deadwater is a favorite practice. The first call would be given at a distance from shore, to give the sound the widest possible diffusion. When a bull answers, the canoe is noiselessly moved into a favorable position, preferably, of course, keeping in the lee of the intended victim. If vocal calls at such a time fail to bring the bull close enough for a shot, various other noises to denote the presence of a cow are made on the water — as by striking the water regularly with a paddle to imitate the sound made by a cow in walking. Calling from a canoe may have unpleasant features. At best it is monotonous to sit in a canoe cramped and motionless for hours waiting for the answer which does not come. Such was the experience of a sportsman and a guide who returned to camp at two o'clock one morning after having spent the early evening hours in fruitless calling. After some questioning they admitted that they had both spent a large share of the night in the canoe in sound slumber. There is considerable diversity in the calls made by cows, and still greater diversity in the imita- tions and tactics employed by successful callers. 128 THE AMERICAN MOOSE "One veteran backwoodsman is very successful with a couple of guttural coughs or sobs, followed by a scalp-lifting, blood-curdling wail, the * spooki- est' sound that any mortal could possibly utter."^ The results of calling, furthermore, even with an expert to manage the horn, are by no means so much of a foregone conclusion as some critics of calling are inclined to assert. The value of the moon as an aid in hunting in the calling season cannot be overestimated. With- out it the evening twilight will often prove too short, in view of the dilatory tactics of a suspicious bull, to bring the hunt to its logical conclusion. If the calling stand is approached by land, and not by water, it is well to spend the night there, under a light shelter tent, but without a fire, of course. A few calls may be given in the evening if conditions are favorable, but the morning calls are more likely to yield results. Calling should begin half an hour or more before sunrise. The hunter then has the advantage of increasing, rather than diminishing light, and he has the further advantage that there is no fresh human track to be scented by an approaching moose. The horn, by means of which the call is sounded, * Arthur P. Silver, "Moose Hunting in Nova Scotia," Empire Review^ London, Nov., 1902. CALLING THE MOOSE 129 is a cone of birch-bark, usually about sixteen inches long. It is three-quarters of an inch in diameter at the smaller end, and three and one half or four inches at the other.^ The author of Hahits, Haunts, and Anecdotes of the Moose (p. 99) tells of a hunter who with his guide pitched his tent "beside a giant boulder on one side of which a narrow open bog stretched away between wooded banks. ... As the sun was nearing the western horizon the guide climbed to the top of the boulder and sounded the call." Three bulls responded. "The guide came down from his perch on the rock, and stationed his employer and himself behind a smaller boulder over which it was possible to look while lying on the ground. . . . The bull that responded last was, when the sun went down, already quite near, and coming steadily along. . . . Another call and the bull's hoofs were heard beating the firm ground as he trotted up the slope toward the men. In full view of the hunters, and about ten yards from them, grew a bunch of sapling birches. There the moose paused and » Dr. Edward Breck in The Way of the Woods (N. Y., 1908), pp. 330- 337. gives a good exposition of the art of calling, and a warm defense of calling as a sportsmanlike system of hunting moose. Suggestions for sportsmen who would learn to call their own moose are given by Douglas W. Clinch in Recreation for October, 19 10. 9 130 THE AMERICAN MOOSE began a furious onslaught with his antlers. Having tired of that he turned toward the hunters, and going down on his knees plowed his horns along the ground some distance, tossing them, well loaded with vines, moss, and eajth. With a snort he shook these from his head, the dirt falling on and around the two men lying behind the rock." But the distance was evidently still too great to risk a shot. "Again the moose came on, and stood with his broadside toward them, not more than twelve feet from the muzzle of the rifle." They managed to kill their game with three shots, though the moose twice regained his feet after falling. When calling is resorted to by Russian hunters it is usual to "speak bull," the caller pretending to challenge his victim to combat with one of his own sex, instead of practicing the seductive wiles of the cow.^ Various devices are employed in America also to profit by the bull's combativeness in the season of the rut. "The pounding on a tree with a club by the Tahltan or Kaska Indians in northwest British « See pp. 327-329- 5 ^ n © CALLING THE MOOSE 131 Columbia (among the best moose hunters in America), or pounding the willows with a dry shoulder-blade of the animal, by the Liard River Indians," according to Stone, will often serve to call a bull.^ These sounds are intended to give a listening bull the impression that a fight is in progress, and he is eager to participate in the contest, in the hope of winning the prize for which the others are contending. But these seem to be chiefly the expedients of western Indians, and are rarely practiced by white hunters, or by the Indian hunters of the east. 9 The Deer Family, p. 310, CHAPTER VI MISCELLANEOUS HUNTING METHODS It would be interesting to study the means which have been employed in killing big game from prehistoric times down to the era of smokeless powder. Such a review of hunting methods would cast most interesting side lights on the whole subject of civilization and its development, and the development of inventive skill. In the early prehistoric period man was nearly as wild as the wild animals which he sought for food. The great Irish elk, and his contemporaries of the animal kingdom, probably paid little atten- tion to the hairy, skin-clad men, with stone axes and flint-tipped spears, whom they encountered. Men were few in number, and were doubtless disregarded by the larger animals, as deer dis- regard foxes in our woods today. If prehistoric men overcame the Irish elk, or other animals of such size and resourcefulness as the modern moose, it was accomplished by force of numbers, 132 MISCELLANEOUS HUNTING METHODS 133 when the animal was overtaken in the water, or was helpless in the snow, or was otherwise at a disadvantage. How early pitfalls, snares, and deadfalls were used we have no means of knowing. Primitive man needed such aids to supplement his primitive weapons, but whether he had sufficient ingenuity to construct them is another question. The evi- dences at hand do not show that he possessed genius of a very high order. The chase has ever been the school of the soldier. The art of attack and defense, whether employed in hunting or in warfare, whether exercised against wild animals or against invading fellow savages, has been a matter of vital importance to all primi- tive peoples, and the nations which have survived in the periodical readjustment of the map of the world have been those which had advanced farthest in the development of this art. In the Middle Ages kings and nobles knew no employment in times of war but the profession of arms, and little employment in time of peace but the sport of hunting. Among the American Indians, too, every able-bodied red man was a "brave" as soon as war was declared, and a hunter as soon as the last whiff of smoke from the pipe of peace drifted away among the tree-tops. 134 THE AMERICAN MOOSE The Indian system of warfare, a system in which stealth and the ambuscade were the chief char- acteristics, was cultivated in his pursuit of deer and moose. The most skillful hunter, furthermore, was usually the best warrior when the game trail was abandoned for the warpath. Against the moose the Indian in the open woods found his bow and arrows comparatively ineffec- tive. Often, however, the moose would be found in the water, or would be driven into the water, and then from canoes the Indians could attack him in force at close quarters. It would have been a battle worth watching. There was usually a dead moose at the end of the contest. These encounters often resulted in a few wrecked canoes and broken Indian bones, no doubt, but these incidents would be forgotten at the festive "taba- gie" which would be held next day. Whole villages joined in these drives. The best canoemen among the savages would form a crescent by their canoes on some lake, each end of the line touching the shore. Others, with dogs, would circle a wide stretch of territory, and drive the game into the lake. The men in the canoes would be armed with various weapons, prepared to dispatch the animals as they sought MISCELLANEOUS HUNTING METHODS 135 to escape by the water from the noisy line of beaters.' Nicolas Perrot, writing more than two hundred years ago, tells of moose drives among the Crees of the Lake Superior region, in which dogs trained for the purpose would unassisted drive moose into the water while the Indians lay in wait in canoes to slaughter the game."" In many cases the game would be driven into a permanent enclosure which the Indians would con- struct on land. An interesting collection of animals would no doubt be gathered in as a result of a successful drive — moose, deer, and caribou often finding themselves companions in a common fate.^ Champlain describes one of these drives under- taken by the Huron Indians while on a foray into the Iroquois country in 161 5. The barriers leading to the small enclosure where the game was to be killed were eight or nine feet high and about fifteen hundred paces long on each side. The opening leading to the smaller enclosure, which may have been called the slaughter pen, was five feet wide. ' Charlevoix, Jourval d'un Voyage dans VAmerique Septentrionale, in letter^dated March ii, 1721. ' Memoir of the Manners, Customs, and Religion of the Savages of North America (Cleveland, 1911), vol. i., p. 108. 3 Charlevoix, ubi supra. 136 THE AMERICAN MOOSE "When everything was ready, they started half an hour before dayhght to go into the woods about half a league from their enclosure, separated from one another eighty paces, each having two sticks, which they beat together, marching slowly in this order until they came to their enclosure. . . , When they reach the end of their triangle they begin to shout and to imitate wolves, which are plentiful, and which devour the deer." The drive was repeated every two days, and in thirty-eight days they captured one hundred and twenty deer."^ Snares were usually set at the narrowest part of the enclosure to guard against the possi- bility that the animals would break down the barrier and all escape. The Indian frequently employed the snare in his moose hunting. For this purpose he used a strong strand of moose hide, twisted, stretched, and dried, and then worked until sufficiently pliable. A slip-noose of this material was sus- pended where moose would be likely to pass — over a runway or near a spring. The line was run over a strong upper limb of a tree, and a heavy clog was attached to the end farthest from the noose. The animal's head once in the noose, * Voyages and Explorations of Samuel de Champlain, translated by A. N. Bourne (N. Y., 1906), vol. ii., pp. 91-93. See also New Englands Prospect, by William Wood (London, 1634), part ii., chap. xv. MISCELLANEOUS HUNTING METHODS 137 the strain would release the clog, which would fall, and the noose would be drawn taut. The animal would struggle, of course, but the end was never greatly in doubt. The moose's indifferent vision made this method of hunting easy, and many moose have been taken by Indians in this way.^ In winter, with the snow deep and crusted, the Indian on his snowshoes found the moose an easy victim, without other appliances than his bow and stone ax. This system of hunting was much more frequently practiced than driving. A story of hunting on the crust is told by Baron de Lahontan, a young Frenchman who spent some time among the Indians of Canada.^ His hunting trip was made in the winter of 1685-86, "forty leagues north of the River St. Lawrence." • "I spent the entire time hunting moose (ori- s Campbell Hardy describes a somewhat different method of snaring practiced by the white settlers in Nova Scotia more than sixty years ago. Snaring was illegal at the time. See Sporting Adventures in the New World (London, 1855), vol. i., pp. 180, 189. Campbell Hardy represents the best type of British sportsman. His books, though long out of print, have given pleasure to two generations of readers. His readers of the present day will be glad to know that "Lieut." Hardy, in the person of Maj.-Gen. Campbell Hardy, was still living in 1914 at Dover, Eng. His interest in sports is unabated. * Nouveaux Voyages dans VAmcrique Septentrionale (The Hague, 1703)1 vol. i., pp. 72)-77- See also Jesuit Relations (1651-52), vol. xxxvii., pp. 195-197. 138 THE AMERICAN MOOSE gnaux) with the savages, whose language I am learning, as I have intimated to you several times. This hunting is performed on the snow, with snowshoes (raguettes), as you see drawn on this paper. These snowshoes are two feet and a half long and fourteen inches wide. . . . "We found five, ten, fifteen, or twenty orignaux in a body, which together or separately took flight, and sank in the snow up to the breast. If the snow was hard and packed, or if there was a crust on the surface caused by a season of damp- ness followed by frost, we came up with them after pursuing them a quarter of a league, but if the snow was soft or freshly fallen we were obliged to pursue them three or four leagues before we could capture them, unless the dogs should bring them to bay in places where the snow was deepest. When we overtook them we shot them with guns. Sometimes they become furious, and make an attack on the savages, who take refuge behind trees to protect themselves from their hoofs, with which they would trample them to death. As soon as they have been killed, new huts are made on the spot, with large fires in the center, while the slaves skin the animals and stretch the skins to dry. "One of the soldiers who accompanied me said that it was necessary to have blood consisting MISCELLANEOUS HUNTING METHODS 139 r«»we / ^HT' 7^ ^0>> nt)^ if Ra(pettey BBAYEK toutef couleurr qu!ii f)v.H/fc,Q^ une ceuiturt^ inches, and it has 34 points. The maximum breadth of palmation is 18 inches, and the palmation in places is 2^ inches in thickness. With the dry skull the antlers weigh about 92 pounds.* It is said this head was brought into Kenai by an Indian, who claimed to have found the moose drowned in Kenai River. At that time the spread measured 81 inches.' The curator of zoology at the museum states that the Indian was arrested by a game warden, who perhaps distrusted the story of the accidental death of the moose, and that the head was confiscated. It found its way into the hands of a taxidermist in Chicago, who sold it to the museum. A finer pair of moose antlers, but with less spread, was shot by A. S. Reed, an Englishman, on the Kenai Peninsula in 1900. This head is now in the Reed-McMillan collection, in the possession of the New York Zoological Society. Its superior- ity lies in its broader palmation and greater number of points. When killed, Mr. Reed's ' See Life Histories of Northern Animals, by Ernest Thompson Seton (N. Y., 1909), vol. i., pp. 158, 161. Seventh Report N. Y. State Forest, Fish, and Game Commission, 1901, p. 233. 9 Big-Game Shooting in Alaska, by Cap . Charles R. E. Radclyflfe (London, 1904), p. 60. ^^^K^^^M ^'l^^^lB^^^ The Reed-McMillan Antlers (Reproduced by Permission of the New York Zoological Society) HE/IDS AND HORNS 179 moose had a spread of 76^2 inches, but in drying the antlers shrank to 75 inches. The right antler has 19 points, with palm 18 inches in width, and beam 9 inches in circumference above the burr. The left antler has 23 points, 2i5^ inches maximum palmation, and loX-inch circumference of beam.'° The Niedieck Antlers A head from the Kenai Peninsula, given to the New York Zoological Society in 191 1 by Clarence H. Mackay, spreads y6 inches. This head has 13 + 15 points, and the palmation reaches 21^ inches in width. The circumference of beam above burr is 10 inches. At the International Sportsmen's Exhibition in Vienna in 19 10 the first prize for moose-heads " The National Collection of Heads and Horns (N. Y., 1907), p. 48. The so-called "National Collection" belongs to the New York Zoo- logical Society, and is displayed in the offices of the Society at the Bronx Park, but it is not open to the public. i8o THE AMERICAN MOOSE was given for one from the Kenai Peninsula shot by Paul Niedieck Oct. 9, 1906. The spread of these antlers is given by Rowland Ward as 77}^ inches, but this was probably the measurement before the skull and antlers had dried. This head was exhibited at the Thirteenth German Exhibi- tion of Antlers, held in Berlin in January, 1907. It was then described as having a spread of 193 centimeters, or j6 inches, and weighing, with skull_(but without lower jaw), yj pounds." H. J.^Elwes, writing in Country Life (London, July 30, 1910), gives the spread as 74 inches, and this agrees with my own measurement, made in Vienna. There are 17+16 points." In Yukon Territory of Canada two exceptionally good moose-heads were secured by a party of Peel River Indians in the autumn of 1912. The Indians were hunting mountain sheep in the Canadian Rockies, at the head of Peel River, within 100 miles of the Arctic Circle, and were above the timber line, when they encountered the moose. Jarvis Mitchell, one of the Indians, killed the larger one with his rifle. The antlers "Die Jagd, Berlin, Feb. 3, 1907. Niedieck describes the capture of the moose in his book Kreuzfahrten im Beringmeer (Berlin, 1907), p. 219. ' ' The best European elk-head shown at Vienna measured 53 inches in breadth of spread, and had 23 points. See Chap. xvii. HEADS AND HORNS i8i spread 74^ inches when freshly killed, and they have 10+ 1 1 points. The palmation is io>^ inches wide and the circumference of beam is 8^ inches. This is beHeved to be the widest spread to which Yukon can lay claim. The other moose, From the Canadian Rockies killed at the same time by another of the Indians, had massive antlers spreading 63 inches, with 18 + 15 points, and with blades 16 inches wide.'^ These heads are in the possession of William Norton, a taxidermist, now living in San Francisco, but formerly of Dawson. A. P. Engelhardt, Terri- 'J The present owner gave the weight of this second pair of antlers, with skull, including the lower jaw, as ioi}4 pounds. He said the Indians hauled the heads to Dawson on a toboggan, a distance of three hundred miles. In their opinion the moose had gone up the mountain to escape from wolves. i82 THE AMERICAN MOOSE torial Secretary of Yukon, writes that he has seen the heads, and that the statements regarding them are known by him to be correct. Frederick C. Selous shot a moose on the north fork of Macmillan River, in Yukon, Sept. i8, 1904, with antlers spreading 6j inches. The number of points was 17+21 ; palmation 20 inches; circumference of beam 8>^ inches. Mr. Selous had been a successful hunter of all kinds of African game, but he called this "the finest hunting trophy that has ever fallen to my rifle." British Columbia's best moose-head, according to information furnished by the Provincial Game Warden, is perhaps one measuring 65^^ inches, secured by R. R. McCutcheon of Iowa. A better pair of antlers was found in northeastern British Columbia In the autumn of 1914 by S. Prescott Fay of Boston. The two horns had lain on the ground since the previous winter, a mile or more apart, and the second was picked up a week after the first was found. When held side by side, In about the normal position, the spread measured 6j inches. They have 12+13 points. A. S. Reed, whose collection of heads is now In New York, Is said to have killed a moose in the Casslar country some years ago with antlers measuring more than 70 Inches, but the head was left in CO ^ HEADS AND HORNS 183 a cabin for the winter, and was destroyed with the burning of the cabin. Many good heads are found in the northern part of the Province, but in the Rocky Mountain region of southern British Colum- bia and the neighboring section of the United Cast Antlers Found in British Coltunbia States moose are few in number and the heads very inferior. Alberta has produced a number of moose-heads with antlers spreading about 65 inches. Benjamin Lawton, Chief Game Guardian, writes that a head with a spread of 66 inches, taken in the northern part of the Province, is the widest of which he has any knowledge. The best Manitoba moose-head, in the opinion of the Chief Game Guardian of the Province, is one measuring 61 inches taken in 191 1 sixty or 1 84 THE AMERICAN MOOSE seventy miles north of Winnipeg. It has 18 + 20 points and the maximum palmation is 15 inches. It is now the property of E. W. Darby, official taxidermist to the Manitoba Government. '"* Minnesota's Best Head In Minnesota a symmetrical 64-inch head fell to the rifle of H. C. Percival, a Canadian, in the late '90s. This is probably the Minnesota record. The moose was killed in St. Louis County. Ontario's best moose-head was taken at Round *■» Ernest Thompson Seton's Life Histories of Northern Animals (vol. i., p. 155), quoting Rowland Ward's Records of Big Game, mentions a 65-inch Manitoba head belonging to Otho Shaw. Early editions of Ward's Records described this head as having 24 inches' breadth of palm and 13 + 14 points, but in the latest edition of the work the head is not mentioned. The authenticity of the data seems to be in doubt. New Brunswick's V/idest Spread (See page 187) Manitoba's Best Head HEADS AND HORNS 185 Lake, in the Temagami Forest Reserve, late in October, 19 10, by M. A. Kennedy of Toronto. Mr. Kennedy writes that the present spread of the antlers is 71 inches. When freshly killed the spread was 72 inches. The head has 11 + 12 points, the greatest breadth of palmation is 143^ A 71-Inch Head from Ontario inches, and the circumference of beam 8X inches. Mr. Kennedy shot the moose from a canoe, at about 200 yards' distance. Nine bullets from a .303 Lee-Enfield rifle took effect in the neck and shoulders before the animal fell. An Ontario moose-head was described and illustrated in Recreation for August, 1902, the antlers of which spread 6y inches. There were 16+17 points, and the palmation reached 19 inches in breadth. The moose was shot on the 1 86 THE AMERICAN MOOSE Demoine River, a tributary of the Ottawa, by Batiste Seymo, an Indian. The head belonged to W. H. Rowley of Ottawa. Quebec's record for spread of antlers is believed to be 6gy2 inches. These antlers have 14+13 points, the maximum palmation is 12 inches, and the circumference of beam 8)4 inches. The head was secured by the late Lewis Mills Gibb of Brook- lyn, N. Y., Oct. 10, 1906, and is now in possession of his widow at Bay Shore, Long Island. The moose was killed in the Caughnawana Club pre- serve in Pontiac County, near the Ontario border. This was Mr. Gibb's first moose, and it was secured in less than twenty-four hours after his hunt began. The best Quebec head described by Ward spread, when thoroughly dry, 62)4 inches. It has I4-^I3 points, the breadth of palm is 14 inches, and the circumference of beam 7^ inches. This head was secured by Col. John Caswell, a Massa- chusetts sportsman, October 12, 1903. He was hunting on the Patapedia lakes, Rimouski County, and the moose was brought from a distance of about two miles by a call in the early morning. Two shots from a .375 Holland double rifle, loaded with cordite, efi^ected the capture. The Maine record for spread is said to be 62 HEADS AND HORNS 187 inches. The taxidermist's record of the time when the moose was killed, and the place, together with the number of points and other data, was destroyed in the great fire which visited Bangor in 191 1. Rowland Ward describes 61 American moose-heads in his Records of Big Game. These include two from Maine with spread between 57 and 58 inches. Maine taxidermists, when requested recently by the Game Commissioners to furnish information of the best heads which had passed through their hands, reported mounting a number of heads having a spread of from 58 to 60 inches. New Brunswick's best head in respect to spread was secured by Dr. Walter L. Munro of Providence, R. I., on the Nepisguit River, Oct. 12, 1907. The breadth was 68)4 inches when killed. It has 7+10 points, and 16 inches* width of palmation, with exceptionally heavy beams. Antlers measuring 6y inches in breadth were secured in New Brunswick in October, 1898, by F. H. Cook of Leominster, Mass. They have shrunk by the drying of antlers and skull to 65 X inches. They have 13 + 10 points. Stephen Decatur, now of Kittery Point, Me., killed a moose on the Serpentine branch of the Tobique River, N. B., Sept. ii, 1897, whose antlers 1 88 THE AMERICAN MOOSE spread 66}i inches. Mr. Decatur writes that the present spread is 653^ inches. The number of points is 13 + 12; greatest palmation 13^^ inches. A pair of moose antlers presented to Edward F. H. Cook's New Brtmswick Moose-Head VII., when, as Prince of Wales, he visited Canada in i860, was long considered as having the widest spread recorded for New Brunswick, Maine, or Nova Scotia. The antlers were taken in the Canaan River country of New Brunswick by Sir Harry Burrard, and measured 62 inches. ^^ The weight of antlers and dried skull was 56 pounds.'^ ^s With Rod and Gun in New England and the Maritime Provinces (Boston, 1897), p. 266. '^ Dr. A. Leith Adams, Field and Forest Rambles (London, 1873), p. 89. HEADS AND HORNS 189 Several noteworthy moose-heads have been subjects of dispute, New Brunswick and Maine both claiming them. This was the case with a head formerly in the possession of the late Albert Bierstadt. It spread 64^^ inches, and had more than 30 points. This moose was killed in 1880 near the international boundary, but probably on the New Brunswick side.^^ The Province has occasion- ally failed to receive the credit to which it was entitled for a notable head, by reason of the fact that the sportsman shipped his prize to a foreign taxidermist for mounting. Nova Scotia, like Maine, will perhaps lose credit for its best moose-heads, owing to lack of authentic data regarding trophies secured many years ago. The Chief Game Commissioner of the Province has recently instituted inquiries with a view to securing such information as can now be obtained on this subject. He writes that an Indian called Lone Cloud in the fall of 1903 secured a head in Guysboro County spreading 6'},}^. inches, with 34 points. A head with antlers spreading 59 inches, and with 34 points, was taken in Guysboro County in 19 10 by L. G. Ferguson of Westville. This ^1 See Seventh Report N. Y. State Forest, Fish, and Game Commission , p. 232. 190 THE AMERICAN MOOSE head is now in possession of the Chief Game Commissioner. The chief points to consider in comparing moose antlers are (i) breadth of spread, (2) number of prongs, (3) breadth of palmation, (4) circumference Measurement of Moose Antlers of beam. In the accompanying diagram spread is measured from prong No. 4 on the right antler, to prong No. 15 on the left. An inch or two would be added if the measurement were made from No. 4 to No. 17, but diagonal measurement is manifestly unfair. These antlers have ten points on the right side and eleven on the left. Sportsmen are sometimes tempted to count two points at 10, and another at the angle just below 10; they would perhaps credit also two points at 20, and another HEADS AND HORNS 191 between 18 and 19. These may, however, be dismissed as places where independent prongs might have developed, but unfortunately did not. Maximum palmation may be measured at either A or B. " Circumference of beam " is the minimum circumference of the heavier beam. The usual standards of comparison in the case of moose antlers are very insufficient. Many sportsmen consider spread the only test of quality; some merely count points. But spread has in some instances been increased by splitting the skull with a saw, and mounting the two halves at a fictitious angle. Furthermore, Hornaday's definition of a "point" as "any pointed projection of sufficient length that a watch can hang upon it without falling off" leaves much to be desired, in view of the variety of shapes which prongs assume. A better single test would be weight, but this is impracticable when the antlers are not removed from the skull, or when a head is to be judged after being mounted. A test, sometimes resorted to in Germany in the case of smaller animals, of displacement in water, would be excellent, save for the difficulty of ascertaining the displacement with precision, in the case of antlers so large as those of the American moose.'^ '* "Up to this time, moose antlers have been ranked by their spread alone, but I think that is a mistake. In my opinion, area of palmation should be regarded a; the leading feature, for it is that which is most 192 THE AMERICAN MOOSE A combined system of scoring, in which credit would be given for various quahties, would have many advantages. An imaginary normal head might be scored as follows : Points oj merit Spread (transverse, not diagonal), inches . . . -47 Number of points . . . . . . . .21 Width of palmation, inches, right 8>^ + left 9^^ . . . l8 Circumference of beam (doubled), inches, 6J^ x 2 . . . 13 99 Breadth of blade is important, as well as breadth of spread. Breadth of blade and circumference of beam are in most cases indicative of weight and mass, points which in this country are popularly ignored. I was in a New Brunswick camp one day when a sportsman came in and reported killing a moose whose antlers spread fifty-four inches. "How many points?" I asked. He had not taken the trouble to count. "Did they have good blades?" They had not been measured. A few days later I took the trail near which the moose, waiting for the tote team, was lying. The impressive in moose antlers — far more so than wide spread and narrow 'shovel.'" — Homaday, The National Collection of Heads and Horns, p. 48. But area of palmation is not easily measured. ^ 9 3 .2 Xi f I HEADS AND HORNS i93 memoranda in my notebook make it possible for me now to "score" the head, as follows: Spread . . . . • 54 Points ^7 Palmation 7 + 8 ^5 Beam sK x 2 "^ The antlers were comparatively light and thin, and the spread extraordinary under the circum- stances. If brought into comparison with normal heads, with credit given for symmetry, this head would suffer still more in the scoring. John B. Osborn of Boston killed a moose in Maine in 1892 the present spread of whose antlers is only 39 inches. But in all respects except spread it would rate as superior to either of the heads above described. It may be scored as follows : Spread 39 Points (13"+ 11) 24 Palmation 13K + 13 ^^^ Beam yK" x 2 ^4^ 104 The broad blades and strong beams of these antlers, as well as the number of points, certainly entitle them to more consideration than is measured by the spread. 13 194 T'/ZE AMERICAN MOOSE Scoring by such a system as here suggested may be done by anyone, anyAvhere, and the relative merits of moose-heads be thus Intelligently com- pared. For the purposes of an exhibition, in which judges were to make an award, it might be well to add not exceeding some stated number of points, say ten, for symmetry and general appearance. Thus the "freak" head would lose some of the unfair advantage which it sometimes enjoys. Some candid taxidermists assert that the scalp, or head-skin, of a moose or caribou cannot be so cured and mounted that one can safely guarantee that it will not crack — chiefly around the muzzle. It is certain that many mounted moose-heads have thus become unsightly. This trouble is likely to be caused by the skin repeatedly becoming moist, and afterward drying. Salt In the skin, or clay or plaster In the manikin, tend to draw moisture from the atmosphere, and thus atmospheric changes will cause the scalp to stretch and shrink, the skin finally breaking away from the manikin, and cracking. Hence the use of salt, clay, and plaster should be avoided. For the same reason the skin should be attached to the manikin by a medium In which water is not used as a solvent. The skill of European taxidermists in devising HEADS AND HORNS 195 novel and artistic ways in which to mount trophies of the chase is far beyond that of the commercial taxidermists in America. Antlers in Europe are not infrequently mounted on carved wooden heads — and it is easy to find skilled wood-carvers, artists in their line, in most European countries. Such carvings are more attractive than inferior or damaged taxidermy, and the owner need apprehend no deterioration — for a few hundred years at least. Much more frequently European antlers are mounted with the entire skull, but without the scalp, or with a section of the frontal bone connecting the horns, on an elaborately carved shield. The skull is blanched, and on it is usually painted the date of killing, with the owner's monogram — surmounted in most cases by a coronet of some sort, for the European big-game hunter usually belongs to the landed aristocracy. Few animals have heads so lacking in grace and beauty as the moose. The sacrifice of beauty, accordingly, will not be great if the sportsman accepts a suggestion from German or Austrian source and has his moose antlers mounted on a standard such as is often employed in mounting the antlers of the red deer in the Continental countries. The trophy thus becomes a decorative 196 THE AMERICAN MOOSE A Hungarian Design HEADS AND HORNS 197 article of furniture appropriate for the hall, while avoiding the hazard of a cracked scalp with its disfiguring blemish. A new era in American taxidermy will dawn with the completion of the "African Hall" lately- planned by Carl E. Akeley for the American Museum of Natural History in New York.'^ This hall will offer a valuable object lesson in artistic taxidermy. Meanwhile the studio at the museum, in which the specimens are being prepared, is serving as a school for training workmen in the new methods which have been developed to insure permanence and lifelike effect. Mr. Akeley brings to his work the skill of the sculptor, the naturalist, and the sportsman, as well as that of the practical taxidermist, and he brings enthusiasm at the same time. He has no secret processes, but welcomes all who are seeking information with a view to promoting the advancement of the art. Mr. Akeley believes in bark tanning. A moose scalp thus cured, scraped down to uniform thick- ness, and free from acid and salt, will be soft and pliable, and sufficiently tough. "Akeley's stand- ard manikin" is constructed of wire cloth, and a composition made of paper, glue, whiting, and linseed oil. These are the component parts of " See the American Museum Journal, May, 1914. 198 THE AMERICAN MOOSE papier-mache and putty, and the composition has the stabiHty of the former with the plastic quality of the latter. The modeling of the manikin will of course be a severe test of the taxidermist's skill. The skin should be applied to the manikin dry, and should be held in place by means of shellac, or by some cement which is free from water. Such work requires time and care, and is bound to be more expensive than when the ordinary commercial methods are employed, but it is permanent, and if the modeling is skillfully done it is lifelike. Heads thus mounted represent the farthest advance in taxidermy yet reached. This process is new, and its details have not been published. Mr. Akeley is not engaged in com- mercial work, but he will willingly answer any questions from sportsmen or taxidermists. There are various minor by-products of a suc- cessful moose-hunting trip, in addition to the familiar and cumbersome inkstands, made from the forefeet of the animal. Napkin rings may be made from the main beam of a stray antler which is not to be mounted with the head for a wall decoration. The beam should not measure less than 6}4 inches in circumference if it is to be used in this way. Such a napkin ring, which has been HEADS AND HORNS 199 on my table daily for several years past, has often called to mind an episode of the New Brunswick woods. I had shot a bull with a spread of 55 inches, and on returning the next season to the place where the tragedy was enacted discovered, two or three hundred yards away, the "house'* of a bear trap, which had been set the previous year. For Moosehorn Napkin Ring bait the trapper had used the head of a moose which had been found dead in that vicinity. These abandoned antlers were blanched on one side by the elements, and were of moderate di- mensions, but they were sufficiently heavy to make several napkin rings. The horn was still as hard as ever, and took a high polish on the inner surface. A section of a beam which is too small for a napkin ring may be made into a paper-weight, or it may be used as the holder for a small glass ink-well. 200 THE AMERICAN MOOSE * Single horns, or portions of them, may be made into wall brackets or candelabra. An antler which has been dropped by its wearer in the woods is usually found whitened by exposure to the weather. The dark color may be restored by the use of a strong solution of permanganate of potash, applied with a brush. This solution has a purplish color. It is not a pigment, however, Dewclaw Bones of Moose but merely an oxidizing agent, and restores to the horn the original brownish color Two excellent paper cutters are carried by every moose in each fore leg. They are the dewclaw bones, and lie side by side just above the dew- claws. They are usually seven or eight inches long. They are easily removed, dried, cleaned, and polished. If necessary the cutting side may be filed down to a little sharper edge. The dewclaw bones in the hind legs are too short to be of use. A handle made from a prong of a moose or deer horn may be attached to the paper cutter. The HEADS AND HORNS 201 best handles, however, are provided by a deposit of silver on the bone itself. The silver is nearly 3^6 of an inch thick, and conforms to the shape of the bone. It covers about a third of its length, at the larger end. The silver is deposited by an electroplating process, but few electroplaters or silver workers know the secret of making such handles. Like others of the deer family, but unlike domes- tic cattle, the hair grows upward from the nose of the moose — a fact which should be borne in mind when brushing the dust from a mounted specimen. The hide of the moose is much inferior to either buckskin or caribou skin when tanned. It is porous and easily stretched. When made up into moccasins woodsmen say that it begins to leak twenty-four hours before it begins to rain.^° Moose skins are valueless for rugs owing to the brittleness of the hair.'' »o Oil-tanned moose skin— the oil, however, being extracted in finish- ing—is very pliable, and a strand a quarter of an inch in width will support a tensile strain of 250 pounds. It is easily soiled, and is not adapted even for house moccasins. The gambier or bark process of tanning yields a skin with less elasticity, and much less tensile strength, but the skin makes good moccasins for house wear. A moose hide which will weigh when green, with the hair, fifty pounds, will weigh when tanned about twelve pounds. " If the head of a moose is to be mounted it should be removed from the body without many hours' delay, or else the entrails should be drawn. If the carcass is left undrawn overnight the scalp is likely to be worthless in the taxidermist's hands, and the flesh will be unfit for food. 202 THE AMERICAN MOOSE Moose-hock moccasins, tanned with the hair on, are often used in the woods in winter. The skin is peeled down without being cut open, and sewed up at the lower end. The hock joint forms the heel. They are seamless, except at the toe, and are excellent for snowshoeing. Until the European trader came the Indian was dependent on his own resources for supplying all the articles required to meet his simple needs. Various animals contributed to furnish him materi- als for clothing, weapons, and domestic utensils, but the moose furnished more than any of the others. Bernard R. Ross, long in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Mackenzie River district of the Canadian Northwest, has given an account of the animals which are useful from an economic point of view to the various Indian tribes of that region.^^ " The uses to which the various parts of the moose are put are many," he says. "The hide supplies parchment, leather, lines, and cords; the sinews yield thread and glue; the horns serve for handles to knives and awls, as well as to make spoons of; the shank bones are employed as tools to dress leather with; and with a particular portion of the "* Canadian Naturalist and Geologist, vol. vi. (l86l), pp. 433, 437. HEADS AND HORNS 203 hair, when dyed, the Indian women embroider garments." The leather is serviceable for tents, clothing, dog harness, etc. "The capotes, gowns, firebags, mittens, moccasins, and trousers made of it," writes Mr. Ross, "are often richly ornamented with quills and beads, and when new look very neat and becoming. . . . To obtain thread the fibers of the sinews are separated and twisted into the required sizes. The moose furnishes the best quality of this article, which is used by the natives to sew both leather and cloth, to make rabbit snares, and to weave into fishing nets. Sinews can be boiled down into an excellent glue or size." CHAPTER IX MOOSE MEAT AS FOOD It would be difficult to measure the service performed by the moose and other species of deer in the era of exploration and colonization in furnishing food for those who left the markets far behind, and sought to accomplish the conquest of the wilderness. The era of colonization past, however, venison becomes for most merely a con- venient dish to vary an otherwise ample bill of fare. But venison is much more than a conveni- ence in an emergency. It is adapted for use as food in a wide variety of ways, and is highly esteemed, when properly cooked, whether broiled, roasted, stewed, or otherwise prepared for the table. According to the dictionaries, venison is the flesh of any animals of the deer kind. Moose meat, and the flesh of the Virginia deer, the caribou, and the elk, are alike venison. Each of these has its partisans among epicures, some giving one the 204 MOOSE MEAT AS FOOD 205 highest place, others favoring another. Moose venison resembles beef in appearance, and also in flavor, more closely than the other sorts of game do, while the venison of the smaller species of deer is more frequently likened to mutton. All have a flavor unlike that of domestic meat, how- ever. Venison deserves a higher place, with respect to dietetic value, than it commonly receives. "It is especially adapted to invalids, who require a nourishing yet easily digested food."^ A writer in the Scientific American several years ago gave an interesting table showing the relative digesti- bility of various foods. In this table grilled veni- son takes, with boiled rice and boiled tripe, the first place, the three dishes requiring only one hour for complete digestion. Boiled chicken, on the other hand, requires two hours for digestion, roast turkey, duck, and goose from two to 2^ hours, grilled beefsteak and mutton three hours, roast chicken four hours, and grilled or roasted veal five hours. ^ In view of these facts it is to be regretted that so often moose venison is wasted, owing to the difficulty of transporting it from the remote place ' Prof. David E. Lantz, in Bulletin of the Biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture, issued Dec. 31, 1910, p. 14. " Scientific American, July 17, 1909. 2o6 THE AMERICAN MOOSE in the woods where the hunt ended to the tables of the hunter and his friends hundreds of miles away. It has been said that the same moose never furnishes a good head and good steaks, but this statement is not true. The meat of even an old moose, if in good condition in other respects, is excellent in flavor, and if kept for a sufficient time at a moderate temperature it will be tender. In the rutting season, and immediately after, the venison of any animal is not at its best, though I have eaten the steak of a bull moose killed on the second day of October that was as free from any rank flavor as meat killed eight weeks later. The carcass of an animal should be dressed promptly and properly, and the meat should be given a chance to become tender without becoming tainted. Disregard of some of these conditions is probably the cause of most of the prejudices against certain forms of game. Moose meat may be kept Indefinitely without injury in the freezing room of a cold-storage ware- house, and such establishments now offer their facilities to the public in most cities. The meat may be left frozen for months: when thawed its quality will be found unimpaired. Venison which MOOSE MEAT AS FOOD 207 has been repeatedly frozen and thawed, however, will be comparatively flavorless. On two occa- sions I have left large pieces of moose meat in cold storage for more than eleven months, but the steaks were as fresh and sweet when cooked as if the animals had been killed a single week. A moose should be cut up, and the pieces wrapped in butchers' parchment paper and put in separate burlap bags, before refrigerating, so that portions may be taken out without thawing, and without the difficulties incident to cutting frozen meat. If it is necessary to cut a frozen hind-quarter of moose in the cold-storage warehouse a carpenter's hand saw should be used. It could not be cut with a knife. A meat saw would of course cut the bone readily, but it cuts the frozen flesh slowly, and it has so Httle "set" that the track of the blade is likely to be clogged by the particles of meat fiber freezing after the saw has passed. Most failures in broiling or roasting moose meat are due to disregard on the part of the cook of the natural dryness of the meat. Like most venison moose meat is dryer than the flesh of domestic animals. The fat is indigestible and unpalatable, and should be trimmed off^ and thrown away, its place being supplied by pork or butter. 208 THE AMERICAN MOOSE A moose steak should be cut thick, and should be served rare, unless one's taste absolutely Insists on more thorough cooking. If a wire broiler is used the wires should be well greased. The wire broiler will give good results if a hot coal fire, or a bed of hot hard-wood coals, is available. The surface of the steak should be seared quickly on both sides, to retain such juice as the meat contains, and with a slow fire this would be impossible. Do not season until the meat is done; then add pepper, salt, and plenty of butter. Serve hot^ from a hot platter. If a piece of meat has hung a day or two too long to suit an over-fastidious taste, the gamy flavor may be corrected by adding a little jelly — any kind which Is not sweet — and a dash of port or sherry. In the woods glowing hard-wood coals are not always available when needed. Most woodsmen for this reason prefer pan-broiling for steak. The frypan should be kept exceedingly hot. This is easily done, even If the fire Is of soft wood recently kindled, and a steak may be ready for the table long before a suitable bed of coals could be secured for grilling. The meat should be turned often. In pan-broiling none of the juice Is wasted. A heavy castlron frypan Is preferred to one of pressed steel, for It retains the heat better. MOOSE MEAT AS FOOD 209 Chops should not be cut and broiled with the bone, like mutton or the loin of beef, but the strips of sirloin and tenderloin should be cut out as fillets, leaving the bones for the soup kettle. The fillets should be sliced to the required thickness, and broiled as steak. If cooked with the bone, over a hot fire, the meat would be burned on the edges before that next to the bone was fairly- warmed through. For a roast the haunch is usually selected. It is best to remove the bone, though not necessary. The fire should be very hot, especially for the first few minutes, to sear the surface of the meat. Lay thin slices of fat salt pork on the meat, and baste often with the drippings. A gravy may be made from the juice In the pan, with currant jelly added. The time required for roasting will de- pend on the size of the roast, and the character of the fire. Serve hot. An excellent French rule for a sauce for roast venison is as follows: Thicken the drippings slightly with flour; pour off and add a wineglass of good claret; heat without boiling, and serve hot. Moose Stew. — Saw the marrow bones In pieces two Inches In length; cut the meat in medium-sized pieces; add three slices of pork cut In quarter-inch 14 210 THE AMERICAN MOOSE squares, and three or four onions sliced; add pepper and salt, and a piece of butter as large as an egg. Boil three hours. Add three or four potatoes, quartered or sliced, in time to cook. When done add two or three tablespoonfuls of flour in a pint of water, stirring till it boils. For dumplings, use batter as for cream of tartar biscuit, put into the stew five or ten minutes before serving, according to size. Small pieces of tender meat, too small for the broiler, may be utilized in pies — made as chicken pies are made — or in Hamburg steak, or in the chafing dish. Moose Steak in Chafing Dish. — ^Take steak for three. Melt a piece of butter the size of an egg in a chafing dish. Put in the steak, and season it; when it is seared on the outside turn it over. Cook ten minutes, keeping the dish covered. Add a tablespoonful of port or sherry for each person, and a little currant jelly. Serve hot. If preferred the wine may be omitted. In this case a tablespoonful of flour should be added. When the flour Is cooked brown in the butter, add water to make a brown gravy. Dissolve in the gravy a tablespoonful of currant jelly. Serve hot, on toast. A moose liver is fifteen or eighteen inches long. MOOSE MEAT AS FOOD 211 and nine or ten inches wide. It is the one part of the animal which is adapted for immediate use on the table. A dish of fried liver may be served for supper on the same day that the animal met his death. The liver of moose is highly appreciated by all who like the liver of any animal. It should be parboiled for a few minutes, and then sliced and fried with bacon. The tongue of moose is not unlike beef tongue, and may be cooked similarly. Smoked, this was one of the favorite tidbits of the Indians, and it has found favor with many white men. "The Tongue of a grown Moose, dried in the smoak after the Indian manner, is a dish for a Sagamor.''^ A writer in Audubon and Bachman's Quadrupeds of North America tells of hunters who would spread the uncooked marrow of freshly killed moose on bread, and eat it with relish as they would butter. The marrow is usually cooked, however, and in various ways. Captain Hardy tells of burying the marrow bones in hot ashes, and leaving to cook all night."* Or they may be impaled on sticks and roasted before the camp fire. In this case, when the bone is burned so it can be easily split with a J Josselyn, New Englands Rarities Discovered (London, 1672), p. 20. * Sporting Adventures in the New World (London, 1855), vol, i., p. 258; vol. ii., p. 211. 212 THE AMERICAN MOOSE knife the marrow will be sufficiently cooked. Perhaps the best use for the marrow, however, is to enrich the broth of a stew. Certainly a moose stew without this addition is likely to be thin and watery. Moose feet, when cooked, closely resemble pigs' feet in character and flavor. Prejudices on the part of intelligent people with respect to food survive longer than any other of the unreasoning whims which are handed down from a time when intelligence was lacking. The result has been a great economic waste, which often its victims could ill afford. Oxtails, it is said, were unknown and untried in France as an article of food until the Revolution, when a friend- less aristocrat was driven by hunger to beg the tails of cattle from the refuse of a butcher shop. He made a stew to ward off starvation, and thus discovered oxtail soup. The beaver's tail is not a switch to drive away the flies, like the tail of a horse or cow; nor a play- thing to be chased, like the tail of a domestic cat; nor yet an utterly useless appendage, as in the case of most other animals. Like the moose's muffle the beaver's tail is an important bodily member, and does work which human hands often MOOSE MEAT AS FOOD 213 cannot equal in the architectural and engineering undertakings for which the beaver is noted. And the beaver's tail, like the moose's muffle, is a highly esteemed article of food among the epicures of the woods who have had opportunity to eat It. Both possess character and flavor more closely allied to the fat of the green turtle than to any other well-known dish. The author cordially recommends both from personal experience to all who can appreciate richness and delicacy in their food. The suggestion that the "muffle" of a moose be eaten often causes the woodsman to inquire suspiciously, "What is the muffle, anyway?" When told that it is the nose and lip, his suspicion is likely to become violent antipathy. But the moose's muffle is not merely an olfactory organ: it is a member which is used as deftly as a man would use his hand in picking ofif twigs of con- siderable size from trees, the moose often reaching high in the air and breaking down the tops of saplings by this means. Like the beaver's tail it is a useful substitute for a hand, and like the beaver's tail it is the choicest tidbit which the animal can furnish for the table. "The Nose is look'd upon as a great Dainty; I have eat several of them my self; they are perfect 214 THE AMERICAN MOOSE Marrow." Thus wrote Judge Dudley, son and grandson of Governors of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in a monograph on the moose which was published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London nearly two hundred years ago. Audubon and Bachman in their Quadrupeds of North America^ also commend this dish. "The flesh is considered very good, espe- cially the moufflon, which forms the upper lip, and is very rich, juicy, and gelatinous. This is cleaned and dressed in the same manner as calves' head." And "a military chaplain" (Rev. Joshua Fraser), writing of a dinner in an Indian camp on the upper Ottawa, thus describes a dish of muffle: "The crowning dish was that grandest of all dishes, moose mouffle. This is the immense upper lip and nostrils of the animal, and I have no hesitation in pronouncing it one of the most toothsome and savoury of all the dishes within the range of the gastronomic art. It is white and tender as spring chicken, yet firm and substantial as fresh beef, with a flavor combining the excellencies of both. I eat to repletion, yet was not sensible of any of that uneasy heaviness which generally follows a too hearty meal."*^ s Vol. ii., p. 187. ' Three Months among the Moose (Montreal, 1881), p. 26. MOOSE MEAT AS FOOD 215 The edible portion of the muffle comprises the fibrous flesh of the cheek, and the gelatinous prehensile upper Hp. The cartilaginous nasal septum Is of course not eaten. I have heard taxidermists say that the muffle cannot be saved for the table If the scalp Is to be used In mounting the moose's head. And still a skillful taxidermist once removed the head-skin of a large moose for me, and saved three and a quarter pounds of muffle, including cartilage, but Including also much of the rich flesh of the upper lip. This furnished for my table three quarts of thick rich stew — a dish which was greatly enjoyed by all who shared In it. Probably the muffles of more than nine-tenths of all the moose whose heads are not saved for mounting are thrown away In the woods, while a much larger proportion are thrown away in the taxidermists' shops. When I shot my first moose the guide, who was something of an epicure, and a skillful cook withal, described stewed muffle In terms of extravagant praise. His mouth fairly watered at thoughts of royal banquets In the woods, when simply a dish of muffle, with pilot bread and tea, had constituted the menu. "What's It like?" I asked. 216 THE AMERICAN MOOSE "Why," said he, "it's Hke— " and he tried to think of something worthy to be compared with it; "it's Hke — that is — youVe eaten — you've eaten pigs' feet? But, thunder! Pigs' feet are no more to be compared to moose muffle — " and he struggled to find words with which to make adequate apology to the moose family for allowing himself to make such an unworthy comparison. I have eaten of the muffles of many moose since then, and I too am unable to name a familiar dish to which it may be likened. Perhaps turtle soup, in which the fat of the turtle is used in prodigal amount, resembles it more closely than anything else. Slewed Muffle of Moose. — Clean the muffle thoroughly by skinning, shaving off the skin of the nostrils with a sharp knife. Wash thoroughly and cut into two-inch pieces. Put the meat into a stew-pan, with a slice of clear fat salt pork cut into dice, and an onion cut up fine. Add cold water to cover, and let it stew gently till tender — four or five hours. Add water as it boils away, being sure to have plenty of broth when done. Add sliced potato in season to cook. Thicken, season, and serve. Newton Hibbs, writing of moose hunting in the Trophies Brought to Camp MOOSE MEAT AS FOOD 217 Rocky Mountains, tells of cooking the muffle of a moose which he killed.^ "The head of the moose was cooked in the best style of the hunter's art. It was coated with clay all over, by rubbing the sticky, putty-like substance into the coarse, long hair, till it was enclosed in a case of mud two inches thick. . . . Meantime a hole was shovelled out, large as a pork barrel, and was filled up with dry wood, which was made to burn like a furnace till the sides of the oven were almost white with heat. The head was dropped into the hole, and covered with live coals of fire. Over all was thrown the loose dirt dug from the hole, and the moose-head was left to roast till the next morning. . . . The clay was baked like a brick, and when cracked and torn off it removed the skin, and left the clean, white, sweet meat exposed." Mr. Hibbs vouches for the resulting dish as delicious, and no doubt it was. A fair substitute for the baking hole dug in the ground is a double baking tin. The muffle should be cleaned as for stewing. If roasted three or four hours in the double baker, with three or four thin slices of pork, the muffle being basted fre- ' The Big Game of North America, edited by George O. Shields (Chicago, 1890), p. 22. 2i8 THE AMERICAN MOOSE quently, and water enough being added to make a thick gravy, it should be tender when served. The baking tin should be left uncovered for a while at the last, so the surface of the lip will become crisp. Gravy may be made by adding flour and mushrooms to the juices in the pan, or otherwise, in the discretion of the cook. Roasted in this way the red meat of the cheeks is likely to be tough, but the large, crisp, richly-flavored upper lip will provide a new and agreeable experience for one whose tastes are at all epicurean, especially if he is fond of the "crackling" of roast young pig- Moose meat is the only kind of venison adapted for preserving in brine. Meat of the other species of deer should be dried rather than corned, if it is not to be used fresh.^ In Nova Scotia the farmers who live near the moose country frequently lay down moose meat for winter use. Their brine barrel is somewhat smaller than a flour barrel. The brine is made with about three quarts of salt — more or less according as it is early or late in the fall — and a quarter of a pound of saltpeter to the barrel. Often half a teacupful of molasses is added, and sometimes ground cloves 8 See p. 1 8. MOOSE MEAT AS FOOD 219 and other spices. Fat and lean alike are laid down. The author can vouch for the excellent quality of moose meat cured in this way. Few would be able to distinguish it from the best corned beef. CHAPTER X THE FUTURE OF THE MOOSE In view of the constantly increasing cost of lumber, our children must consider more seriously than our fathers did the conservation of the timber supply. Vast forests reached from ocean to ocean before the first white settlers came. The portions of this land adapted for raising grain and vege- tables will never revert to timber, but much of this ancient wooded area is adapted for nothing but forest, and with intelligent care and protection it may to the end of time supply the lumber markets and the pulp mills of the United States and Canada. The people of central Spain in the Middle Ages destroyed their forests because the forests har- bored the birds which ate their grain. Today it is said if a bird would fly across the arid wastes of Don Quixote's country he must carry his forage with him. The Quixotic Spaniards are rid of the birds, and of the grain as well. Protection of existing forests is vastly easier than 220 THE FUTURE OF THE MOOSE 221 reforestation: protection of an existing game supply is vastly easier than restocking territory from which game has disappeared. Futuregenerationsmaysee the Western plains restocked with bison, but in our day instead of the bison we have only the reminis- cences of old men who tell how they saw the dimin- ishing herds slaughtered for their hides and tongues. This problem of the North American forests is not yet acute, it is true, but the first half of the twenti- eth century should consider the needs of the second half with respect to lumber; and the twentieth century should not forget the probable needs of the twenty-first century with respect to meat. The Chief Game Commissioner of Nova Scotia, in an appendix to the report of the commissioners for 1913, says: **As far as our Province is con- cerned it is probable that there will always be ample wild land to provide food and shelter for more moose than we now have. . . . The land best adapted for them is useless for almost anything else." This comment on the moose cover of Nova Scotia is equally applicable to enormous tracts in the northern tier of States, and in the British Provinces, from Nova Scotia to Alaska.* ' "Without its big game Alaska would be virtually uninhabitable." — Rev. Dr. Stuck in Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog Sled (N. Y., 1914), p. 277. 222 THE AMERICAN MOOSE If the timber crop of these wild lands is judiciously harvested, all growing trees measuring less than a certain size being left on the stump, there need be no exhaustion of the timber supply, and at the same time browse and shelter may be furnished for a vast number of moose and deer, besides smaller game animals and game birds. With the constant increase in the prices which the consumer must pay for lumber and for meat, may arise indeed the necessity for the governments to take all large tracts of wild land from private ownership. Under the direction of forest and game commissioners the governments of the United States and Canada could thus exercise control over the supply and the price of lumber and of venison. Great quantities of venison could be systematically marketed every winter. The sup- ply would not be unlimited, but there would be no occasion to apprehend exhaustion. If a supply of meat equal in quality to the beef and mutton of the butcher shops could be secured at a less price than domestic meat it would be folly not to take advantage of it. "There are counties in the State of New York, within fifty miles of New York City," writes William T. Hornaday, "that could under adequate manage- ment be made to yield annually more pounds of THE FUTURE OF THE MOOSE 223 venison than of beef or mutton, and this could be accomplished without the annual expenditure by the State of more than five per cent, of the value of the venison."'' "The unoccupied forest lands of the United States could in my opinion produce annually for our consumption at least 2,000,000 adult deer, without deducting more than ^50,000 from the wealth of the nation. Those deer would be worth, at a low estimate, an average of ^10 each, which would mean ^20,000,000."^ The wild lands where the moose would thrive and multiply are much more extensive north of the Canadian boundary than in the United States. But on both sides of the international line the potential value of moose and deer as a source of food supply is enormous. At the same time, the value of the healthful recreation which is afTorded by the sport of hunting is not to be ignored. Moose are very hardy, and are never winter- killed. Unlike the wapiti of Wyoming, they require no care or feeding to aid them to survive the rigors of the severest winter. Furthermore, ' Wild Life Conservation in Theory and Practice (New Haven, 19 14), p. 104. J Hornaday, uhi supra, p. 105. 224 THE AMERICAN MOOSE they will not destroy the timber. Their favorite food is taken from trees belonging to species which are never marketable. And the moose peels the bark from only one side of a tree: he never girdles a tree as he eats his breakfast. He consumes little of the forage on which the whitetail subsists, and still less of the moss and other things which sup- port the caribou. The three species of deer live in harmony in the same woodland home, practically ignoring each others' existence. If a given area of mixed woodland and barren is fairly well stocked with a certain number of moose, a large number of caribou may be introduced without the game of either species suffering from lack of food. If then a further addition is made of one Virginia deer for every moose in the tract in question, the effect on the forage supply for the three varieties of deer will be slight — for they eat comparatively few things in common. While this territory is thus harboring and feeding large numbers of game ani- mals there will still be no material impairment in the value of the stand of timber. In the state forests of East Prussia, and to a limited extent in the forests of Russia and Scandi- navia, underbrush is kept trimmed out, and wood-eating animals, such as the elk or moose, are forced to resort to the plantations of young THE FUTURE OF THE MOOSE 223 trees and to various agricultural crops for a portion of their subsistence. They are unable to save themselves by migration. It will be centuries, however, before such conditions arise in the moose covers of America in any appreciable degree. Indeed, it may be a question whether the net yield of the forest would not be greater if the game as well as the timber were considered an asset, sufficient browse being left to support certain numbers of game animals. Except when deprived of their natural forage in the woods, the elk (moose) of the Ibenhorst preserve in East Prussia never seek food in the grain and potato fields of the neighborhood."* "Venison was more common than beef on the tables of medieval Europe," writes Prof. David E. Lantz of the Biological Survey of the Depart- ment of Agriculture, ^ and game killed by govern- ment employes, in forests under government ownership, is now common in many European markets. In the future, when the problem of meat supply becomes more pressing on the American continent, the necessity may arise to supplement government < A. E. Brehm, Tierlcben, 2d edition (Leipsic/ 1877), vol. iii., p. 109. s Bulletin No. 36, "Raising Deer and Other Large Game Animals in the United States" (Dec. 31, 1910), p. 14. IS 226 THE AMERICAN MOOSE protection of moose and other deer by government propagation of big game in great national forests. The supply of venison thus secured, and marketed by the government, would be of value for its own sake, and for its influence on meat prices in general. Meanwhile, the pecuniary value of the moose in America is represented in general terms by the money spent by sportsmen who engage in hunting them. As a source of food supply in the centers of population the moose is now a negligible quantity. With a continuance of the present measure of legal protection, the moose should be found in practically as great numbers centuries hence in America as today, and through the intervening period he can still furnish the best of sport for the hunter. He is adapted to escape extinction by the same qualities which have enabled him to survive the mastodon, and his other contemporaries of prehistoric times. The moose is now in possession of a greater area of forest country than any other species of the deer family on this continent. He Is the hardiest and most capable of self-protection of all the deer, and this will be about the last branch of the deer family to become extinct in America.^ With the extermination of the wolf and the cougar, 6 Andrew J. Stone, in The Deer Family, p. 291. THE FUTURE OF THE MOOSE 227 and with protective legislation, Indian as well as white man being required to respect the law, the causes which were reducing the numbers of the moose on both sides of the continent have been arrested. Given reasonable protection from in- discriminate slaughter, moose will live and thrive as close to civilization as any of the deer family. They are the least gregarious of all the deer, and their natural range affords good cover — two facts which will aid them in avoiding extermination. Protective Legislation.'' — Many now living re- member when It was common for men to go into the woods of Maine and eastern Canada on snow- shoes, when the snow was too deep for the moose to escape by flight, and kill every such animal en- countered, without legal restriction, the meat being sold to the lumbermen In their camps, or sledded out for sale at a low price in the towns and cities. No part of the moose's vast range, In either hemi- sphere, is so remote that such slaughter should again be permitted. The first measure of protection In any territory T All phases of the subject of game protection, from the legal stand- point, are discussed in Case and Comment (Rochester, N. Y.) for October, 191 1. This number of the magazine contains articles on " A History of Game Legislation in the United States," " The Rights of Amateur Sportsmen," and " Excusable Violations of the Game Laws." Many decisions of the courts of various States are cited. 228 THE AMERICAN MOOSE should be a bag limit; the second should be laws protecting females and calves. Extending the protection to spike-horns would tend to obviate the risk of cows being shot by mistake, and would deprive sportsmen of no trophies of great interest or value. The hunting season should be limited by law, protecting moose through the season of deep snows, and through the summer, when they are compelled to take refuge in the water. If further protection is needed, hunting in the rutting season should be forbidden. If it is desired to discourage market hunting, in the interest of sportsmen, the sale of game, except on payment of a substantial license fee, may be forbidden. In some places the sale of all game is prohibited, as well as its export. By the aid of protective measures such as these, the numbers of moose have greatly increased in many portions of the moose's range, and the animals have spread into unoccupied territory, from which they had perhaps been driven by their natural enemies, now exterminated. An illustration of the value of protective legisla- tion, followed by enforcement of the law, is afforded by the reports of the Game Commissioners of Nova Scotia for 1913 and 1914. In these reports figures are given showing the kill of moose in the Province THE FUTURE OF THE MOOSE 229 in 1908, which was the last year when Nova Scotia law permitted the killing of cow moose, and in each succeeding year. These figures may be tabulated as follows : Year 1908" 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 Bulls Cows Sex not killed killed stated . 300 240 148 (Bulls only) Total killed 688 405 509 617 678 704 1091 This legislation protecting the females resulted at the end of five years in an increased kill of moose. At the end of two years, in fact, there was an increase in the number of bulls killed, and bulls alone furnish the trophies which are most prized by a majority of sportsmen. At the close of the hunting season of 1902 the writer had authentic information of twenty-two moose killed that season on the head-waters of the Aroostook River in Maine. He had equally trustworthy information that no part of the meat of any of those twenty-two moose was taken out of the woods, — except the two hundred pounds or more which furnished steaks and stews for the tables of himself and his friends from time to time through the succeeding winter. Very little of the meat of any of the moose killed was consumed in camp. 230 THE AMERICAN MOOSE At that time a law in Nova Scotia provided that "any person or party of huntsmen who kill a moose or caribou shall carry the flesh thereof out of the woods within ten days after killing the animal." For violation of this law a fine of from fifty to two hundred dollars was imposed.^ Under the game or- dinance of Yukon Territory also a fine not exceed- ing five hundred dollars may be imposed on any person who, having killed a moose or other game animal, fails to use the meat for food, or to cause it to be used for food, or to be offered for sale in some market within the Territory. A law of this tenor in most moose-hunting countries would tend to protect game in the less accessible places, leaving the territory where the problem of transportation would be most diflicult as a sort of refuge, where the animals could live and breed in comparative safety. This remote territory would of course serve as a source of supply, from which the animals would spread into the country more easily reached by tote team or canoe. A modification of the Nova Scotia law might be desirable, under which the amount of meat which the hunter should be required to carry from the woods should be limited to fifty per cent, of the ^Revised Statutes of Nova Scotia, 1900, chap. loi, sec. 3. The ten days' Hmitation seems unnecessarily short when game is killed in November, but it has since been reduced to seven days. THE FUTURE OF THE MOOSE 231 dressed weight, exclusive of head and hide; and in some territories exempting from the appHcation of the law hunters who use the flesh of the animals which they kill as food while in the woods. Men who hunt include those who care for nothing but a trophy, and also those who care for nothing but meat for the market. But in addition to the head hunters and the market hunters are the sports- men who enjoy the sport of hunting, who prize the trophies which they secure, and who recognize the economic value of the moose as food. They have no desire to commercialize sport by selling moose meat to the butcher shops; neither do they wish to see moose exterminated for their heads, as the bison were well-nigh exterminated for their hides forty years ago. If the law should compel sportsmen to take moose meat from the woods, and at the same time should close the markets to traffic In game, there would be no just ground for complaint. The sportsman, on reaching the nearest settlement, can always give the meat away, if he does not care to keep it for the benefit of himself and his friends by the aid of some cold- storage warehouse at his home. CHAPTER XI THE NAMES OF THE MOOSE A PARTY of sportsmen and guides reached an old logging camp at the close of a short autumn day, and set about the simple task of making the place habitable for a season of moose hunting. Most of the log structures which had formed the wood-choppers' little settlement had fallen into decay, but one of the smaller cabins had been kept In condition for the use of occasional parties of hunters. With roof and windows In repair, and walls freshly chinked with moss, this cabin was as habitable as ever. The guides, trained from childhood In the use of the ax, soon had an ample store of fuel for the night, and were gathering boughs to cover the withered remains of the beds used by the previous occupants. The old cook- stove — and who ever saw a new cook-stove In a logging camp? — was quickly glowing with heat, and fitfully gleaming with light through the broken castings, held together In places by rusty hay wire. 232 An Old Logging Camp A Logging Camp in the New Brunswick Woods THE NAMES OF THE MOOSE 233 To one of the guides was assigned the position of cook, and supper was soon In preparation. Meanwhile the tired sportsmen unpacked their dunnage and made ready for a brief residence In the moose country. A lamp with a dingy chimney, hanging from a roof timber, cast uncertain rays over the cedar splits which covered the roof, and over the rough logs of the wails. It disclosed a number of bunks across one end of the cabin; It showed pegs and nails to serve the purposes of wardrobe hooks and gun-racks; It showed the stray antler of a moose, blanched and gnawed, and fastened to a log on the side of the cabin, accommodating a store of well- thumbed magazines, while underneath the lamp a trap door In the floor, near the stove, covered a cavity where the occasional sweepings could be consigned to obscurity. For decoration the camp boasted two or three calendars of previous years, allowed to survive for the sake of their pictures, and a few cartoons of a recent Presidential cam- paign, of interest by reason of the moose which was represented In them. As the hot biscuit and tea, fried pork and pota- toes disappeared from the rough table the question of a name for the camp was raised. Various suggestions met counter proposals. " Camp Moos- 234 THE AMERICAN MOOSE wa" found most favor, and, when supper was over, one sportsman expressed regret that no paint was to be found within less than two or three days* journey. "We ought to paint the name on a board," said he, "and put it up over the door." The Moose in Politics (From the Cleveland Plain Dealer) "When you haven't any paint there's always a branding iron handy," remarked one of the guides, and he went out in search of material for the desired signboard. The snow which had filled the air since morning had ceased to fall, the clouds had cleared away, and the guide went out into a world of Christmas trees, heavy with silver floss, and glistening in the THE NAMES OF THE MOOSE 235 moonlight. The silvery disc of the orb of night, shining down through the trees, seemed larger and brighter than ever. The stars were gleaming with unaccustomed brilliancy, for nothing can equal the splendor of a night in the northern woods. Everywhere bright lights and dense shadows made the snowy picture seem unreal, and the silence, unbroken silence, added to the impression that it was only a picture, after all. The guide soon brought into the cabin a small board taken from a condensed-milk box, and with it a number of pieces of iron of various shapes found in the hut which had served the logging crew as a blacksmith shop. He thrust the ends of the irons into the fire, and while the irons were being brought to a red heat the letters were penciled on the improvised signboard. Soon the smoking wood was receiving, letter by letter, the name which should distinguish the camp. While the amateur sign-writer busied himself with his branding irons, the gathered wisdom of city and forest discussed the origin of the moose's name, and the history of his discovery by the early European explorers. Conflicting views were entertained regarding the origin of the names of the now familiar animals and birds of the North American woods, and from the study suggested 236 THE AMERICAN MOOSE by this discussion has resulted the gathering of the facts given in this chapter. The trader, the soldier, the farmer, precede the naturalist in all new territory. They name the places and the things which they see, and when the naturalist arrives he usually finds most of the unfamiliar animals called by wrong names. But it is then too late to correct mistakes. The earliest explorers in America began, indeed, by misnaming the painted and feathered savages who stood on the shore and stared in wonder at the big boats which had been blown by the wind from an unknown land, and which could carry a whole village at a time. Under the impression that the American coast was really the shore of the Asiatic continent, the discoverers of the New World called the natives "Indians." As a result of this mistake the word "Indian" today may mean anything from a painted KIckapoo to the Maharaja of Mysore or the Galkwar of Baroda. The word "Amerind" was coined some fifteen years ago in an attempt to correct the error made in the time of Columbus, but such an effort is likely to be as futile as the effort to restore the name "elk" In this country to Its rightful possessor. The early settlers in the English colonies on our THE NAMES OF THE MOOSE 237 Atlantic coast — probably in Virginia — met two species of deer. The smaller they called "deer,'* and by this name the Virginia, or whitetail, deer {Cariacus virginianus) has been popularly known ever since. The other species, the wapiti, was unknown to them, as doubtless the red deer and the elk of Europe were. Seeing the great size of the wapiti, and knowing that the European elk was a large animal, the colonists gave the name "elk" to the wapiti, thus leaving the true elk, alces, without a name. Later, when Englishmen met the true elk in the more northern forests, they gave him the Algonquian name moose. According to the Handbook of American Indians y issued by the Smithsonian Institution in 1910,^ the names of the moose in various Algonquian dialects were as follows : Narraganset and Massa- chuset, moos; Delaware, mos; Passamaquoddy, mus; Abnaki, monz; Chippewa, mons; Cree, monswa. The Montagnais of Quebec, another Algonquin tribe, called him moosh. "All these words signify 'he strips or eats off,' in reference to the animal's habit of eating the young bark and twigs of trees. "^ ' Part I., p. 940. ' The differences in spelling in the various dialects are partially ex- plainable perhaps by the fact that the Indians employed a sound which cannot be closely indicated by letters of the English alphabet. S^bas- 238 THE AMERICAN MOOSE Some of the French explorers in Canada found there fishermen who had come from the Basque country of southern France. Meeting the animal now known as the moose, and never having seen the European elk, these fishermen called the moose by the Basque word for deer — orenac. From this is derived orignac, orignal, words used by French writers to designate "I' elan d^Ame- rigue."^ A well-known American writer on natural history makes orignal an equivalent of original, signifying "un type," or an animal of a newly- found species. But derivations cannot be estab- lished by guesswork. The Basques, untrained in zoology, in calling the moose orenac, or "deer," were doing as well as they could under the circum- stances. The name at least distinguished the moose from the other species of the deer family which were met by the explorers. Liberties are taken with the names of others of the deer tribe. The Chief Game Guardian of tien Rasle, the French missionary who compiled a dictionary of the Abnaki language late in the seventeenth century, interprets "orignal" by the word mss. Fr. Rasle employed a character something like the figure 8 to denote this vowel sound. He calls this a guttural ou (oo), "sounded wholly from the throat, without any motion of the lips," and adds that in the case of this ou he was unable to imitate closely the Indian pronunciation. — See Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, New Series (Cambridge, 1833), vol. i., pp. 495, 567, 570. 3 Larousse, Grand Dictionnaire Universel. THE NAMES OF THE MOOSE 239 Manitoba, In his report for 191 5, describes the four species of deer found in the Province as "moose deer, elk deer, jumping deer, and cariboo." The animal called "jumping deer" in Manitoba Is called "red deer" in the Report of the Game and Fisheries Department of the Province of Ontario issued in 1915. The name "jumping deer" Is not likely to be misunderstood by anyone who has seen the whitetall In rapid flight, but a European might easily Interpret "red deer" as meaning the wapiti or "elk deer," since the wapiti Is a close kinsman of the European red deer {Cervus elaphus). The European elk, like his brother the American moose, seems fated to be lost in a maze of etymo- logical confusion. Richard Lydekker, the English zoologist, writes: "By the ancient Greeks. . . . the great stag we now call the elk was regarded as the personification of strength, and was accord- ingly named alee, from aAx?;, strength. From this comes the Latin alces, the German Elend, the French elan, and the English elk.""^ Mr. Lydekker is evidently less of a linguist than he Is paleontol- ogist and naturalist. The Greek word for strength is a'AK?/', while the * The Great and Small Game of Europe, Western and Northern Asia and America (London, 1901), p. 42. 240 THE AMERICAN MOOSE word for elk is aXKt} {dike), the transposition of the accent being the only difference. The first Greek writer, so far as known, who mentioned the elk, was Pausanias, the geographer. In the course of an argument to show that the tusks of the elephant are horns, and not teeth, Pausanias cites "the elks, those wild animals in Celtic land," and adds, "the male elks have horns on their eye- brows, but the females have none at all."^ Now Pausanias lived about two centuries later than Caesar.^ It is to be presumed that the Greek writer adapted his name for the animals which "have horns on their eyebrows" from the Latin of Caesar, for the "Celtic land" was Roman territory, and the Greeks doubtless received their informa- tion about it from Roman sources. Andrews, the Latin lexicographer, says that alces is derived from the old German elg. He does not credit either word with Greek origin. Elg, then, is the parent word, from which are derived alces,'' uXki-j, the modern German Elch and the English word elk. It is unfortunate that a name based upon this root has not been adopted in all languages to designate animals of the Alces family. 5 Description of Greece, translated by J. G. Frazer, book v., chap. xii. ' See infra, p. 274. ' The c had the sound of k. THE NAMES OF THE MOOSE 241 Various American writers give Eland and Elend as German words meaning elk, and, as Elend in German means misery, they assume that the Germans bestowed this appellation on the elk on account of its awkwardness and homeliness.* According to Meyers's Grosses Konversations-Lexi- kon, the German names for the elk are Elch and Elen, and Elen, according to Meyers, is derived from the Lithuanian word elnisy meaning stag. Larousse also, the French lexicographer, derives elan, the French word for elk, from the Lithuanian. Elend was a former spelling for Elen in German, but is now practically obsolete. There is no reason to believe that the moose is as unhappy as his ungainly movements and unattractive facial characteristics might be thought to indicate, and it is pleasing to be able to refute the slander implied by the assumption that he is known any- where by a name denoting misery. In various texts which have survived of Pliny's Naturalis Historia the moose (or elk) is denomi- nated achlis or machlis, as well as alces. From Pliny is taken the scientific name Alces machlisy ' Seventh Report, N. Y. Forest, Fish, and Game Commission, p. 225. Even Kapherr {Das Elchwild, p. 56) says the Elend was given this name because of the suffering which he endures from various bodily ailments. 16 242 THE AMERICAN MOOSE used by Ogllby and others, especially Englishmen. Gray,^ however, used the name Alces malchis as meaning "the elk or moose," transposing the ch and the /. Perhaps he assumed that malchis or alchis was allied to alces, and that some copyist of Pliny had carelessly transposed the consonants in the middle of the word. But Ainsworth, the Latin lexicographer, tells us that achlis (or machlis) is derived from the Greek kXivco, *'to lie down," to which the a privative was prefixed, achlis thus meaning something which cannot lie down, referring to Caesar's fable of the elk's jointless legs. In some languages a name signifying simply "large animal" is used to denote Cervus alces — • following the ^^ animal magnum^' used by certain medieval writers. Thus granhestia is used in Italian and Spanish, and granhesta in Portuguese. Albertus Magnus, philosopher and alchemist, who lived in the thirteenth century, seems to have coined the word equicervus, "horse-deer," as a sort of descriptive name for the elk of Germany, and Latin writers 300 years later used onager or "wild ass" as an equivalent for alces, taking notice of the animal's large ears. In modern times also scientific writers have exercised their ingenuity in devising new names, thus adding to the general confusion. 9 Proceedmgs of the Zoological Society of London, 1850, p. 224. THE NAMES OF THE MOOSE 243 Agasslz called the moose Cervus lobatus, and others have used the names Alces palmatus, Alces muswa^ Alee alces, and so on through a very imposing list. Accepting Judge Caton's dictum that the European elk and the American moose are indis- tinguishable/° we are led to the following equation: Europe America Elk (England) Elch (Germany) Elg (Sweden, Norway) Elen (Germany) Elan (France) Eland (Holland) ■ = Alces = • 'Moose (U. S., Canada) Moose-deer (U. S., Canada) Flat-horned elk (Rocky Mts.) Orignal (Canada) Orignac " Orignat " There is an increasing tendency among Euro- pean writers to recognize and use the word *' moose" as an equivalent of elk. Since Americans cannot, at this late day, correct the error of their fore- fathers, and say "elk" when they mean Cervus alces, and "wapiti" when they mean Cervus canadensis, possibly the name "elk" in Europe will ultimately give way to the name used by the North American Indians when they spoke of the great wood-eating deer. To the list of misnomers must be added the name of the so-called Irish elk. He was not an elk at all, but an animal more nearly allied to the fallow deer. He is known to scientists as Cervus ^° A Summer in Norway (Chicago, 1875), p. 327. See supra, p. 57. 244 THE AMERICAN MOOSE giganteus or Megaceros hibernicus. Many skele- tons of this animal have been found in the peat bogs of Ireland. Rowland Ward, in his Records of Big Gamey describes twenty heads of the Irish elk. One belonging to the Duke lof St. Albans measures twelve feet and six inches from tip to tip. A head in the Dublin Museum spreads eleven feet and five inches; it has a palm seventeen inches in breadth, and has eleven points on each side. But these animals were notable chiefly for their antlers: the skeletons indicate a smaller body than that of the moose. "The moose is the largest animal of the deer family, living or extinct. Even the Irish elk . . . was a smaller animal."" A skeleton of the Irish elk in the American Museum of Natural History in New York is six feet high at the withers, and the spread is nearly ten feet. A restoration of the Irish elk, pictured in Os- born's Age of Mammals, shows an animal with head and body of the wapiti, or red deer, type, rather than of the moose. The characteristic muzzle of the moose, with great prehensile lip, and his short body and long legs are lacking." " Homaday, American Natural History (N. Y., 1914), vol. li., p. 108. " The Age of Mammals in Europe, Asia, and North America, p. 400. Fossil remains of the Irish elk are found in the British Isles, and in France, Germany, Austria, northern Italy, and even Siberia. {Ibid., p. 419.) CHAPTER XII THE MOOSE IN INDIAN MYTH The moose and the Indian have always been closely associated. The Indian gave the moose the name by which he is known to us today. The most skillful hunters of the moose have been Indians, and some writers have even asserted that no one but an Indian can master the art of "call- ing" the moose in the early fall days when the mating instinct asserts itself. Around anything in which a primitive people are interested, if the peo- ple possess imagination, legends are sure to grow up; around everything which was a vital part of the Indian's experience, like the moose, the bear, and the beaver, myths were woven, carrying the un- certain threads which connected man with the Spirits, good and evil, which were created by his hopes and his fears. But an Indian is not easily persuaded to narrate to white men the folk-tales which he has heard his elders tell beside the lodge fires of his people. 245 246 THE AMERICAN MOOSE The red man is sensitive to the white man's ridicule. He knows well that his beliefs are not the beliefs of his white brother — and the white brother some- times indiscreetly laughs when subjects are dis- cussed which have serious import in the mind of the red man. Furthermore, these tales are told from generation to generation with little change in the Indian phraseology, the oft-repeated telling fixing the form of the story almost as in a printed page. The same stories, however, told to a cynical white man, in the white man's language, become bare skeletons divested of the embellish- ment which the Indian imagination could so richly supply. Such a skeleton of a story is that given by Thoreau, quoting the old chief of the Penob- scots whom he visited on one of his trips to the Maine woods many years ago.^ These myths and legends, which constitute the nearest approach to an Indian literature, have been handed down from time Immemorial, grand- parents telling them to their grandchildren while the active men of the intervening generation were absent on the long expeditions of war or the chase. They have been rescued from oblivion by the zeal of missionaries, travelers, and others, who knew the Indians well and had their confidence, * See p. 249. THE MOOSE IN INDIAN MYTH 247 and who reduced the stories for the first time to writing. The central figure of Abnaki mythology was the demigod Glooskap, the giant guardian of the Indian race. Glooskap created men, and all the animals. "He made them at first very large. Then he said to Moose, the great Moose who was as tall as Ketawkqu's, *What would you do should you see an Indian coming.?'" Ketawkqu's was a giant, taller than the tallest trees. " Moose replied, *I would tear down the trees on him.' Then Glooskap saw that the Moose was too strong, and made him smaller, so that Indian could kill him."^ The short body, humped back, and bulging nose of the moose are due to the awful squeeze he received in the hand of Glooskap when the Master reduced him to his present size. Similarly other animals were transformed by the benevolent Glooskap, to protect the Indians from injury. Glooskap it was who taught the use Of the bow and the spear, and sent the moosej Into the Indian hunter's hands; Glooskap who strewed the shining sands ■ Charles G. Leland, Algonquin Legends of New England, page 19. This version of the creation is attributed to the Passamaquoddies. With incidental variations most of the myths are common to many tribes of the great Algonquin family. 248 THE AMERICAN MOOSE Of the tide-swept beach of the stormy bay With amethysts purple and agates gray, And brought to each newly-wedded pair The Great Spirit's benediction fair. But the white man came, and with ruthless hand Cleared the forests and sowed the land, And drove from their haunts by the sunny shore Micmac and moose, forevermore.^ Most of the striking features of the landscapes which were familiar to the Indians were woven into their mythology. At Bar Harbor are to be found the legendary remains of a moose, killed by Glooskap and turned to stone, while across the bay the petrified entrails of the animal are seen lying where the great benefactor of the Indian race threw them to feed his dogs. The same story, with minor variations, is told of other rocks, and other places, in Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Other characters, too, of the morn- ing twilight of Indian tradition figure in the role of the mighty hunter. Kineo ("the largest mass of hornstone known to geologists")? ill the aboriginal imagination was a cow moose lying prone in death, victim of the arrow of some supernatural sportsman.* » By Arthur Wentworth Eaton. ♦ Thoreau, The Maine Woods, New Riverside edition, p. 235. THE MOOSE IN INDIAN MYTH 249 Thoreau lacked knowledge of the Indian tongue, and he lacked sympathetic interest in the subject as well, so he gathered from his Indian guides little to add to the published folk-lore of the red men. In his Maine Woods Thoreau relates the circumstances of a visit which he paid in 1853 to Neptune, then, at 89 years of age, the head of the Penobscot tribe. The old Indian gave an account of the origin of the moose, as follows: "Moose was whale once. Away down Merrimack way a whale came ashore in a shallow bay. Sea went out and left him, and he came up on land a moose. What made them know he was a whale was that, at first, before he began to run in bushes, he had no bowels inside, but just like jelly fish."^ Campbell Hardy also quotes Micmacs in Nova Scotia as saying that the moose originally came from the sea. They believed that when too persist- ently hunted the animals return to the ocean as their natural refuge.^ Moose frequently swim long distances. If a moose should be seen by the unreasoning Indians swimming ashore from some distant but unseen island, it would not be strange if the red men should conclude that the mysterious animal was amphibious. And if the creatures s The Maine Woods, p. 200. 6 Sporting Adventures in tJie New World (London, 1855), vol. i., p. 178. 250 THE AMERICAN MOOSE migrated to avoid persistent pursuit, the belief that they had taken refuge in the depths of the ocean would not seem to the aboriginal mind an illogical conclusion. In many Indian legends the characters described are given the names of animals or birds, while having the form and traits of men. Often a single attribute of the animal or bird whose name is used will be mixed incongruously with the qualities of men, and with the attributes of super- natural beings. Such a story is that of Mana- bozho and the Moose, told by Schoolcraft in The Myth of Hiawatha (1856), page 45. The story was related to Schoolcraft by the Ojibwas of Lake Superior in 1822. Another of this type is the story of " The Invisi- ble Boy," related by Rev. Silas T. Rand in Legends of the Micmacs. This is a long story of an amiable young man who took his name. Team, from his guardian genius, a moose. The young man's leg was broken while he was moose hunting one day, and his sister went in search of him. On finding him, she proceeded, at the brother's direction, to kill him with an ax. At the instant of the young man's death his body was transformed into that of a moose. The sister then, as previously directed. THE MOOSE IN INDIAN MYTH 251 dressed the animal, drying and smoking the meat over a fire. The next day a malicious giant visited her wigwam, and in two meals ate the entire store of moose meat. By the brother's order, however, the sister had cured the scalp of the moose for a "medicine bag.'"^ This served as a charm, through whose agency she was enabled to escape from the giant, and from the other perils of the woods. But arriving in a village, and forgetting her brother's warning, she carelessly allowed the medicine bag to leave her possession. Thereupon the brother came to life in the form of an ogre, and proceeded to institute a miscellaneous massacre, which included the absent-minded sister among its victims.* Team, in still another folk-tale of the imagi- native Algonquins, is represented as a young Indian who was a very successful hunter. "Once, when he was off hunting, he began to feel lonely, and he said, 'I wish I had a partner.' 7 An early missionary tells of a medicine bag made from the skin of an entire moose-head, except the ears. This was used by an Indian sorcerer for his personal "medicine" or "manitou." — Jesuit Relations (Cleveland, 1898), vol. xxii., p. 3^7- » Legends of the Micmacs, 1894, p. loi. This story was rela'.ed to Dr. Rand by an Indian woman in Prince Edward Island in 1848. Le- land, in the Algonquin Legends of New England, p. 140, tells another legend in which Team, the moose, figures, but in this case Team is simply a man, to whom was given the designation "Moose," as a sort of surname. 252 THE AMERICAN MOOSE When he went back to his wigwam that night, the fire was burning and supper cooked, though he saw no one. When he had eaten, he fell asleep, being very tired, and on waking next morning found all in order and breakfast prepared. This went on for some days. The seventh night, on his return, he saw a woman in the wigwam. She did not speak, but made all comfortable, and when the work was done made her bed on one side opposite his. This lasted all winter. She seldom or never spoke; but when spring came, and it was time for him to return to his village, she said, * Remember me, always think of me, and do not marry another woman.' When he got home loaded with skins and meat, his father had chosen a wife for him; but he would have nothing to say to her. "Next fall he went back Into the woods, and as he approached his wigwam, he saw smoke coming out of it, and when he entered, there sat the silent woman with a little boy at her side. She told the boy to shake hands with his father. Unlike most children, this child was born large and strong enough to hunt with his father, and be of much help to him, so that they got a double quantity of game, and in the spring the man went back to the village so rich that the chief wanted him for a son-in-law; but still he re- THE MOOSE IN INDIAN MYTH 253 membered his partner's words, *Do not forget me; always think of me/ and held firm. On his return to the woods he found a second son. "Thus he succeeded in getting more game than ever, but, on going home to his village, he forgot his woodland mate, and, yielding to the solicita- tions of the chief, married his daughter. "In the fall he took his wife, his father-in-law, and his own father to the woods with him, where this time they found not only the two boys, but a little girl. The new wife gazed angrily at the mother and children, saying, *You should have told me you had another wife.' 'I have not,' answered the man. At these words the mother of the children rose up, saying, *I will leave my children with you ; but you must treat them well/ and she vanished. "The boys and men went hunting every day, and the little girl was left with her stepmother, who beat her and made a drudge of her. She bore it patiently as long as she could, but at last complained to her brothers, and the brothers and sister resolved to run away. When they fled, any one who looked from the hut would only have seen three young moose bounding over the snow. "When the father came home, he asked for the children. His wife said they had just stepped out; 254 THE AMERICAN MOOSE but when he went to look for them, he saw the moose tracks, and knew what had happened. He at once took his snowshoes and tomahawk, and started in pursuit of them. He traveled three days and three nights, always following the tracks. Every night he saw where they had nibbled the bark from the trees and where they had rested in the snow. On the fourth day he came to a clearing where four moose were feeding, and he knew the children had found their mother. He struck his ax into a tree and hung his snowshoes on it, then went to her and pleaded to be allowed to go with them; so she turned him into a moose, and they journeyed away together. "Meantime, his old father at home missed his son and his grandchildren, and went to look for them. He traveled three days and three nights, as his son had done, following the footprints and the tracks until, toward the fourth night, he saw the tomahawk in the tree, with the snowshoes hanging on it. He saw that now there were the tracks oi jive moose in the snow instead of three, and knew that he had come too late. These were the parents of all the moose in the world today.'*^ '/» Indian Tents, pp. 101-105. Miss Abby L. Alger, the author, assisted Charles G. Leland in collecting material for the Algonquin Legends of New England. THE MOOSE IN INDIAN MYTH 255 The Menomini Indians of Wisconsin, their history, customs, and myths, are described in an exhaustive paper by Walter J. Hoffman, M.D., in the Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution. '° The tribe is divided into phratries, or clans. A phratry, now extinct, was known as the Moose phratry, divided into the Moose, Elk, Marten, and Fisher totems. The Menomini myths relate, among other things, the adventures of Manabush, a demigod, grandson of Nokomis, and a mighty hunter. As in most mythologies, the Indian deities have many human characteristics, just as the men and animals of the remote antiquity of primitive peoples have many quasi-divine attributes. Mana- bush, by the aid of the Wolf, who was a manido, or spirit, and invisible to others, generally succeeded in his hunting. But his wife found fault alike in success and failure, and so, acting on the Wolfs advice, he deserted her. Manabush in his travels came to two villages, close together, one of which was inhabited by the Elk people and the other by the Moose people. The Moose people appear to have been four- footed hoofed creatures of carnivorous tastes who lived in wigwams. Their physical characteristics " 1892-93. See pp. 42, 161, 182-196, of the Report. 256 THE AMERICAN MOOSE are not well defined in the myths. It would per- haps be difficult to describe creatures, having hoofs instead of hands, who could play a game with plum stones, and beat their vanquished opponents with sticks. The chief of the Elk people welcomed Manabush, and gave him his daughter in marriage. The people of the two villages were great gamblers, and the Elks were usually the losers. As the myth relates, each game ended with the victors beating the losers with sticks and clubs, and driving them home to their own village. With the arrival of Manabush a new series of games, and tests of strength and skill, were undertaken. The hero, by his own prowess, and by the secret aid of the Wolf, and by other expedients which would never do in a gentlemen's game, was uniformly successful as a gambler and as an athlete, and the Moose at the close of each contest were clubbed back to their village. Manabush was finally tempted to exhaust his supply of arrows, and his own strength as well, in killing a large number of moose which craftily filed past his wigwam. The slaughtered moose then restored themselves to life and proceeded to kill the exhausted hunter, and chop him in pieces to devour him. A Vista in the Moose Country Near North Pole River, New Brunswick Good Moose Cover THE MOOSE IN INDIAN MYTH 257 By aid of the Good Thunder manidos, however, Manabush was assembled in living form again, and with a new supply of willow arrows set out and killed all but two of the Moose people. "These he captured, the hunter saying to them, *Now, you find yourselves in this cedar swamp, where you must hereafter live and feed upon the mosimiu (willows); this will be your food for all time.' While saying this to the Moose he placed some willow twigs to their mouths to let them know how they tasted and what they thereafter would have to subsist on. Then the hunter returned to his wigwam, and his adopted people were thence- forth left in peace."" In the same paper (page 214) Dr. Hoffman re- lates the myth of the Catfish, and their attempt to kill a moose. But the moose trampled to death all the fish which did not seek safety in flight. "The catfish still carry spears, but their heads have never recovered from the flattening they received when they were trampled by the moose into the mud." A myth of the Dog-Rib Indians relates how Hottah, "the two-year-old moose, cleverest of all the northern animals," aided in the creation of " Page 196. The story of the Elk people and the Moose people, with some variations, is told in Algonquin Indian Tales, by Egerton R. Young, p. 245. 17 258 THE AMERICAN MOOSE the Rocky Mountains.'^ The Dog-Ribs live in the timber country between Great Bear and Great Slave Lakes, less than three hundred miles south of the Arctic Circle. According to this legend, Naba-Cha, "the Big Man," lived west of the Mackenzie River in a wigwam made of three hundred great caribou skins. Each day he consumed a whole moose, or two caribou, or fifty partridges, for he was one of the largest men who ever lived. Now Naba-Cha was cruel and quarrelsome. When he was not on warlike forays into distant parts, he was playing the tyrant over those of his own household estab- lishment. Ithenhiela, "the Caribou-Footed," a young Cree, whom the Big Man had brought back as a slave from one of his marauding expedi- tions into the South Country, was the especial victim of the bad man's oppression. Hottah, the moose, finally told Ithenhiela of a country far in the west, through which the mighty Tes- Yukon flowed, a river almost as great as the great Mackenzie. Once beyond the Tes- Yukon the young Cree could find safety under the benign protection of the good Nesnabi, the only man in all the world whom Naba-Cha feared, ""The Fireside Stories of the Chippwyans, " by James Mackintosh Bell, in Journal of American Folk-Lore, 1903, p. 80. THE MOOSE IN INDIAN MYTH 259 Under Hottah's direction Ithenhlela gathered up a stone, a clod of earth, a piece of moss, and a branch of a tree. Then, with Ithenhiela on his back, the moose started across the vast plain which stretched in those days from the Mackenzie to the Yukon. Very soon they saw that Naba- Cha was in pursuit, mounted on his great caribou. "Fling out the clod of earth!" cried Hottah. Ithenhiela threw down the clod, and immediately great hills of earth rose up behind them, hills so wide and so high that it was many days before Naba-Cha again came in sight. When the Big Man seemed again about to over- take them, Ithenhiela threw out the piece of moss. Instantly a great muskeg swamp separated the man on the caribou from the man on the moose. For some days the caribou floundered in the swamp with his wicked rider, while Hottah raced toward the Yukon and safety. But Naba-Cha again came in sight of his fugi- tive slave. The stone was then thrown to the ground, and great rocky hills rose up. "Up to the very clouds rose the hills, white with snow, and magnificent, such as had never been seen before." It was a long time before the pursuers crossed the mighty barrier. When they again drew near to the moose and his passenger the branch of the 26o THE AMERICAN MOOSE tree was thrown down, and a great forest sprang up. The trees were so large and so close together that Naba-Cha had to cut his way through, while the caribou was left behind with his antlers hope- lessly caught in the branches. Again Naba-Cha appeared in sight, but not until Hottah and Ithenhiela were safe on the other side of the Tes-Yukon. "Help me across the river, Hottah!" cried Naba-Cha. "Help me across, and I will do no harm to Ithenhiela!" Hottah went back for Naba-Cha, but in mid- stream, when returning, he threw him off his back, and the bad Big Man was swept into the rapids and was drowned. The two-year-old moose ("cleverest of all the northern animals") gave Ithenhiela instructions how to find the good Nesnabi, and then returned to his own country. There was a tradition among the Indians of eastern Canada of a moose of monstrous size which could walk without difficulty through eight feet of snow. "His hide is proof against all manner of weapons, and he has a sort of arm proceeding from his shoulders, which he uses as we do ours. He is always attended by a vast THE MOOSE IN INDIAN MYTH 261 number of moose which form his court, and which render him all the services he requires."'^ In the Jesuit Relation for 1667-68 a missionary told of meeting a band of hunters who said they had found the bed of "the great moose," and had followed the trail a whole day in vain. The hunters, however, said they often killed ordinary moose, belonging to the retinue of the great one, while following the tracks of the invulnerable monster. This supernatural creature had the fifth member, as described by Charlevoix, ''dont il se sert comme de main pour se preparer son giste^'^ Freiherr von Kapherr quotes Prof. Marshall's comment that this myth is evidently the survival of a story of the mammoth and his proboscis, the professor adding that the mammoth probably was living in North America later than in the Eastern Hemisphere, and may have lived in the early days of the North American Indians.'^ Madison Grant ascribes to the Sioux a legend of a moose of the same fabulous size/^ but on what authority he does not state. '3 Charlevoix, Histoire de la Nouvelle France, vol. iii., Journal d'un Voyage dans I'Amerique Septentrio7iale (Paris, 1744), p. 127. ''' Jesuit Relations (Cleveland, 1899), vol. li., p. 273. 's Kapherr, Das Elchwild (Berlin, 1908), p. 56. '* "The Vanishing Moose," Century Magazine, Jan., 1894. 262 THE AMERICAN MOOSE Aside from the myths, properly so called, which cast an interesting side-light on the intellectual development of the Red Men, the Indians enter- tained many superstitions respecting the moose which entered into their' daily life. They believed, for instance, that they could travel three times as far, after a meal of moose meat, as after eating any other sort of food.'^ In their dreams the moose was a welcome visitor. Charlevoix, the Jesuit emissary of Louis XV., tells us: "The Indians look upon the moose as an animal of good omen, and believe that those who dream of them often may expect a long life." To dream of the bear, on the other hand, was a bad omen, unless the dream should come on the eve of a bear hunt.'^^ Fr. Le Jeune, writing in 1636, said that the Indians attributed reasoning powers to the moose. They would never give moose meat to the dogs when hunting, for if they did so they believed that the living moose would discover the fact, and conceal themselves. ^^ Various portions of the moose were used as charms and medicinal agents. "The Indian Webbes""^ make use of the broad Teeth of the Fawns ' 7 Dudley, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 1 72 1 , '* See Jesuit Relations (1637), vol. xii., p. 9. ^^ Jesuit Relations, vol. x., p. 167. *" Women; literally, "weavers." THE MOOSE IN INDIAN MYTH 263 to hang about their Childrens Neck when they are breeding of their Teeth.'"'' The behef that elk (or moose) were subject to epilepsy, and could cure themselves by scratching the ear with the left hind hoof till it drew blood, was current in northern Europe and in America two hundred or three hundred years ago. Human beings who suffered from the same disease were accordingly made to hold the hoof of a moose in the left hand, and rub the ear with it, as a means of cure. Joseph Jouvency, a priest of the Society of Jesus, wrote a history of the society in Latin, which was printed in Rome in 1710. In vol. xv., part v., he describes the country and manners of the savages of New France. This is reprinted, with an English translation, in the Jesuit Relations, Describing the moose, which, he says, is called the "great beast" by the natives, Fr. Jouvency tells us: "The savages eat its flesh, are clothed with its skin, and are cured by the hoof of its left hind foot. In this hoof there is a certain marvelous and mani- fold virtue, as is aflfirmed by the testimony of the most famous physicians. It avails especially " Josselyn, New Englands Rarities Discovered (London, 1672), p. 20. 264 THE AMERICAN MOOSE against the epilepsy, whether it be appHed to the breast, where the heart is throbbing, or whether it be placed in the bezel of a ring, which is worn upon the finger next to the little finger of the left hand; or, finally, if it be also held in the hollow of the left hand, clenched in the fist. Nor does it have less power in the cure of pleurisy, dizziness, and, if we may believe those familiar with it, six hundred other diseases. "^^ American writers have commented on this superstition as peculiar to the Indians. But some of the most eminent medical men of Europe in the later Middle Ages endorsed the belief, and they employed the hoofs of elk in the treatment of epilepsy long before the first Europeans visited the moose country of the New World. European writers have maintained, however, that this superstition among the North American Indians had an origin entirely independent of European influence. ^^ But the belief is sufficiently peculiar to warrant us in requiring quite positive evidence before we accept this statement of independent origin. ""IlUus carnibus vescuntur, teguntur pelle, ungula posterioris sinistri pedis sanantur. Huic ungulce tnira qucedam & multiplex virtus inest, medicorum celeberrimorum testimonio commendata. . . ." — Jesuit Rela- tions (Cleveland, 1896), vol. i., pp. 246-249. '3 See page 350. THE A400SE IN IN DUN MYTH 265 Fr. Rasle, who began the compilation of his dictionary of the Abnaki language in 1691, gives a word, bkass, meaning"/^ pie gauche de derriere de Vorignair^^ He gives no specific words for the other feet of the moose. This then was probably a term well understood in the Abnaki pharmaco- poeia, and used when the medicine man was treating an epileptic patient. The presence of this word in Fr. Rasle's dictionary, and the accounts of the epilepsy superstition given by early writers on the American Indians, have seemed to confirm the statement that this was an Indian belief, independent in its origin of the belief prevalent in Europe. But Charlevoix, writing In 1721, says, ^'On pretend que rOrignal est sujet a rEpilepsie,'^ etc. He does not say that it was an Indian belief: his "on pretend^* is as likely to refer to white men as to red men. Lahontan In 1686 wrote: "The left hind foot of the female cures the falling sick- ness," — but the baron's own skepticism Is Indi- cated by the added comment, " si credere fas est.''''^ And Lahontan is as likely to have referred to the belief of the Frenchmen of New France as to that of the Indians. Still earlier. In 1663, Pierre Bou- ''' See Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, New Series (Cambridge, 1833), vol. i., p. 495. See footnote supra, p, 237. •s Nouveaux Voyages, under date of July 8, 1686. 266 THE AMERICAN MOOSE cher, writing from Three Rivers, says, "Von dit que la come du pied gauche est bonne pour la vial caduc.^' Here again evidence that this was con- sidered an Indian behef is entirely lacking. That Charlevoix did not attribute the belief to the Indians is indicated by his statement: "I have heard that the Algonquins, who formerly fed on the flesh of this animal, were very subject to epilepsy, and did not employ this remedy. Perhaps they had better ones."^^ Inasmuch as Charlevoix does not refer to the remedy as of Abnaki origin, we may conjecture that he looked upon it as one which the Abnaki had learned from the Europeans, and which they used in com- mon with the white men. It is true some of the writers of that period seemed to consider that this superstition did originate with the Indians. But it may be they were unaware that a similar belief prevailed in Europe. Thus Denys writes: "The moose is subject to epilepsy. The savages say that when he feels it coming on he stops, and with the left »* "J'ai out dire que les Algonquins, qui faisoient autrefois leurnourri' ture ordinaire de la Chaire de eel Animal, etoient fort sujets d I'Epilepsie, &f n'usoient point de ce remede. lis en avoient, peut-etre, de meilleurs." — • {Ubi supra, p. 126.) The Abnaki, among whom Rasle lived, occupied territory east and south of Quebec; the Algonquins lived farther west, on the north side of the St. Lawrence. Charlevoix's journeys took him among the tribes of both groups. THE MOOSE IN INDIAN MYTH 267 hind foot scratches himself behind the ear so that the blood flows, and that this cures hlm."^'^ And Fr. Le Clercq: "The left hind foot cures epilepsy; but It Is necessary to secure It, the savages say, at a time when the animal Is Itself suffering from this malady, of which It cures Itself by placing this left foot to Its ear.'"^ Fr. Rasle's dictionary shows that the Indians had adopted from their earlier English neighbors the names of certain things previously unknown to them, as cow, pig, cabbage. Probably at the same time they adopted the superstitious belief In the efficacy of moose hoofs In therapeutics, and hence added ^kass to their vocabulary, as they added " kaHs'' for cows, " kabits" for cabbage, '' pikess" for pigs, and other English words to describe their newly- acquired domestic animals and vegetables. According to Denys, "In the heart [of the moose] there Is a little bone which the Indian women use 'T Description Geographique, etc. (Paris, 1672), vol. ii., p. 320. '* Nouvclle Relation de la Caspesie (Paris, 169 1), p. 472. Sieur de Di<5reville, a French traveler whose Relation du Voyage du Port Royal de I'Acadie was published in Rouen in 1708, gave this superstition to his readers in verse: II est fort sujet au haul mal, Mais dans les pieds fourchus de ce grand animal, La Nature a mis le remede; Quelle prevoyance I quel soin ! II se gratte la tele en ce pressant hesoin, Et se delivre ainsi du mal qui le possede. 268 THE AMERICAN MOOSE to aid them in childbirth, reducing it to powder, and swallowing it in water, or in soup made from the animal."^^ Fr. Rasle seems to give an Indian origin to this belief also, for he records an Abnaki word, ^skanitehann, meaning "Tos qui est au milieu du cceur de l*orig7ial." But this supersti- tion was probably an importation from Europe, along with that relating to epilepsy. In the Grand Dictionnaire Universelle of Larousse ^^ os de coeur de cerj" is defined as an ancient medical term, meaning "the bone which is found in the heart of the deer, and which formerly was considered a powerful therapeutic agent." This bone is not an imaginary thing, however, as some writers have assumed. It is known to zoologists as os cordis. It is a local ossification of the septum between the ventricles of the heart, and is found in a number of varieties of ruminants, including domestic cattle, after they pass a certain age. Its medicinal value is nil. When the settlement of America by Europeans began the Indian medicine man had advanced about as far in his eff^orts to solve the mysteries of disease as the most learned professor of that day in all the Old- World universities. Neither could justly ridicule the beliefs and practices of the other. '9 Uhi supra, vol. ii., p. 321. Part U The Old-World Elk 269 Hunting Russian Elk From a Painting by Richard Friese An Elk Drive From a Painting by K. Wysotzki CHAPTER XIII THE ELK,' PAST AND PRESENT Migrating from the same ancestral homestead — probably in eastern Siberia — thousands of years ago, the elk of Europe journeyed westward, while his brother, the moose, turning toward the rising sun, crossed over to the North American continent. Climatic changes ultimately destroyed the forests of northern Siberia, and the elk moved southward and westward, occupying the broad plains of European Russia, and then advancing into central and western Europe, as far as the Atlantic, and the southern foothills of the Alps and the Pyrenees. Increasing density of popula- tion and disappearance of the timber in this western extremity of his ancient range, caused the tide of migration to recede, and the elk, slowly yielding ' "Elk" as here used, and throughout this and the following chapters, denotes Cervus alces, the European and Asiatic relative of the moose. It does not refer to the American elk or wapiti. When the word "moose" is used it will be understood as referring to the American representative of the Alces family, but without implying difference in species. 271 272 THE OLD-WORLD ELK to hostile conditions, withdrew from south- western Europe Into regions farther north and east, which still continue In his possession. The elk was a contemporary of the mammoth in the eastern hemisphere, as the moose was in the western. Both branches of the great alcine family retain the same uncouth physical char- acteristics, suggestive of prehistoric times and types, in a remarkably close degree. Fossil remains of elk have been found in many parts of Europe. They show that the type, both in respect to body and antlers, has remained practically constant through thousands of years, and down to the present day. This indicates that the race in all ages has been able by migration to seek the climate and the food which its nature demanded. Thus while climate and the character of vegetation have changed, the elk and the moose themselves have survived practically without change. Most of the animals which the elk encountered in their wanderings during the earlier ages which followed their advent in Europe, unable to adapt themselves to new conditions by migration, have become extinct, or have survived In a multiplicity of different species greatly changed from the parent stock. The elk and the moose, however, have changed but little since together they cropped THE ELK, PAST AND PRESENT 273 the tender twigs of the willow in the Asiatic forests. Furthermore, though separated in habitat since long before the first pages of history were written, by the submersion of the neck of land which once connected Asia and America at Bering Strait, the elk and the moose are today so alike in physical An Asiatic Rock-Carving characteristics and in habits that many writers refuse to consider them even different species of the same family. Perhaps the earliest extant portrait of the elk is one executed by a prehistoric artist in the valley of the Ussuri, on the Russo-Chinese frontier, not far from the Sea of Japan. This region, it is believed, was the elk's ancestral home. The picture is a rock-carving. The animal as the 18 274 THE OLD-WORLD ELK ancient draftsman represented him has short legs, it is true, and conventional decoration on his body, but the antlers make the identity of the species unmistakable.^ The first appearance of the elk in history is in Caesar's Gallic War. "There are also animals," writes Caesar, "which are called alces. . . . They have legs without Joints and ligatures; nor do they lie down for the purpose of rest, nor, if they have been thrown down by any accident, can they raise or lift themselves up. Trees serve them as beds. They lean themselves against them, and thus reclining only slightly they take their rest. When the hunters have discovered from the tracks of these animals whither they are accustomed to go, they either undermine all the trees at the roots, or cut into them so far that the upper part of the trees may appear to be left standing. When they have leaned upon them, according to their habit, they knock down by their weight the un- supported trees, and fall down themselves along with them."3 'See Meyers, Grosses Konversations-Lexikon (Leipsic, 1905), under "Kunst der Naturvolker." 3 " Sunt item quce appellantur alces. . . . Crura sine nodis articulisque hahent; neque guietis causa procumhunt, neque, si quo adflictce casu conci' derunt, erigere sese ac suhlevare possunt. His sunt arbores pro cubilibus; ad eas se adplicant atque ita paulum modo reclinatce quietem capiunt. Quarum ex vestigiis cum est animadversum a venatoribus quo se recipere THE ELK, PAST AND PRESENT 275 Caesar wrote b.c. 53, while on his second expedi- tion into the land of the Germani. He was describing the animals found in the great Hercynian forest of southern and central Germany. More than a hundred years later Pliny gave a similar description, but mentioned only the hind legs as jointless, and added: ^'Its upper lip is extremely large, for which reason it is obliged to go backward when grazing; otherwise, by moving forward, the lip would get doubled up.""* Gladiatorial spectacles were given In the Colos- seum at Rome for nearly four hundred years following its dedication, a.d. 80. The dedicatory games continued for nearly one hundred days, and it is said that five thousand wild beasts were slaughtered in the arena during these opening festivities. Julius Capitolinus, in the Histories Augustcs, relates that at the close of the reign of the Emperor Gordianus III., in the year 244 of our era, there were exhibited in Rome 32 elephants, 10 elk, 10 tigers, 60 tame lions, 30 tame leopards, 10 hyenas, i hippopotamus, i rhinoceros, 10 giraffes, 20 zebras, 40 wild horses, and numberless consuerint, omnes eo loco aut ah radicibus subruunt aut accidunt arbores, tantum ut summa species earuni stantium relinquatur. Hue cum se consuetudine reclinaverunt, infirmas arbores pondere adfligunt atque una ipscB concidunt." — De Bella Callico, book vi., chap, xxvii. * Naturalis Historia, book viii,, chap. xv. 276 THE OLD-WORLD ELK other animals of various sorts, and that these beasts, with looo gladiators, took part in the games in the great arena. What part the ten elk played in these gory spectacles Capitolinus does not tell us. Whether they fought with horns or with hoofs, against wild beasts or against equally savage men, we have no means of knowing, but let us hope that they gave a good account of themselves.^ In the fifth and sixth centuries of our era elk were rare in France, and they disappeared entirely before the tenth century. They disappeared in South Germany in the ninth century, but presum- ably were found on the lower Rhine somewhat later, for prohibitions against elk hunting in certain territory there were issued as late as 1025. Elk were found in Switzerland as late as the Middle Ages.^ Beneath one of the picturesque houses, five centuries old, for which Nuremberg is famous is a restaurant occupying a quaint vaulted cellar,^ and reached from the street by a long and steep flight of stairs. I sat there on one occasion eating my supper, and as I did so I studied a beautiful carved elk head of wood, crowned by natural antlers of moderate size, which graced the opposite s See also Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. xii. 'Brockhaus, Konversations-Lexikon, under "Elentier." 1 The Nassauer Keller. THE ELK, PAST AND PRESENT 277 wall. The presence of such antlers so far from the elk's range excited my curiosity, so I questioned the proprietor. "Where did those antlers come from?" I asked. "0, right near the city," he replied. "Near Nuremberg?" I asked in surprise. "Certainly," said he. The Elk According to Miinster (1554) "But," I objected, "there are no elk anywhere in Bavaria!" "0, but this head has been here for several hundred years!" said the proprietor, and I realized again that I was in a land with a much longer history than our America. 278 THE OLD-WORLD ELK Descriptions of the elk by ancient writers afford as amusing reading as descriptions of the moose by early travelers in America. Sebastian Miinster, in his Cosmography, a Latin folio published in Aldrovandus's Female Elk (162 1) 1554, describes among the animals of Prussia the elk. They are as large as an ass, or a medium- sized horse, he says; their hoofs are used in cases of severe sickness; their skin is so tough that it Is not possible to pierce or cut through it; they have THE ELK, PAST AND PRESENT 279 long and weak legs, are naturally stupid, and a boy- can drive them where he will with a switch, but they cannot be made to carry a load on their back.^ Head of Male Elk (Aldrovandus, 1621) Aldrovandus, a writer on natural history, and professor in the university at Bologna, treats of the elk at considerable length. He quotes freely from all the writers who had given accounts of the elk, from Caesar down to his own day, but his * Cosmographia UniversalisKBasel, 1554), pp. 784-785. 280 THE OLD-WORLD ELK illustrations were his own. Like other writers of that period he uses the word onager^ or "wild ass," as well as alces, to describe the elk. Certainly the female in his picture has a sufficiently asinine appearance to justify the name.^ The antlers of his male elk seem to belong to the cactus family. Long after Miinster and Aldrovandus, Rt.- Rev. Erich Pontoppidan, "bishop of Bergen in Norway, and member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Copenhagen," in his Natural History of Norway, describes and pictures the elk. "They are very long-legged," he writes, "insomuch that a man may stand upright under their belly."'° This was probably the largest land animal in Nor- way. The largest creature in Norwegian waters, according to Pontoppidan, was the sea serpent, which he describes on the testimony of credible witnesses as being 600 feet long, and which had been seen to raise Its head from the water as high as the main-top of a ship." And yet the learned bishop was not of a credulous disposi- tion. He tells us so at considerable length in his preface. 9 Quadrupedum Omnium Bisulcorum Historia (Bonn, 1621), p. 870. ' " Natural History of Norway, translated from the Danish (London, 1755). part ii., p. 10. " Part ii., p. 199. THE ELK, PAST AND PRESENT 281 Elk survived much later in northern Germany than in southern. Johann Sigismund, margrave of Brandenburg, according to official records which are still preserved, killed 11,598 game animals between 1612 and 1619, and of these 112 were elk." But the numbers of elk in northern Germany were reduced by the encroachments of agriculture, by hunting, and by disease. In Saxony they resisted extinction, however, until 1746, in Galicia until 1760, and in Silesia until 1776. When finally the cry was raised that they were causing injury to the forests by eating the twigs of saplings, systematic slaughter was under- taken. This resulted about 1830 in the death of the last elk in the province of West Prussia. Since that time the only foothold of the elk in Germany has been in East Prussia, and here, rigidly protected, a comparatively small number still survive. Aside from these the only elk now to be found in Europe are in Russia and in the Scandinavian Peninsula. We have no reason to suppose that moose in their American home have deteriorated in size since the time of Champlain, and as little to think that the elk today are smaller than those which the royal '^ J. G. Bujack, in Preussische Provinzial-Bldtler, vol. xxi. (Konigs- berg, 1839), p. 237. 282 THE OLD-WORLD ELK Brandenburger killed 300 years ago. Dr. Paul Dahms of Dantzic states that the heaviest elk in Johann Siglsmund's ample game bag weighed 530 kg. (1166 pounds) when killed in 161 8, and that elk as heavy as this are now not uncommon in Europe." Buffon, the eminent French naturalist, had little chance to study the elk, although friends in America sent him moose antlers, skeletons, and skins. In March, 1784, however, he had an opportunity to study and picture a living elk which was exhibited at the fair of St. Germain, near Paris. This animal was taken, the showman said, fifty leagues beyond Moscow, and was less than three years old at the time when Buffon saw him. The naturalist had a steel engraving of this elk made to illustrate his Natural History. He ex- plains the strange position of the horns with ref- erence to the head — without, however, being conscious that an explanation was needed — when he says that the picture was made in March, and that the horns had been cast early in the previous January. The honest showman declared that the cast antlers were those of this two-year-old elk, ^^"Ehemalige Verbreitung, Aussterben, und Volkskundliche Bezieh- ungen des Elches in Westpreiissen," in Globus, a magazine of geography and ethnology, vol. Ixxiv., p. 243 (Brunswick, Germany, Oct. 15, 1898). THE ELK, PAST AND PRESENT 283 Buffon's Elk Ti^HA.ni/t .^. 284 THE OLD-WORLD ELK and Buffon caused them to be represented in the engraving.^'* Prior to the Revolution of 1848 there were from 300 to 400 elk in the forest of Ibenhorst, compris- ing about twenty-four square miles, in East Prus- sia. This forest lies near the mouth of the Memel, close to the Russian boundary. During the brief season when all legal restraint was relaxed owing to the Revolution the peasants reveled in their new-found freedom, and in one season re- duced the number of elk in the Ibenhorst preserve to sixteen. The price of elk meat at that time fell to five Pfennige a pound {i}i cents). Rigid protection, supplemented by the introduction of Swedish stock in the early '60s, saved the day, however, and in 1874 Ibenhorst and the neighboring minor preserves contained 136 elk. The number has since increased to about 1000.^^ Elk Products in the Arts. — In the Middle Ages elk skin was considered bullet proof — and perhaps two or three thicknesses, properly tanned, would have been impenetrable by the pistol balls of that day. Elk-skin jackets were often made for soldiers' wear. They would have the advantage of plia- ^*'QvL^on,Histoire Naturelle, Generate el Particuliere, edited by Sonnini, (Paris, Van XI [1802-03]), vol. xxx., pp. 92, 145. »s Meyers, Grosses Konversalions'Lexikon, supplement for 1910-11. THE ELK, PAST AND PRESENT 285 billty, which a steel breastplate would not possess. Gustavus Adolphus wore a doublet of elk skin at the battle of Liitzen in 1632, and the garment is now displayed in the museum of the artillery arsenal in Vienna. Unfortunately for the Swedish king, however, the leather failed to stop an Im- perialist bullet, and the great soldier died in the moment of victory. Paul I., Czar of Russia, in the closing years of the eighteenth century ordered that his cavalry be equipped with elk-skin breeches, in consequence of which a relentless war was waged on the elk of some portions of the empire. To this fact is ascribed the extermination of the elk in Poland.'^ The people of the Amur district of eastern Siberia were in ancient times required to pay tribute to the Chinese in elk skins, and Russia more recently required tribute in this material to be paid by subjugated Asiatic peoples. Russia in turn was on some occasions compelled to pay war indemnity to Austria, not In money, but by delivering many hundred wagon-loads of the skins of elk.'' In fact, the elk's jacket was his one possession which the European trader formerly '* Dahms, Globus, vol. Ixxiv., p. 221 (Oct. 8, 1898). '7 Prof. Wilhelm Blasius, in Dombrowski's Allgemeine Encyklopddie der Forst- und Jagdwissenschaften (Vienna, 1888), vol. iii., p. 275. 286 THE OLD-WORLD ELK especially coveted. Oil-tanned it was highly- prized for clothing; slings of elk skin served to hurl stones and other missiles in medieval battles; the skin of the legs, removed without splitting, was used for gun sheaths and pouches for various purposes. Elk hair was formerly well esteemed by up- holsterers, being deemed intermediate between the hair of horses and of cattle in quality. Cush- ions were filled with it, the covering being of the skin of the same species of animals, and saddles covered with elk skin and padded with elk hair were In common use In an age when the lack of roads adapted for wheeled vehicles raised the saddle into a position of great Importance. Elk antlers were a common decoration for the gables of old-time palaces and hunting lodges, and for the gateways of parks ; from the antlers clever artificers fashioned chandeliers and articles of furniture; from them skilled lathe-workers and carvers made the handles of knives and a multi- plicity of utensils, and from fragments otherwise unused was produced the glue of the cabinet makers. The hoofs of elk were in demand in medicine, and If only the hoof of the left hind foot possessed therapeutic value, there were still three other THE ELK, PAST AND PRESENT 287 hoofs available to be transmuted into combs, cups, bracelets, etc. The bones, too, had their uses. They were very hard and very white, and many times purchasers of ivory wares were in- debted to the elk for furnishing the raw material. From the fat of the elk were produced excellent candles.^* '* The monographs of both Dahms and Blasius discuss at considerable length the ancient commercial uses of materials derived from the elk. CHAPTER XIV RANGE OF THE ELK IN EUROPE AND ASIA^ On the north the elk's range in Asia and Europe is bounded practically by the timber line. The animals are found in a limited area in the eastern- most extremity of Siberia, near Bering Strait, but are lacking in Kamchatka, and on the broad tundra farther north. They are abundant in the Lena valley, and are found in the valleys of other rivers which flow into the Arctic Ocean, their range on the Lena and at several other Siberian points extending north of the Arctic Circle. At the Ural range, where Asiatic and European Russia meet, the northern limit of the elk's range is at about the 63 d parallel of latitude. Thence westward the line crosses Russia and Finland near the 626. and 63 d parallels. A few elk also are said to be found in southern Lapland, beyond the Arctic Circle. In the Scandinavian Peninsula their northern limit is at about 66° 30'. ' See map at page 32. 288 RANGE OF ELK IN EUROPE AND ASIA 289 In the extreme east the southern boundary of the elk's range begins at the Sea of Japan, in the vicinity of Vladivostok. The line crosses Man- churia, passes near the southern extremity of Lake Baikal, then crosses northern Mongolia, and reaches the Altai mountain range. In general, the mountain ranges which form the water-shed between the streams flowing into the Arctic Ocean and those flowing into the Pacific, mark the south- ern boundary of the elk's Asiatic range. From the Altai Mountains to the Ural range this southern boundary line trends north of west, crossing into Europe at about the 57th parallel. The southern boundary of the elk's range crosses European Russia in an irregular line, trending south of west, and reaching, in the government of Volhynia in West Russia, at about the 51st parallel, the southernmost point to which It extends in Europe. Some centuries ago the forest areas of Russia extended farther south than they do today. As the forests were destroyed the elk retreated northward, but since 1850 there has been a marked tendency to reoccupy some of this territory once abandoned. Fr. Th. Koppen, a Russian writer, declares that no similar instance is known where any great mammal, having once yielded to the advance of agriculture, has spread 19 290 THE OLD-WORLD ELK out and multiplied again in territory which it had deserted.^ Elk are found in the German province of East Prussia, in all the Baltic provinces of the Russian Empire, and in Finland. They inhabit also in considerable numbers the extensive moun- tainous areas of Scandinavia, the southern bound- ary of their range in Sweden being near the 57th parallel. Norway, Sweden, and Russia are the hunting grounds for elk in Europe. Few foreigners visit Russia in quest of game, however, while many Englishmen and Germans have been in the habit of leasing hunting privileges in the Scandinavian Peninsula. In the eastern provinces of southern Norway, especially the district of Drontheim, the great forests of deciduous trees, abounding in mountain ash, harbor many elk, and the number is believed to be increasing, thanks to protective legislation.^ "It is an undoubted fact," wrote the late Sir Henry Pottinger, "that in the last fifty years — in Norway, at least — their number has greatly ' Die Verhreitung des Elentiers im Europaischen Russland, published by the Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, 1883. Con- cerning the limits of the elk's range in European and Asiatic Russia the present writer has accepted in general the statements of Martenson in Der Elch (Riga, 1903), pp. 89-101. J Hesketh Prichard in Blackwood's Magazuie, July, 1906, RANGE OF ELK IN EUROPE AND ASIA 291 increased, for In the fifties, as the writer can testify, they were seldom seen or heard of In many districts where they are now not Infrequent. ... In Norway It Is forbidden, under a heavy penalty, to kill more than a single elk, bull or cow, on each farm or registered division of land. . . . The shooting of calves Is strictly forbidden."* In 1894 Pottlnger wrote: "Altogether about 850 elk on the average are killed yearly in Norway, and In Sweden rather more than double the number."^ Increased restrictions In Sweden have reduced the number killed, while In Norway an Increase Is noted. Martenson, quoting statements fur- nished by the Norwegian Hunting and Fishing Association, wrote In 1903 that the annual kill In Sweden was 1300 or 1400 elk, against 900 to 1000 in Norway.^ Seeking Information industriously from all avail- able sources, Martenson estimated the number of elk in all portions of his European and Asiatic range. Scandinavia he credits with from 8000 to 10,000 elk, and this estimate, in view of the num- bers annually killed, would seem to be sufficiently conservative. In Finland he notes a marked * Encyclopedia of Sport and Games (London, 1911), vol. ii., p.i77- s Big Game Shooting (Badminton Library), vol. ii., p. 125. ' Ubi supra, p. 90. 292 THE OLD-fVORLD ELK increase in numbers, due, however, to greatly increased restrictions in hunting privileges — re- strictions made necessary by the diminishing numbers of elk thirty or forty years ago. To Livonia, his home province, Martenson credits 1600 to 1800 elk. To Esthonia, on the north, he credits 500 or 600; to Courland, on the south, 800 or 1000. But the elk of the Baltic provinces are smaller than those of Scandinavia, and much smaller than those of eastern Russia and Siberia. With a view to estimating the number of elk in European and Asiatic Russia, Martenson studied the reports from the principal fur and hide markets of the empire. *' According to returns gathered by N. Turkin and others," he writes, **the number of skins of wild animals taken yearly in Russia amounts to about 50,000,000, of which from 250,000 to 300,000 are elk." If we accept these figures, we will not wonder when Mr. Martenson adds the estimate that the number of elk in the entire Russian Empire is at least 2,000,000.' The city of the czars, newly christened Petro- grad, was no doubt once the home of the elk. One of the islands on which the city is built, Wassilij-Ostrow, was formerly known by the Finnish name Hirwi-Saari, or elk island. And 7 Ubi supra, pp. 166-167. RANGE OF ELK IN EUROPE AND ASIA 293 today hunters living in Petrograd can reach good elk preserves within two or three hours' journey from the capital by rail. In the government of Moscow, too, elk are found in fair numbers, although sixty years ago they were practically unknown in that region. The number of elk in East Prussia has increased rapidly since the last decade of the last century. By the construction of dikes the frequent floods in the delta of the Memel have been prevented, and the elk have profited by the improved forest conditions which have resulted. In 1906 there were about 720 elk in the province, practically all occupying the small triangle bounded on the northeast and northwest by the Russian frontier and the Baltic Sea respectively, and bounded on the south by the Pregel River. It was found necessary to kill an increasing number yearly in the interest of forest conservation.^ Five years later there were said to be about 1000 elk in the province.^ According to Dr. Fritz Skrowronnek twenty-five or thirty elk are killed yearly in the East Prussian preserves by the Kaiser and other privdeged hunters. Dr. Skrowronnek tells of elk drives on 8 Der Mensch und die Erde (Berlin, 1906), vol. i., p. 3H- 9 Meyers, Grosses Konversaiions-Lexikon, supplement for 1910-11. 294 THE OLD-WORLD ELK two successive days in 1904 in which "der oberste Jagdherr'* killed one small elk each day. His army of beaters numbered 300 men. While still- hunting, on foot and by boat, on the same visit to East Prussia, the Kaiser saw no game.^° Elk occasionally migrate from Russia into Ger- man territory. Skrowronnek tells of such an instance, in 1904, when many Russian elk were driven by a forest fire from their native cover, and took refuge in the woods beside the German Memel. And an English woman, instructor of the Kaiser's daughter, relates how an elk, migrating from Russia, was reported as being seen in the imperial hunting domain of Rominten in East Prussia seven or eight years ago. "The Kaiser ordered out all the automobiles and carriages," she wrote, "and that every available person was to serve as beater. Her Majesty and the Princess and the ladies being specially invited in that capacity. . . . " The car flew along, the Emperor talking volubly about the Elch and its habits, and his hopes of slaying the confiding creature; and at last we were deposited about eight miles from home on a rather squelchy, marshy piece of ground, where we were met by Baron von Sternburg and commanded to follow him in perfect silence, the Emperor mean- '° Lustiges Weidwerk (Berlin, 1905), pp. 13, 79. RANGE OF ELK IN EUROPE AND ASIA 295 time going on in the car in a different direction. After a long damp walk we were all posted at intervals of about a hundred yards along a thick alley of pines, with whispered instructions to stay where we were and prevent the quarry from breaking through, although we all had grave doubts as to our ability to prevent any animal as large as a moose from doing anything it felt In- clined. I went up to the gentleman on my left and whisperlngly asked what methods I must employ supposing the mighty beast suddenly appeared in front of me, and he Indicated a feeble wagging of the hands as being likely to turn It back in the direction of the Emperor's rifle."" But the "moose" escaped back to Russian territory, close at hand. In view of the enemies which the elk has had to encounter, and the agricultural Improvements which have deprived him of subsistence In many portions of his ancient range, and the lack of legislation, and excess of legislation, which have imperiled his existence, It Is remarkable that the elk of Scandinavia should thrive as he does today. Accusing the elk of damaging the crops, " Memories of the Kaiser's Court, by Anne Topham (N. Y., 1914), pp. 254-255. 296 THE OLD-WORLD ELK the ancient law-makers of West Gothland (south- ern Sweden) classed him with the fox, the wolf, the lynx, and the bear as a noxious animal, and a price was placed on his head." Outlawed by those who in a later age would have given him legal protection, and preyed upon by the wolf-packs of only seventy or eighty years ago, the numbers were so reduced in Sweden and Norway that it was necessary to wage systematic warfare on the wolves and prohibit killing the elk at any season, save that every tenth year elk might be hunted for a brief period under rigid limitations. There is now a short open season each fall, the shooting season in Norway, according to the latest information at hand, being the last twenty- one days in September. In Russia *' there are strict laws protecting hinds [females], enforced by a fine of one hundred roubles for killing each one, but the bulls are mercilessly destroyed without regard to age or size; hence fine palmated horns are growing very scarce in the neighborhood of big towns, where numerous shooting clubs exist. The open season lasts from the end of August till the 31st of Decem.ber.''^^ *' Lloyd, Scandinavian Adventures, vol. ii., p. 93. 'sE. Demidofi, Prince San Donato, in Sport in Europe (London, 1901), p. 389. RANGE OF ELK IN EUROPE AND ASIA 297 The right to hunt in Russia is vested in the land owner, but he is generally required to pay a moderate license fee. In a large portion of the northern and eastern elk territory of European Russia, however, the residents are not required to pay the hunting tax. This exemption was made in consideration of the poverty of many of the people. The privilege of hunting on public lands in these sections was also easily obtained. The beneficiaries of these exemptions and privileges at once concluded that they were subject to no legal restrictions, and a class of idlers became professional hunters, destroying game with ruthless hand. These conditions, in conjunction with improved firearms, and an increasing number of forest fires, caused a marked decrease in the amount of game in many portions of the Russian elk range.^"^ Whether more recent legislation has bettered these conditions the author is unable to say. Until quite modern times hunting in most parts of Europe was a special prerogative of royalty and the nobility. Even today most of the best terri- tory is in the hands of wealthy individuals who jealously guard their exclusive hunting privileges. These conditions have always produced a large '^Martenson, pp. 164-165. 298 THE OLD-WORLD ELK class of poachers, in dealing with whom are found the most serious problems which the owners of game preserves have to meet. The elk, like the timber, constitute a portion of the value of a landed estate, and both portions of the assets are guarded from theft at considerable expense by the maintenance of a large force of men. The privilege of hunting Is often leased in Russia to sportsmen In the cities. In such cases the successful hunter Is entitled only to the head and a certain small piece of meat, the rest of the meat, the hide, feet, etc., remaining the property of the owner of the land where the elk was killed.'^ In Norway also "the sportsman's share of any animal he kills is only the head with the head-skin, with twenty kilos of elk-beef; the remainder of the carcass goes to the owner of the farm on which the elk is first sprung, whether actually killed upon it or over the boundary upon the land of his neighbor."'^ There is no bag limit In Norway, but the hunter may not take more than one elk in a herd If several are found together. The non-resident license fee Is loo crowns (^27).'^ ^s Kapherr, Das Elchwild (Berlin, 1908), p. 74. '* Prichard, ubi supra. '7 Hiorth, Elch- und Schneehuhnjagd in Norwegen (Christiania, 19 10), pp. 6, 7- RANGE OF ELK IN EUROPE AND ASIA 299 By leasing the hunting privileges of several farms the sportsman may kill a number of elk in a season, and the sport is not necessarily very ex- pensive. CHAPTER XV TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE ELK Elk have been subjects of closer observation in many portions of their European range than have the moose in America. The precise knowledge of the elk's traits and habits which might be expected from this fact is nevertheless lacking. In respect to his size writers are hopelessly out of accord, owing to the lack of an accepted rule for ascertaining dimensions. Of one fact there can be no doubt, however — the elk of average size is smaller than the average moose. Sir Henry Pottlnger, who for six years leased preserves In Sweden and Norway and hunted elk with much success, gave the height at the withers of the aver- age full-grown Scandinavian elk as 68 or 69 inches, and the girth as 83 or 84 inches.^ The live weight he was unable to ascertain. Russian writers describe elk weighing, undrawn, from 1075 to iioo pounds, but these they admit are exceedingly rare. ' Big Game Shooting (London, 1894), vol. ii., p. 130. 300 TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE ELK 301 The age usually attained by the elk is stated by most writers to be from 16 to 20 years. Marten- son, however, credits the elk with sometimes attaining an age of from 30 to 36 years. He cites no specific instance where a specimen was known to have reached such an age, but draws his conclusion largely from a formula of zoologists that among mammals the average attainable age is seven times the period required to attain full growth. Martenson tells of a female elk in the forest of Ibenhorst which was easily identified by reason of the loss of the left eye and by other marks. Yearly from 1854 to 1865 she bore two calves, then was barren for three years, but in 1869 and 1870 bore one calf each year. "She was accordingly at least twenty years old in 1870, but showed at that time no signs of old age."'' Dr. Blasius, while quoting the same formula, gives the length of life of the elk as only from 16 to 20 years. He adds that while the life of the elk Is relatively shorter than that of most mammals, this condition is offset by the elk's superiority with respect to producing young.^ In the case of most species of deer a single fawn is born each season, but the female elk commonly bears two ' Martenson, Der Elch (Riga, 1903), pp. 15-16. 3 Ubisupra,p.2'jT). 302 THE OtD-JVORLD ELK calves. Other zoologists state that the maximum attainable life of most mammals is seven times the time required to reach maturity, not seven times the period spent in attaining full growth. Moose are believed to be capable of reproduction when 2^ years old, though not fully grown, and hence the zoologist would consider them mature at that age. Under this formula, therefore, their limit of life would be less than 20 years. The rutting season of the elk is generally some- what earlier than in the case of the moose. In East Prussia and the Baltic provinces of Russia it begins late in August and continues until the last of September. In Scandinavia and Asiatic Russia, however, it begins about the middle of September and continues until the middle of October. Antlers are shed much earlier too in western Russia. Bulls in their prime drop their antlers in November on the east shore of the Baltic, while in the rest of the elk territory of Europe and Asia they carry them a month or more later. In the Baltic provinces elk are found in larger herds than is usual with the moose. Often fifteen, or even more, are found together, and in the rutting season they recognize the leadership of a strong bull, especially if he is armed with formidable antlers, and shows a disposition to use them to TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE ELK 303 enforce his supremacy. The theory that elk are monogamous has almost no adherents in Europe. Exciting stories are told by Russian writers of fatal encounters between bulls in the rutting season. A single powerful bull will often remain in the company of several cows through the season, and succeed in keeping all rivals at a distance, though not without many bloody contests. The com- bativeness of cows in protecting their young from apprehended molestation by men is frequently mentioned by Kapherr. The elk seems to show a greater fondness for low moist ground in the Baltic provinces, and in western Russia generally, than in most of his range. The Germans, indeed, sometimes speak of him as the Moorhirsch, or Sumpfhirsch, meaning "marsh stag." If he frequents such territory more than the moose of America do, it is probably because he is less molested there, and better fed, than in the comparatively restricted uplands which are left available for his use. He seems to be even more fond of the water than his American relative. According to Shrowronnek the elk of East Prussia not infrequently swim across the Kurisches Haff, a distance of twenty kilometers (more than twelve miles). The food of the elk is drawn from the same wide 304 THE OLD-WORLD ELK variety of trees, shrubs, and water plants as in the case of the moose. In both European and Asiatic Russia it has been observed that elk make periodic migrations — perhaps in imitation of their neighbors the reindeer. Many of these journeys between the uplands and the lowlands are short, and have no more signifi- cance than the movements of moose in America in anticipation of a winter of deep snow. Siberian elk, however, are said to make annual journeys at the end of winter from the forest cover of the southern mountains to the broad open tundra of the north, covering 400 or 500 miles. Persecu- tion by insects and parasites is believed to have as much to do with these movements as questions of forage.'* A Russian naturalist, Sabanejeff, made close observations of the annual migrations of great herds of elk from the west side of the Ural range, north of the 60th parallel, across the mountains in a southeasterly direction through six degrees of latitude. The journey toward the southeast be- gins in September, in anticipation of the deep snows. In the winter refuge of these elk, south- east of Ekaterinburg, the season of snow is much * Martenson, ubi supra, p. 105. TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE ELK 305 shorter, and its depth much less. It has been observed that in mild winters the migrating herds are much smaller than in seasons of greater snowfall. On both sides of the mountain range many elk are victims of slaughter during these semi-annual pilgrimages, at the hands of peasant hunters.^ Periodical migrations of the sort here described are unknown among the moose of America. We cannot wonder that the German name of the elk was interpreted as meaning "misery," or that Prof. Oken denominated the animal " ein melan- cholisches Tier,"^ when we read of the diseases and parasites which attack him. Blasius says that about every tenth year elk suffer seriously from malignant anthrax {mihbrand)^ rinderpest, and scour, traceable perhaps to the effects of seasons of drouth; that they are subject to pulmonary and other diseases to which ruminants generally are exposed; and that many sorts of parasites afflict them, often with serious results.^ In 175 1 all the elk on the great island of Oesel in the Baltic Sea died of milzbrand; in 1752 the disease carried off s Martenson, p. 100. ^ AUgemeine Naturgeschichte fiir alle Stdnde (Stuttgart, 1 838), vol. vii.,p. 1315. 7 Ubi supra, p. 278. 20 3o6 THE OLD-WORLD ELK nearly all the elk of Courland, as well as many domestic cattle, and in more recent years Livonia and East Prussia lost many animals from the same cause. ^ Kapherr describes among other insect pests which attack the elk an "elk fly" {Ornithobia pallida) which torments the animals severely, especially in summer and early fall. The same insect attacks men. It is like a louse, and is with difficulty combed from the hair, while the sting causes serious inflammation. Elk hunters in Russia are advised to wear their hair cut short, for this reason.^ These and many other species of ticks and parasitic insects which persecute the elk are annoying, but not dangerous to the life of the animals. They first secure a lodgment in the hair, and then attack the skin and suck the blood. It is said the moose birds, or Canada jays, in America sometimes come to the relief of the moose by catching and devouring such insects. The worst insect pests with which elk have to contend are certain varieties of bot-flies. These include the Cephenomyia ulrichii and Pharyngomyia picta. The first of these, commonly called Hum' * Kapherr, Das Elchwild (BeTlLn, 1908), pp. 44, 50. 9 Ubi supra, p. 36. TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE ELK 307 melfliegen, are said to be known in America/" The winged females of these pests surround and torment the elk in the spring, and deposit their larvae in his nostrils, causing inflammation. The larvae spread through the nose and throat, and even the larynx, interfering with the victim's breathing and with swallowing. When fully grown (at the expense of the elk, of course), these para- sites leave their host by the nostrils or mouth, and change into their chrysalis form in the earth. If in poor physical condition, elk are not infre- quently killed by this agency. In the southern portions of the elk's European range these attacks seem to be most frequent. The presence of these parasites is generally indicated by the elk coughing, which is noticed early in March. Dissection of victims often discloses masses of the maggots in the windpipe. Many efforts have been made to domesticate the elk, and with varying degrees of success. " In the reign of Charles IX. [of Sweden] elk were made use of for the purpose of conveying couriers, and were capable of accomplishing thirty-six '» Martenson, p. 47. JfumweZ/iege may be translated "drone-fly"; it is not, however, the common drone-fly of America (Eristalis tenax). The latter is of the family of SyrphidcB, while the bot-flies are of the family of CEstridce. 3oS THE OLD-WORLD ELK Swedish (about 234 English) miles in a day, when attached to a sledge."" The seven-years' reign of Charles IX. ended in 161 1. The use of elk in harness In Sweden and Norway Is said to have extended over two or three centuries. Dc onagris,reu alcibusjin vi currcntibus. j CAP. XXX: ONag tffsii ciecftapuj ximc ultra- riores parti plagamMj cftudineU^ gium tame nefcilicccj longefup^ tctrOprodi] micis quam ocyrsimereudandis.Famisctenim,3 haecbeftiajUtdiemnodiemcpiramenrarpatradu; Sledge Drawn by Elk (Magnus, 1555) Olaus Magnus, Archbishop of Upsala, In his History 0} the Northern Peoples, tells of the use of the elk as a draft animal in Scandinavia. "In Sweden," he writes, "great speed is made by wild asses, or elk, on the snow-covered ice, especially beyond the royal city of Holmen, toward the " Jardine, Naturalists' Library (Edinburgh, 1835), vol. xxi., p. 131. TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE ELK 309 extreme north. Toward the south, although they are found in large numbers in the great forests, still, on account of a royal edict they are not used, lest traitors employ them, by reason of their speed, which greatly exceeds the speed of horses, to expose the interior of the kingdom to the enemy. This beast endures hunger, thirst, and work most patiently, so that in a day and a night he is able to accomplish by running the great distance of 200 Italian miles, without food."^"* Concerning the use of elk as draft animals in Russia we have little information. A seventeenth- century ordinance of the city of Dorpat, in Livonia, forbade such use of the elk within the city limits — presumably to avoid frightening horses. ^^ According to Blasius repeated efforts to raise elk in captivity in parks in various German cities have yielded unsatisfactory results. They have lived from one to four years at most. But Russian experiments have been more successful. A writer in Priroda i Ochota, a periodical de- voted to hunting, published in Moscow, related his experience with two elk which were born wild, but which came into his possession June 8, 1870, as "De Gentihus Septentrionalibus (Basel, 1567), p. 484. This history was originally published in Rome in 1555, while the author was living in Italy, practically in exile because of the Reformation. '3 Martenson, ubi supra, p. 70. 310 THE OLD-WORLD ELK young calves. For the first day or two they nursed greedily from a bottle, he said, and then were given over at meal times to a cow whose calf had been taken from her. Soon the animals became accustomed to each other, and when, five months later, the two elk were taken from their foster mother the cow seemed quite distressed at their loss. After the first fortnight various bitter weeds and twigs of mountain ash, aspen, and willow were offered to the two calves, to learn their taste ; they were also gradually taught to eat oatmeal in milk. When three months old they were given rye bread, as well as crushed oats, but their favorite article of food was tansy {Tanacetum vulgare). For winter a large store of tansy was gathered and dried, and a great quantity of willow twigs. When the first snow came they were given the shelter of a stable. Every morning they were turned loose for exercise. They then browsed on the willow, eating the more slender twigs, but only the bark of the larger sticks. The two calves were very playful, came when called, and welcomed attentions from grown people, but wished nothing to do with children. In the spring the two young elk began visiting the neighboring village, belled like cattle. Their dislike for children continued, but after one of TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE ELK 311 the boys of the village had been knocked down by a pair of angry hoofs the children ceased to approach them. Their feed was now marsh hay, tansy, two or three handfuls of oats, and twice a day a dish of willow bark steeped with oatmeal. In addition they frequently received bread from members of the household. They were often admitted to the house, where they were given free range to roam about. It was necessary, however, to cover a certain mirror, for both betrayed a disposition to attack their reflection in the glass with their hoofs whenever they saw it. At such visits they always received pieces of bread, and soon they learned to make straight for the house in the morning, ascend the six steps of the porch, and beat on the door until bread was brought to them. They drank little water, even in summer. They were returned to their enclosure in the garden in May, 1871, but at first seemed lonesome, eating only when people were present, and making unmusical calls when left to themselves. They ate whatever was offered to them, including apples, cucumbers, and cabbage leaves, but always pre- ferring tansy, which they would eat, roots and all. They visited the village freely in the winter of 1871-72, especially certain houses where they had been given delicacies to eat. At one house they 312 THE OLD-WORLD ELK were accustomed to receive bread spread with honey, and if on entering they could not find their host they made nothing of going up stairs in search of him. At the village inn they were enter- tained by the innkeeper's son, but one day, in the son's absence, when they stood knocking at the door, the father drove them away with a whip. His back was scarcely turned when they came back and shattered the door with their hoofs. The owner of the elk paid for the needed repairs, and the elk continued their visits. They were in good health through the winter, except once from an unknown cause their bodies became bloated, but this was relieved by rubbing and by an injection. In March, 1872, the female lost her life in a frolic with her brother. They enjoyed throwing each other down in playful attacks, but one day the young female was accidentally thrown through the latticed cover of a well and killed. The young bull stood as if transfixed at the sight, until he was led away. For a week the survivor made many visits every day to the well, seeking his playmate, and endeavored in vain to raise the new and heavier cover which replaced the broken one. Two *' spikes" grew from the forehead of the young bull in April, 1872, attaining in two weeks a length of more than four inches. Twice a year. TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE ELK 313 when the antlers were growing and when they were cast, he seemingly suffered much discomfort, and lost a quantity of blood, but recovered his health and spirits quickly. Complaints were made of the elk*s misdemeanors by certain beggars who made a practice of carrying the proceeds of their mendicancy in sacks on their back. The elk considered himself entitled to a share of the charitable gifts, and whenever he saw anyone with such a sack he ran to him, seized the sack and pulled at it until the bearer was thrown down, unless the latter preferred to sur- render the sack voluntarily. The elk would put his nose in the sack and make short work of the contents, and then seek another victim. After these complaints the highway robber was kept in confinement, but often escaped through a gate carelessly left open. The beggars soon learned to protect themselves from the elk's attacks by pro- viding themselves with dry bread crusts for the robber, and keeping the sack out of sight. '^'* In his relations with dogs the elk showed con- siderable tact. If they surrounded him and *< A Russian writer in Die Jagd (Berlin, Sept. 2, 1906) relates how a tame elk, to gratify a fondness for mushrooms, would seek out peasant women who were gathering mushrooms in the woods, and after putting them to flight would eat the contents of the baskets which in their anxiety to escape they left behind. 314 THE OLD-WORLD ELK barked till they were hoarse, he merely went slowly from one to another with lowered head, and sniffed, but never ran away. At three years of age, in 1873, the elk was larger than his mother, and in good health, but with inferior development of antlers. He continued tame, was fond of being combed on the breast and belly, but would not suffer much handling of his back.^^ He was fond of human society, and in the fall, with a pair of Newfoundland dogs, and sometimes a couple of bird dogs, would accompany the family when out for a walk. The party would frequently walk three versts (about two miles) to make a call, the animals remaining at the gate. The elk on such trips would never leave the party. The elk's antlers had only 2+1 points in 1873, and 2+2 in 1874. The writer tells little of the elk's later years. A change of residence compelled the owner to part with him in September, 1884. The animal was then 14 years old. He subsequently found a home in the zoological garden at Moscow, but it is 's Munster wrote in 1554 that elk could not be made to carry a load on the back {"nee possiinl quicquam ferre in dorso"), and other writers have described the elk crouching on his haunches to free himself from the burden of a rider. On the other hand, Baron von Kapherr says that his cousin could mount and ride a tame bull elk without objection on the part of the latter, but any attempt to fasten a saddle on his back by a girth met violent resistance. TRAITS AND HABITS OF THE ELK 315 not known to what age he attained. In conclusion his former owner wrote: "It seemed to me that this strong animal was fully conscious of his strength, but never misused it." ^^ Alfred Edmund Brehm, the German zoologist, describes his experience with a captive elk. The animal was kept in an enclosure separated from a garden by a wall two meters (about 6)4 feet) in height. When he wished to visit the garden the elk would crouch on his haunches beside the wall, put his forefeet on the top, and with slight effort throw himself over. He never sought to escape beyond the garden.^^ '* Martenson, ubi supra, pp. 72-78. '7 Tierleben, 2d edition (Leipsic, 1877), vol. iii., p. 115. CHAPTER XVI HOW THE ELK IS HUNTED Of the various methods of hunting elk In the Eastern Hemisphere, the method which is most common in the Western Hemisphere is probably the least practiced. This method is still-hunting, or stalking. Still-hunting makes too great de- mands on physical endurance to be attractive to a large class of European sportsmen. Further- more, it is objected that the rough timbered mountain-sides of Norway, and the low marshy thickets of the Baltic coast, are too difficult of access for successful stalking. Many European sportsmen, indeed, fail to catch the true spirit of still-hunting in the quest for big game. Captain C. R. E. Radclyffe, an Englishman, thus wrote of a moose hunt in Alaska: "A more monotonous, uninteresting, and often tiring performance I have never indulged In, the only skill required being such as is supplied by a sharp pair of eyes and ears, in addition to the power 316 HOIV THE ELK IS HUNTED 317 of creeping about quietly — in fact the most ele- mentary principles of hunting, and the element of chance existing so strongly that it is merely a matter of 'bull-headed luck' if you come across a bull moose with a head measuring forty inches or seventy inches. . . . Any intelligent being can master the principles of moose-hunting, as carried on in the Kenai forests, after two days playing at being his native's [guide's] marionette, to such an extent that he is fully capable of going and killing his own moose single-handed."^ Evidently Capt. Radclyffe learned little from his guide of how the moose should be hunted — little of the animal's habits, and little of the signifi- cance of the many "signs" which abound in good moose cover. Perhaps the guide himself was unskilled; if so, and it was the captain's first moose- hunting trip, his own skill would not be much greater at the end of two days in the moose country. As for luck, it is a factor, but a minor one, in the still-hunting of an intelligent and experienced sportsman or guide. Abel Chapman, in a chapter on "Norwegian Elk Hunting" in Big Game Shooting^'' writes: "It will be obvious . . . that an animal, found • Big Game Shooting in Alaska (London, 1904), pp. 203-204. • Country Life Library of Sport (London, 1905), vol. i., p. 126. 3i8 THE OLD-WORLD ELK only In evergreen forest, where no clear view can be had beyond lOO yards, and often far less, can- not be stalked. For * stalking ' presupposes that the game be first spied at a distance, which. In this case. Is Impossible." But many of us who have stUl-hunted moose In the American woods, have spent hours perhaps (without a dog, of course), on the fresh "works" of a promising bull, only to lose him In the end without even a sight of the coveted head, simply by the accident of a stick broken under a foot carelessly placed. We called it still-hunting, or stalking, and enjoyed the sport keenly. But either we or Mr. Chapman must revise our definition of "stalking." One who Is fond of dogs will no doubt find much enjoyment In watching a good dog as he tugs at the leash on the fresh track of an elk, but he will perhaps begrudge the four-footed hunter the share of credit which will be his due if success is attained. Occasionally In Russian preserves elk become accustomed to the sight of farm wagons on the forest roads, and remain undisturbed while a wagon passes within easy gunshot, but move away if anyone approaches on foot. Hunters some- times take advantage of this fact, and hunt from such wagons — and this is as near an approach to HOfV THE ELK IS HUNTED 319 stalking as is known in many portions of the elk's Russian domain. Hunting with a well-trained dog is the favorite method of seeking the Scandinavian elk. The dog, a sort of spitz, is commonly kept in leash: indeed, the use of the ''loose dog" is now illegal in Norway. A windy day is preferred: the dog gets the scent of the game quicker, and the elk is less likely to hear his pursuer, when there is a fresh breeze. In a sort of breastplate harness the dog cautiously follows a trail; when at close quarters he is usually tied to a tree and left, while the hunter stalks the quarry alone. By this method nine-tenths of all the elk killed in Norway are taken, and the system certainly makes hunting easier where the chase is in open timber in a season of bare ground. "A blank day in Norway may be full of excite- ment," writes Hesketh-Prichard, ''for there the hound is a living barometer, giving warning of the nearness of the elk, which he can wind at a great distance, often leading the hunter to a fresh track a mile off."^ An ill-timed whine, or a broken leash, may spoil the hunt, however, and the hunter will blame the dog; or the hunt may succeed, and the i Blackwood's Magazine, Aug., 1908; see also Blackwood's for July, 1906. 320 THE OLD-WORLD ELK dog, in such case, will usually be entitled to the major part of the credit. Swedish elk hunters generally employ the "loose dog/' The dog is left to range free: when he strikes a trail, if well trained, he follows silently until he brings the elk to bay, then he seeks to hold the quarry, barking, until the hunter comes up. The chase may lead over the roughest sort of country, and many hunters would find it too exhausting, for the dog should be closely followed, and his zeal may take him many miles before he gives up the pursuit. This system of hunting is subject to the drawback that after a long hard chase the dog may be completely lost to sight and hearing, or the quarry may be found to be merely a cow elk, or a spike-horn.'^ The Russians have a kind of dog called "laika," with pointed erect ears, thick hair, and wolflike appearance, which when well trained is a valuable aid in hunting elk or bear. These dogs are found throughout northern Russia and Siberia, and are employed to watch the herds of reindeer, and to draw sledges, as well as in hunting. Only certain of the laiki are useful in the sport, however, special training being important. They are kept in < Chapman, ubi supra, p. 127. Pottinger, Big Game Shooting (London, 1894), vol. ii., pp. 136-143. HOIV THE ELK IS HUNTED 321 322 THE OLD-WORLD ELK leash, and when a fresh track is found they follow quietly until they are near the quarry, when they are released, and soon bring the elk to bay. Their duty is to hold the elk's attention by springing about, seeking to bite him, first on the hind legs, then on the nose, until the hunter, in response to the dog's barking, comes up with his rifle. The dachshund also is well adapted by nature to as- sist in this class of hunting.^ The use of dogs in hunting elk is looked upon with growing disfavor in Russia, because of their tendency to frighten all classes of game, driving even the elk from their accustomed covers, perhaps never to return. In place of dogging, the hunters of the Baltic provinces now employ driving in some of its forms almost exclusively when they go in quest of elk. Baron von Kapherr*' describes an elk drive in Russia, quoting from the Neue Baltische Waid- mannshldtter. Seven sportsmen took part. Two were armed with rifles, two with shotguns carrying round ball, and three with shotguns loaded for hare, and they were placed at proper intervals in a long line. The first line of beaters consisted of five sMartenson, p. 135; Kapherr, pp. 86-88. * Ubi supra, pp. 82-84. HOPy THE ELK IS HUNTED 323 forest helpers, who advanced without making a noise. About 150 paces in their rear fourteen beaters followed, whistling and clapping their hands. The purpose of the second line of beaters was to drive forward any game which broke through the first line, for the elk have learned the hazards of the drive, and often refuse to ap- proach the line of guns, but seek to escape through the advancing line of beaters, or around its ends. For this reason a position on the flank usually affords the best opportunities for a shot. It is said that sometimes the animals even hide in thickets, hoping to be overlooked till the danger has passed. '^ When the beaters had covered half the distance to the line of sportsmen, the nineteen men formed themselves into a single line, and went forward quietly the remaining distance. In spite of these precautions a number of elk broke through the line of beaters and escaped. Such a drive is always conducted down the wind. The human scent is often enough to send the elk in the desired direction, unless the game has become familiar ' Martenson (p. 65) tells of an old elk which had survived a number of drives, and had learned the trick of breaking through the line of beaters early in the drive, and seeking safety in the rear. At last tlie guns were stationed behind the beaters, and by this device the crafty veteran was brought to bag. 324 THE OLD-WORLD ELK with the system of hunting, and suspects an unseen and unscented danger ahead. In this Instance three drives were undertaken. The amount of territory covered could not have been great, for a late breakfast was served in the woods after the second drive. The narrator referred with some disparagement to the weapons used by the other sportsmen. He had a position on the flank, and three elk, a fox, and a heathcock fell to his gun. The first elk was a spike-horn; the second a cow, limping from old wounds in the legs inflicted by a poacher's shotgun; the third, a bull of undefined character. The latter suc- cumbed to two ii-mm. rifle balls, which, for lack of more rifle cartridges, were followed by a round ball from a shot barrel at thirty paces, and that by eight shot cartridges fired from a knee rest, the elk standing, at fifteen paces' distance. One of the helpers tried to assist with a muzzle-loader, but the gun missed fire; another sent a charge or two of shot at the sorely-harassed animal. The elk, now unable to stand, still held his head up, awaiting the coup-de-grdce. For lack of ammuni- tion the narrator of the story finished him with a thrust of a fourteen-inch knife blade behind the shoulder. Two bullets had taken eff"ect behind the shoulder, and one in the intestines. The HOIV THE ELK IS HUNTED 325 narrator does not undertake to describe the distribu- tion of the pellets from those nine or ten shot cartridges, nor the part which they played in the outcome of the hunt. It is to be hoped that all the participants an- swered at the roll-call when the drive, with its excitement and fusillading, was at an end. If beaters are plenty and the number of guns limited, some of the beaters are stationed at the ends of the line of guns, and at right angles to it, to divert any elk which might otherwise escape; or some will be posted between the sportsmen on the firing line. Flags or other devices are sometimes suspended from the trees to guard the ends of the line, if the number of helpers is insufficient.^ A variation of the drive, often practiced in Russia for the benefit of an inexperienced hunter, is called "circling." It is most successful when the ground is covered with snow. The hunter is posted on a trail frequented by elk, and several beaters form a sort of circle, one slowly and quietly following the trail toward the hunter, while the others seek to direct the course of any elk which may be encountered into the trail, but without frightening the game. This expedient is likely ' Martenson, p. 138. 326 THE OLD-IVORLD ELK to succeed in territory where elk are accustomed to the sight of men, and hence are not timid. The beaters or drivers must be famihar with the habits of the game, and must possess skill and patience, if they would bring an elk within gunshot of the hunter without frightening the animal out of a walk.^ Like many other systems of hunting in Europe, this system is designed to aid sports- men who do not possess the skill and power of endurance needed for successful stalking. Another variation, when beaters are few, is to station the guns at a number of trails, while a helper leads a hound to the farther side of a section of good elk cover. The release of the hound is fol- lowed, when he strikes a fresh elk trail, by the music of his excited bark. As the baying draws nearer it tells the hunters to be ready for a possible shot.^" Elk drives have long been a means of entertaining royalty and royalty's friends in Sweden. Such a drive, organized at the command of King Frederick I. of Sweden in September, 1737, lasted four days. One wing was 27,690 paces in length, and the other 24,675, the base being 9300 paces. The accounts do not tell how many persons took part, but the bag ' Kapherr, pp. 88-90. '" Kapherr, p. 86. HOfV THE ELK IS HUNTED 327 included six bears, three wolves, three lynxes, one fox, and twelve elk, besides many hares and birds." Edward VII., as Prince of Wales, visited Sweden in 1885, and was entertained by a gigantic elk drive. Preparations were begun weeks before- hand, many hundred beaters being employed In "sweeping with a gigantic cordon, which was never relaxed by day or night, an enormous extent of forest, and moving the elk gradually to the stations of the guns.'* In a single day forty-nine elk were killed. Three years later. In the same forest (at the southern extremity of Lake Wenern), sIxty-sIx elk were killed in three drives on a single day.^^ Some excuse for this slaughter was found in the fact that the elk had been damaging the young Scotch firs In the forest. Calling as a means of hunting elk is practiced to some extent in southwestern Russia, but the caller Imitates the short grunt of the bull. Indeed, some Russian writers deny that the cow elk Is ever heard to make a vocal sound in the season of the rut. It is usual, according to Kapherr, for some forest official to make a thorough inspection of the " Lloyd, Scandinavian Adventures (London, 1854), vol. i., p. 308. " Pottinger, in Big Came Shooting, vol. ii., p. 136. 328 THE OLD-WORLD ELK elk cover a few days before the beginning of the rutting season, and ascertain the number of bulls to be found, and their favorite haunts. In the morn- ing or evening, when the weather is favorable and the hunt is to be undertaken, the hunter takes his station, with the caller forty or fifty paces behind him. The latter then seeks by imitating the voice of a small bull to draw a larger bull within range of the sportsman's rifle. In addition to calling, various noises are made to imitate the actions of a bull challenging a rival to combat — as if an elk were pawing with his fore hoofs and beating dry brush with his antlers. These tactics are said to be often successful. ^^ A description of a September hunt in south- western Russia by two sportsmen and a guide is given by Martenson. The guide sounded the call. "We soon heard a breaking of brush, and two bulls appeared in the clearing. . . . Then at their left a cow elk ap- peared, followed by two more bulls. When the first two bulls saw the cow they began to roar, and to paw the ground with their hoofs. After a few minutes a large fifth bull came bellowing on the scene, and attacked the second pair of bulls, which were younger, and with such violence that ** Ubi supra, pp. 60-66. HOJV THE ELK IS HUNTED 329 they fled to the edge of the clearing. The large bull then attacked the two bulls which had first appeared, and a bitter contest between the three ensued, in which thrusts of antlers alternated with angry roars." The fight raged furiously at fifty paces' distance from the hunters, one after another of the bulls being thrown to the ground, but quickly regaining his feet, and resuming the battle. The narrator was about to fire at one of the struggling elk, but the guide restrained him, saying that they should approach and fire at a shorter distance. The three men then advanced to within seven paces of the combatants, and the two sportsmen, each singling out a victim, fired simultaneously. Two more shots were fired at the third elk, and the three animals lay on the ground dead.^"^ Calling, by either the American or Russian system, is rarely practiced in Scandinavia. Lewis Lloyd, who wrote more than sixty years ago, tells, however, of elk in Dalecarlia being brought within gunshot by the music of a violin played in ambush. He does not tell us the favorite air of the elk. Probably the Swedish national anthem would do as well as anything. Captain Lloyd relates how an elk on one occasion charged into a *< Martenson, ubi supra, p. 150. 330 THE OLD-WORLD ELK thicket in which a vioHnist and a hunter were concealed, and seriously injured one of the men/^ We all feel that way sometimes, when we hear someone scraping the strings of a violin without knowing how to play. In Siberia and a large share of European Russia the people in general have been in the habit of exercising, with more or less legal sanction, the free right of hunting. In the exercise of this right season, age, sex, method — everything but slaughter has been lost to sight. As a result there has been a great reduction in the number of elk to be found on both sides of the inter-continental boundary — a reduction which, unchecked, and aided by improved firearms, would lead to extermination.^^ Pitfalls are much used by the peasants of Russia. Sometimes a series of pitfalls, with intervening barriers to lead the animals to their doom, are constructed by men who seek to make a living by the slaughter of game. Once a week, or per- haps only once a fortnight, the pitfalls are visited, and sometimes elk are found in them which have starved to death. Similar barriers are erected in Siberia, sometimes three or four miles long, with a number of openings at which snares and spring- 's Field Sports of the North of Europe (London, 1885), p. 293. '^Martcnson, p. 130. HOfV THE ELK IS HUNTED 331 guns are placed, ready to destroy the passing animal when he comes in contact with a cord.^'' These expedients are especially destructive of elk in regions like Siberia where the animals make semi-annual migrations, the seasons and the direction of their journeying being well known to the natives. Saltlicks, with blinds from which the professional hunter can kill the visiting game, are also employed. Crust hunting, as In America in the time of the Indians, and with the assistance of dogs, is still common east and west of the Ural Mountains. To save gunpowder the slaughter is accomplished in some cases by the use of a knife attached to the end of a ski, the ski thus serving as a spear. In such cases females, heavy with young, are shown no special consideration. Hundreds of elk have been thus slaughtered In a single winter in certain districts of Russia — thousands in the various elk regions of the broad empire. Martenson tells of a landowner In eastern Russia who by crust hunting shot sixty-four elk In three winters, questions of age and sex being alike ignored. ^^ A writer in Tobolsk, western Siberia, quoted by Kapherr, says that poachers in that section hunt ^T Ibid., pp. 130-131; Blasius, ubi supra, p. 276. '* Ubi supra, p. 133. 332 THE OLD-WORLD ELK elk from boats In spring and summer when the animals have taken refuge In the water from the attacks of Insects. The boats are covered with the boughs of trees, and the slaughter Is accom- plished as the hunters thus shielded drift slowly- down the stream/^ Another expedient resorted A Scandinavian Poacher's Device to in Siberia in summer is a system of fire hunting. A boat is covered with green brush, and equipped with a raised wire basket in which pine knots are burned. At night the boat Is slowly and silently paddled about in search of game. At sight of the fire an elk will stand and face it, until the hunter has come near enough to shoot. '^^ Lloyd tells of pitfalls formerly common in " Ubi supra, p. 34. ' Ibid., p. HOIV THE ELK IS HUNTED 333 Scandinavia, and also of a contrivance which was sometimes arranged beside an elk trail for killing the game automatically. A sapling was cut and trimmed, and attached horizontally to two trees, about four feet from the ground. The slenderer free end was bent sideways, resting on a rail fixed horizontally at right angles to the trail. The end of the sapling was secured by some trigger device, and a wire attached to the trigger was stretched across the trail. A heavy arrow or spear was placed in a groove in the rail, and when the elk pulled the trigger by striking the wire the bent sapling was free to drive the arrow into the side of its victim. Barriers, in funnel form, were usually erected, as often in the case of drives, to guide the elk to his fate. Incidentally the writer tells of instances in which woodsmen have been victims of this device. The use of such contrivances was illegal/^ " Scandinavian Adventures, vol. ii., p. 105. CHAPTER XVII ANTLERS OF THE ELK Siberia and the neighboring sections of European Russia produce the best elk antlers taken in the Old World. Specimens from these sources ex- hibited in the great zoological museum in Petro- grad, and in other Russian collections, have a spread of from 59 to 6^ inches, with palmation reaching 12 and 14 inches, and sometimes as many as 30 points. Some of the best specimens, no doubt, were taken many years ago. In other parts of Russia, and in Scandinavia, antlers even ap- proaching the least of these dimensions are becom- ing more rare from year to year.^ The Siberian hunter, having only the demands of the market in mind, has sought hides and meat, indifferent to questions of sex and age in the quest of game. In consequence, Siberian antlers continue normal, showing none of the deteriora- tion which is manifest in western Europe, where ' Martenson, ubi supra, p. 35. 334 ANTLERS OF THE ELK 335 the protection of young males, together with the natural desire of the sportsman to secure the best possible trophies, has left for breeding only the elk with inferior antlers. Furthermore, the ad- vanced agricultural conditions of western Russia and Scandinavia may easily have exerted an un- favorable influence, the elk being deprived of some A Peculiar Siberian Type of the articles of forage to which he had been accustomed. Many Siberian antlers are notable for long and heavy main beams, resembling the fossil antlers of the long-extinct Alces latifrons of western Europe. The main beam of the Siberian specimen here illustrated is more than eight inches in length between the burr and the beginning of the palma- tion, and it has a circumference of y]/^ inches. The extreme spread is 52 inches.^ "Martenson, tibi supra, p. 35. These antlers are the property of E. Buchner of Petrograd. They were taken in the vicinity of Krasno- yarsk, Siberia. 336 THE OLD-WORLD ELK There is no evidence that the best Siberian or European antlers ever equaled the best which are now found in America. In a paper on the natural history of the elk, read before the Imperial Acad- emy of Sciences of St. Petersburg March 24, 1870, Johann Friedrich Brandt discussed at length the Fossil Antlers from Russian Poland fossil remains of elk found in Europe and Asia. The best example of fossil antlers which had at- tained full development of which he gave an illustration was found beside the Bug River in Russian Poland. The river in a season of freshet had undermined the bank, and thus brought the antlers to light. In the same diluvial soil the skull of a rhinoceros was found. The greatest spread of the antlers (from a to b) is supposed to have measured 58.11 inches (1476 meters). The ANTLERS OF THE ELK 337 smallest circumference of the larger beam is S}4 inches.^ These antlers were preserved in the zoological museum in Warsaw. The largest and most fully developed single fossil antler described and illustrated by Brandt was found in 1833 in the valley of the Rhine, south of Darmstadt, at a depth of twenty-one feet. It was deposited in the Darmstadt museum. The spread of the pair was probably about sixty inches. This antler has twelve prongs. They are somewhat shorter than those of the Polish specimen. The palmation reaches a breadth of a little more than twelve inches."* At the International Hunting Exhibition held in Vienna in 1910 few elk heads taken in Rus- sian territory were shown. The best heads from Scandinavian covers were from Sweden. The first prize for European antlers was awarded for a well- balanced pair exhibited by Herr Rothmann from Murjeck, Sweden. They spread 53 inches, and 3 J. F. Brandt, "Beitrage zur Naturgeschichte des Elens in Bczug auf seine Morphologischen und Palaontologischen Verhaltnisse, sowie seine Geographische Verbreitung, " in Memoires de V Academic Impenale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg, seventh series, vol. xvi.. No. 5, p. 19- See also G. G. Pusch (of Warsaw) in Neues Jahrbuch fiir Mineralogie (Stuttgart), 1840, pp. 70 et seq. More fossil remains of elk have been found in Germany than elsewhere in Europe. Very few have been found in England. In America fossil remains of moose are rare. 4 See Brandt, ubi supra, p. 17; J- J- Kaup, Neues Jahrbuch fiir Minera- logie, 1840, p. 167. 338 THE OLD-WORLD ELK had 12+ 1 1 points. The circumference of the main beam above the burr was 7.9 inches. Rowland Ward in his Records of Big Game^ describes sixteen European elk heads. The widest spread is credited to one from Norway in the possession of H. J. Elwes, measuring 52 inches. Best Elk Antlers at the Vienna Exhibition, 1910 A better head, also from Norway, belongs to Capt. Gerard Ferrand, but measures only 51^ inches. It has 10+10 points, with palm 15^4 inches in breadth, and the circumference of the beam is 8^ inches. "Anything spreading over 40 inches may in Norway be termed a good head, as is anything over 50 inches in Canada," wrote H. Hesketh-Prichard, "but the number of 50-inch heads shot in Canada is far more in proportion to s Seventh edition, London, 19 14. ANTLERS OF THE ELK 339 the total killed than is that of 40-inch heads to the total killed in Norway."^ Two Swedish heads are described by Ward, spreading 49 and 46 inches respectively. The latter, belonging to Capt. Ferrand, has 10+10 points, ii>2 inches breadth of palm and jyi inches circumference of beam. A fine specimen of Scandinavian elk antlers presented to the New York Zoological Society by William T. Hornaday in 1906 spreads 45 inches, and the breadth of palmation is 9 inches. There are 11 + 12 points. The best Russian head described in Ward's Records belongs to Prince E. Demidoflf. It measures 48 inches, has 10+9 points, 11^ inches breadth of palm, and 8^ inches circumference of beam. It was taken near Petrograd. Better heads, taken in the government of Minsk, in West Russia, are mentioned by J. G. Millais in an article on "The European Elk and Its Horns," in Country Life (London, July 30, 1910). Euro- pean antlers in general show less tendency to the formation of a distinct group of brow prongs than in the case of the moose of America. The development of the antlers Is naturally less rapid in the elk of western Europe than in the case * Blackwood's Magazine, August, 1908. 340 THE OLD-WORLD ELK of the moose, for the ultimate development when the animal is in his prime is inferior. In his fourth year, writes Martenson, the elk is still a crotch- horn. In the fifth year tie number of points varies from four to six, and there is a slight ten- dency to palmation. In the sixth year the normal formula of antlers is 3+3, with a little broader An Eight-Year-Old from Livonia palmation. In the seventh year the number of points is generally from six to eight; in the eighth from eight to ten; and in the ninth from ten to twelve, of which from four to six will be in the brow groups. In the tenth year the antlers usually have from twelve to fourteen points. After the elk's ninth or tenth year variations from the normal in antler development become more marked, but until the sixteenth year there is increase in the strength and weight of the antlers, together with increase in palmation, while the prongs become ANTLERS OF THE ELK 341 shorter and their number remains variable. After the sixteenth year the development will show re- trogression. In very old elk many of the prongs become short and blunt, and often merely scallop the outer edge of the principal blade; the brow prongs, however, continue to be well developed.' It would seem that the time when the antlers Antlers of an Old Elk of elk begin growing, reach maturity, and finally are dropped is more variable than in the case of moose. Martenson was assured by some sports- men from Petrograd, who had been bird shooting in the government of Novgorod, that they had seen three mature elk, on the 12th of April, 1903, which had not yet cast their palmated antlers. This, however, Martenson considered a rare oc- currence.^ 7 Martenson, uhi supra, pp. 30-31. Martenson was writing in Livonia, southwestern Russia. His statements would probably require some modification in other parts of the empire. 8 Uhi supra, p. 32. 342 THE OLD-WORLD ELK "In general It may be said that spike-horns and crotch-horns drop their antlers from November to March, Inclusive; older elk, from November to February; and those with best developed antlers, from October to December."^ These dates are earlier than In the case of the moose, or of the elk of Scandinavia. In captivity the time of casting the antlers shows greater variation than when the elk Is In the enjoyment of his freedom. An elk called "Puck'* was kept in a private park near Dorpat, in Livonia, Russia, until his tenth year, when he was gored to death in a fight with a male red deer [Cerviis elaphus). The character of his antlers for each year of his life, and the dates when they were dropped, are given below: Age, Years I 2 3 4 5 6 7 Age at Time of Casting No. Points Antlers Cast '» Antlers i+i Late April, 1885 23 mos. 1+2 Late April, 1886 35 " 2+2 March 6, 1887 46 " 2+2" . Feb. 25, 1888 58 " 3+4 Feb. 19, 1889 70 " 3+3" Apr. 13-May 3, 1890 83 " 3+3 Feb. 18-19, 1891 93 " 5+5 Nov. 12, 1 891 102 ' 4+4 Oct. 24, 1892 . 113 " 9 Martenson, uhi supra, p. 33. ' Martenson gives the dates according to the Russian calendar. They are here reduced to the "new style." ' ' Heavy flat prongs. " Heavier than the antlers of the previous year. ANTLERS OF THE ELK 343 The heaviest antlers were those at eight years of age. There were then ten points, 2 + 1 of which were brow or "fighting" prongs {" Kampfs pros- sen*'). A picture of "Puck," which is given as a frontispiece in Martenson's book, shows him at eight years of age in his park, the wildness of which seems to approach closely to the natural forest conditions in which an elk may be expected to thrive/^ At a meeting of the Zoological Society of London Feb. 18, 1902, Richard Lydekker exhibited the skull and antlers of an adult male elk "from Siberia, " which were commented upon as remark- able for the practical absence of palmation of the horns. Mr. Lydekker placed the age of the animal at "at least six or seven years," the cheek-teeth being about half worn. "Mr. Lydekker had been informed that other elk antlers from Siberia were of a similar type." Considering the lack of palmation as typical of Siberian specimens, Mr. Lydekker was inclined to regard this variety as a distinct species. He accordingly gave the name Alces bedjordice to the species, in honor of the Duchess of Bedford, wife of the president of the Zoological Society. "The occurrence in Siberia '»Martenson, p. 33. 344 THE OLD-WORLD ELK of an elk with antlers of the simple type of those exhibited was a fact of considerable interest, since that country was probably the center whence both the European and American races of the true elk were evolved." '"* But Martenson, more familiar with the elk of European Russia and Siberia than any English \w Alces bedfordiae writer, declares that the unpalmated antlers are characteristic of certain sections of European Russia and Scandinavia, but are practically un- known in Siberia. The absence of palmation he associates with the encroachments of civilization and agricultural improvement in the habitat of the elk. Such change in antlers, he remarks, has never been observed in the wilds of Siberia. Moose antlers equally devoid of palmation are ^^Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1902, vol. i., pp. 107-109. 'ANTLERS OF THE ELK 345 occasionally found in America. Such a pair from Manitoba is illustrated in Ernest Thompson Seton's Life Histories of Northern Animals^ vol. i., p. 156. Mr. Lydekker failed to give the history of the particular specimen upon which he based his classification of Alces bedfordicB, and Mr. Marten- son may after all be right in assuming that it had its origin in European Russia, "of the existence of which," he says, "Mr. Lydekker seems not to be aware." The Englishman is commonly looked upon as a "lumper" by other naturalists, and he has disputed with some warmth the position of those who would treat the moose of America as of a different species from the elk of Europe.^^ 's See page 57. In Rowland Ward's Records of Big Game (seventh edition, 19 14), three specimens of the "East Siberian elk {Alces machlis bedfordice}" are described. The best has a width of 42 >^ inches, 6+5 points, and 7^2 inches circumference above burr. These antlers belong to Hon. Walter Rothschild. CHAPTER XVIII MISBELIEFS ABOUT THE ELK Among many ancient misbeliefs concerning the elk the most widespread, and generally the most remarkable, was that in which he was associated with epilepsy, both as a victim of the disease and as furnishing the means for its cure in human patients. Peasant and scholar alike, the humble woods- man and the professor at the university, were convinced that the elk was often afflicted with the falling sickness, and the belief that he could cure himself when attacked by opening a vein in the ear by the hoof of one of his hind feet was for centuries unquestioned. The belief in this self- cure easily led to a theory that the hoof which could cure an elk could cure a man suffering from a similar ailment. Hence many treatments in which the elk hoof was employed were recommended by the regular practitioners of medicine of the olden time for human patients suffering from epilepsy. . 346 MISBELIEFS ABOUT THE ELK 347 Olaus Magnus, writing In 1555, endorses the elk hoof as a curative In excellent Latin. And he was very circumstantial In describing the method of securing It. It must be the outer half of the right hind hoof, he asserted, and It must be cut from the living animal after the middle of August.' As described by Conrad Gesner, a celebrated Swiss naturalist, In 155 1, It was necessary for the elk to Insert his right hind hoof In his left ear.'* Gesner's Illustration shows a low-browed evll- looklng beast without horns, having short legs and long heavy body. If he could reach his left ear with his right hind hoof while In the midst of an epileptic convulsion he must have possessed acrobatic skill of a high order. Samuel Friedrlch Bock, however, in 1784 seri- ously controverted the belief In the elk's tendency to epilepsy, and his cure. He explained that the elk is uneasy at the time when the antlers are cast, by reason of an Itching sensation in the ulcerated area at the base of the horn, and for this * "Ungula exterior dexteri lateris, pedis posterioris, onagri masculi, qui non genuit, abscisa h. vivo pede securi, vel alio instrumento avulsa post medium Augusti, spasmum, aut morbum caducum patienti adhibita continue sanat." — De Gentibus Septentrionalibus (Rome, 1555), p. 601. ^"Germanicum nomen miseriam significat; & vera miserum est animal, si credcndum est quod scepe audivimus, quotidianum ei morbura comitialem ingruerc, a quo non prius levetur quam dextri (si bene memi- ni) posterioris pedis ungulam auriculae sinistrae immiserit." — Historia Animalium (Zurich, 1551), vol. i., p. 3. 348 THE OLD-WORLD ELK reason scratches his scalp behind the ear with the hoof until the blood flows, seeking relief. Never- theless Dahms quotes Bock as recommending the hoof of the right hind foot of the elk to cure this very ailment in men. Many of us have seen a wounded moose, in extremis, striking rapidly, viciously, aimlessly, and perhaps only half consciously with his fore hoofs as he lies helpless on the ground and sees the dreaded hunter close at hand. It is this spasmodic movement, which is quite characteristic of the wounded moose, and which resembles the con- vulsions of an epileptic, that perhaps gave rise to the epilepsy fable. But this belief did not begin with Magnus and Gesner, nor end with Bock. It gained wider currency, and lived more persistently, than any other misbelief associated with any species of animal. Lithuania was long the seat of an industry in healing tokens in which the hoof of the elk was employed, and the traffic extended as far as Italy. Rings were made from the horn substance of the hoof, and worn on the ring finger of the left hand, or pieces of the hoof were set in rings of gold and worn so that the curative medium would be in contact with the skin. Sometimes too the remedy MISBELIEFS ABOUT THE ELK 349 was worn at the neck or on the breast. In other cases the hoof was scraped with a file, and the fihngs thrown into wine, and taken internally; or pieces were burned, and the smoke inhaled as a relief in cases of epilepsy and hysterics.^ In its time the most complete and highly es- Zli^ Elk Attacked by EpUepsy (Pomet, 1735) teemed treatise on materia medic a in Europe was a work by Pierre Pomet of Paris. From this we learn that the elk is extremely subject to attacks of epilepsy, but is able to cure himself by putting his left hind foot into his left ear. To supply the drug trade with hoofs for use in the 3 Dr. Dahms made an exhaustive study of this subject, and to his article in Globus (vol. Ixxiv., pp. 219-220) the author is indebted for much of the information here given. 350 THE OLD-WORLD ELK treatment of similar human ailments, Pomet states, men in Lithuania went in parties of four, armed with the arquebus, and lay in wait for the elk in the woods. When they saw one in the midst of an attack of epilepsy, they would shoot simultaneously, but only to cripple the animal, for the hoof possesses its wonderful curative properties only when taken from the living elk. The victim, helpless on the ground, was tied with ropes, and the hoof was then removed, after which the sufferer was dispatched, and the car- cass dressed for the sake of the venison. Meanwhile a gunshot was fired occasionally to frighten away the rest of the herd, for we are assured that they are dangerous antagonists."^ Referring to the superstition in Europe regard- ing epilepsy among elk and men, and its cure, J. G. Bujack wrote in 1837 that the same false belief prevailed among the Indians in America, and that the belief in America had an independent origin, quite free from any European influence.^ Dr. ^Histoire General des Drogues, by Sieur Pomet (Paris, 1735), vol. ii., pp. I20-I22. Pomet's elk bears a very close resemblance to Montanus's moose. See p. 20. 5 "Sonderbarer Weise herrscht in Amerika bei den Indianem derselbe Wahnglaube, und hat sich, auEfallend genug, unfehlbar ganz unab- hangig von dem Europaischen Einfluss, dort selbststandig gebildet." — " Naturgeschichte des Elchwildes oder Elens, " in Preussische Pro- vinzial- Blatter, vol. xviii., p. 149 (Konigsberg, 1837). MISBELIEFS ABOUT THE ELK 351 Dahms accepts Bujack*s statement in this matter without" comment. In a previous chapter, how- ever, the present writer has ventured to question the independent origin of the belief in America.^ The hoof was not the only portion of the elk which possessed medicinal virtues. He was a walking drug store. His antlers, if secured about the first of September, were efficacious in cases of epilepsy; rings made from the antlers were worn as preventives of headache and vertigo; while still growing, and hence tender, slices cut from the antlers and steeped with herbs and spirits produced a remedy for snake-bites. The bone of the elk's heart,^ burned or pulverized, was prescribed for ailments of the heart; the fat yielded a valuable salve; his marrow, his blood, his bones reduced to ashes, — all had their uses in the healing art; his nerves dried and wrapped around an arm or leg suffering from cramp would prevent further attacks — and so on through a long and entertaining list. No doubt all these remedies would be as effica- cious today as they were two hundred years ago, and no doubt the hoofs and horns of the moose possess curative properties not surpassed by those of the elk of northern Europe. * See pages 263-267. ^ See page 268. 352 THE OLD-WORLD ELK Medieval practitioners of medicine — and the Middle Ages in the healing art have continued down almost to our own time — were perhaps no more dishonest than their successors today. Dis- ease was a mystery, and it was believed that nature had given the key to the mystery in a system of symbols, called "signatures." It was the physi- cian's function to trace the resemblances between symptoms of disease on the one hand and natural objects on the other, for such resemblances were the "signatures" — the signs and symbols which nature had provided — to guide mortals in the search for health. The physician whose knowl- edge of chemistry was gained in the alchemist's laboratory might honestly see in the distinction between the right hoof and the left a possible clue to one of nature's many secrets. Thus, groping in the dark as they were after the truth, the worst that can be said of the medical men of the later Middle Ages is that they failed to find it. And the ghost of the old superstitions still haunts the best regulated apothecary shops. Ancient writers who gave accounts of the elk were as imaginative as any of the early travelers in America who left descriptions of the moose. The elk's size invited exaggeration, and a full MISBELIEFS ABOUT THE ELK 353 century before Pontoppidan's time Olaus Worm described the animal as so large *'ut sub ventre ejus quis stare valeret''^ Worm referred also to the elk's timidity, saying that he would die at once at sight of his own blood, if even slightly wounded.' It was said too that when running fast in the woods the elk carries his antlers in a horizontal position, his nose raised in the air, and that at such times he is unable to see the ground, and often falls for this reason. But how many men ever saw a moose fall when running, unless he was overtaken by a bullet? The Chinese have a familiar simile, lin chih chih, "as sure-footed as an elk, " and certainly the elk deserves the compliment. Still another belief was to the effect that the elk drinks much water, which is heated to the boiling point in his stomach; and that if pursued by dogs he ejects this water at them, to drive them away.'"^ "Among the peculiarities of this animal it may especially be mentioned that when the ground is very broken and soft he lies down, and seeks to * See p. 280. Old German writers declared that next to the giraffe the elk was the tallest of all species of deer. And it was a long time before they discovered that the giraffe was not a deer at all. '"Timidum animal est, advenientes homines fugiens, quovis parvo vulnere moritur, & si suum viderit sanguinem exanimatur." — Worm, Museum Wormianum (Amsterdam, 1655), p. 337. "> Dahms, quoting Conrad Forer, Allgemeines Tierbuch, Frankfort, 1669. as 354 THE OLD-WORLD ELK push himself forward with his feet." Georg L. Hartig, who wrote thus in 1817," was stating a beUef which was quite common in his time. Some asserted that the elk was able to make rapid progress across swamps in this way, though only by the expenditure of great exertion. Bujack discredits the entire story, however, calling atten- tion to many known instances where elk have been found helpless in swamps, and have escaped from their predicament only by the aid of men, who brought ropes for use in effecting a rescue. As late as 1838 Lorenz Oken wrote: "It is said that the ermine creeps into the elks' ears while they sleep, and bites them so that in their frenzy they dash their heads violently against any object, or throw themselves over a precipice."""^ This fable, the correctness of which Prof. Oken did not feel called upon to question, seems to be a survival, with variations, of a story told by Olaus Magnus 275 years before. "The ermine, " he wrote, "often seizes the elk by the throat, and bites them until they bleed to death." Since the elk first entered the pages of literature — on the jointless legs given him by Caesar — he has been a creature of mystery, and travelers, ^^ Lehrhuch fiir Jdger, und die es Werden Wollen, vol. i., p. 163. ^' Allgemeine Naturgeschichte Jur Alle Sidnde, vol. vii., p. 13 13. MISBELIEFS ABOUT THE ELK 355 scientists, and, in a less degree, sportsmen have contributed to the misrepresentations which have been pubUshed concerning him. The ancient Germans, in their days of paganism, revered the elk as a divinity, or, as Erasmus Stella wrote, as a messenger of the gods. From that time to this the great animal has never been reduced to the commonplace plane where the other forest creatures pass their humdrum exist- ence. Thanks to his uncouth figure, his colossal size, and a disposition to spend his life in the retirement of thick woods, far from the sight of men, he has always been surrounded by a halo of mystery and misunderstanding. There are still many questions concerning the elk and the moose about which writers differ, but the number is growing less as modern matter-of-fact methods are applied to the study of zoology. INDEX In cases where page references are separated by a double colon, the references before the double colon refer to the American moose; those following it refer to the Old-World elk (or moose). Abnaki, name of moose, 237; Rasle's dictionary, 237 (note), 265, 267, 268; myths, 247 Accessories for hunting trip, 163- 165 Adirondacks, moose m, 33-34 Adney, Tappan, quoted, 98 (note) Age which moose attain, 73, I73-- 301-302 ; difficulty of estimating age, 171 , . ^ ^ . Aim, pomt at which to, loO Akeley, C. E., on taxidermy, 197 Alaska, 53, 56, 118, 121, 316; moose in, 39 (note), 41; game law, 43-44. 52; Alces gigas, 59-60; brow palmation of ant- lers, 61; gain of territory by moose, 39, 42; importance of big game, 221 (note); size of moose, 60, 64. See Kenai Pen- insula Alberta, 39, 54, 55; game law, 52; number of moose killed, 44; antlers, 183 Alces, origin of name, 239-240 Alces americanus, 56, 59 Alces americanus shirasi, 60 (note) Alces bedfordice, 343-345 Alces gigas, 59-60 Alces latifrons, 335 Alces machlis, 241-242 Aldrovandus, elk portraits, 278- 279 Alger, Miss A. L., an Indian myth, 251-254 Algonquian names of moose, 237 Algonquin moose mjrths, 247-254; the epilepsy superstition, 266 American Museum of Natural History, 197, 244 Ammunition, 152-160 Ancient hunting methods, 132 et seq. "Animal magnum," 242 Anthrax, 73 :: 305 Antlers of moose — Alaska, 177- 180; Alberta, 183; British Columbia, 182; Maine, 1 86, 189; Manitoba, 183; Minnesota, 184; New Brunswick, 187-189; Nova Scotia, 189; Ontario, 184-186; Quebec, 186; Yukon, 180-182 Brow palmation in Alaska, 61; cast antlers found in woods, 171; color, how restored, 200; of cow moose, 174-175 J deterioration, 169-170; earliest American specimens, 166-169; exaggeration regarding, 21, 26, 176; used in fighting, 81, 172, 173; effect of food on growth, 60-61, 174; growth of, I70;-I74; Indian uses for, 202; inter- locked antlers, 175; measure- ment, 190-194; mounting heads, 194-198; in old age, 173; spread not the only test, 193; time of casting, 171; velvet, 172; weight, 176, 178, 180, 181 (note), 191; mounted on wooden heads, 167. See Elk Arctic Circle, 39, 180 :: 288 357 358 INDEX Arms and ammunition, 152-160 Articles made from moose pro- ducts, 202-203 :: 284-287 Asia, earliest home of moose, 3; elk range in, 288-289 Attacks by moose on men, 76-8 1 ; when jacking, 146-147 Audubon and Bachman, marrow as food, 211; the muffle, 214 •Automatic rifles, 152, 159 Baird, Prof. S. P., quoted, 74- 75 Baltic provinces of Russia, 290, 292, 316, 322 Basques, their name for moose, 238 Beam, circumference, how meas- ured, 191 Beaver's tail as food, 212-213 Bell of the moose, 68 Bell, J. M., an Indian myth, 257- 260 Bell, Dr. Robert, moose killed for skins, 30; migration of moose, 39-40 Berkshire Hills, moose in, 35 Bierstadt, A., moose antlers, 189 Blasius, Prof. W., 285, 287, 309; age of elk, 301 ; diseases of elk, 305 Blowflies, 163 Blue Mountain preserve, 36 Bock, S. P., epilepsy in elk, 347 Bolt rifles, 157 Bone in the moose's heart, 267- 268:: 351 Boston, moose killed near, 24, 35 Boucher, P., the epilepsy super- stition, 265-266 Bows and arrows, compared with firearms, 10 Brandt, J. P., fossil elk antlers, 336-337 Breck, Dr. E., on calling, 129 (note) Breeding moose in captivity, 71- 73 Brehm, A. E., 225; elk in cap- tivity, 315 Bright colors for hunting clothing, 90, 161 British Columbia, 55, 130; moose iri| 39; game law, 52; hunting ■ in, 45; antlers, 182 Brow palmation of Alaska ant- lers, 61 Browne, Bclmore, an episode in Alaska, 118 Browsing and peeling, 107 Buff-leather, 15, 28 Buff'on, 62, 282 Bujack, J. G., 354; epilepsy super- stition in America, 350 Bull's response to call, 124 Burrard, Sir Harry, moose antlers, 188 Caesar, 240; describes the elk, 274 Calf moose, 71; birth, 83-84; rapid growth, 84-85; show little fear of men, 85 ; protected, 52 Calling, 120-131 :: 327-330; the season, 120; in Alaska and Yu- kon, 121; the calling stand, 122; the call, 124; the bull's answer, 124; contests between bulls, 125 :: 328-329; freedom from wind important, 125; "speaking bull," 126, 130 :: 327; calling from a canoe, 127; diversity in calls, 127; value of moon- light, 128; early morning call- ing, 128; the calling horn, 128; in Russia, 327-329; by violin, 329 Canada, 30, 124 (note), 137, 238, 260, 338 Canada jays, 306 Canadian Northwest, gain of territory by moose, 39 Canoes made of moose skins, 140 Cape Breton, 27, 145 Captivity, moose in, 17, 71-75:: 307-315. Cariacus virginianus, see Virginia deer Caribou, 27, 46, 75, 155, 175, 194, 201, 224, 230; migration from Asia, 4 Cartier, Jacques, explorations, 5 Cassiar District, B. C, 45, 182 Cast antlers found in the woods, 171; time of casting, 171:: 341- 342 Caswell, Col. J., moose antlers, 186 Caton, 160; moose and Scandi- navian elk identical, 57, 243 INDEX 359 Catskills, moose in, 35 Caughnawana Club preserve, 186 Cervus alces, 62, 239-240, 271 (note) Cervus canadensis, see Wapiti Cervus elaphiis, see Red deer Champlain, 25 ; Indian moose hunt- ing, 6; Indian banquet, 9; Indian moose drives, 135 Changes in the moose range, 32, 39 Chapman, A., 320; stalking elk, 317-318 Charlevoix, 262; slaughter of moose, 28; Indian moose drives, 134-135; the giant moose, 260- 261; the epilepsy superstition, 265, 266 Chops, how to cut, 209 Cincinnati, moose in captivity, 71-72 "Circling" for elk, 325 Clinch, D. W., on calling, 129 (note) Clothing of moose skin, 6, 17 (note), 28, 202:: 284, 285 Clothing for hunting, i6r, 163 Clothing, white, for hunters, 50 Cold storage of moose meat, 206- 207 Color-blindness of animals, seem- ing, 90 Color of antlers, how restored, 200 Color for hunting clothing, 50, 161 Color'of moose, 68, 173 Colosseum at Rome, elk in, 275 Commercial importance of veni- son supply, 222-223, 225-226 Conservation of timber and game, 222-223 Cook, F. H., moose antlers, 187 Cooking, see Food Corbin, Austin, moose in preserve, 36 Corned moose meat, 218 Courland, 292, 306 Cow moose, defence of calf, 85:: 303; protection of, 52, 228-229:: 296; how tracks are distin- guished, no; the call, 124; cow with antlers, 174-175:: 175 (note) Cracking of moose scalp, cause, 194 Cree Indians, 135, 237 Crust hunting, by Indians, 6, 8, 137-141; in Maine, 141, 227; in Russia, 331 Cuvier, 62 Dahms, Dr. P., 287, 348; size of elk, 282; elk hoofs in medicine, 349 Danger from moose in captivity, 71; in the woods, 76-81 d'Aulnay, Sieur, trade in moose skins, 27 Decatur, S., moose antlers, 187 Deer, see Virginia deer Demidoff, Prince E., 339; hunting in Russia, 296 Denys, Nicolas, 122 (note); In- dian kettles, 9-10; slaughter of moose in Acadia, 26-27; Indian superstitions, 266, 267 "Depth of body" defined, 64 Description of moose, 64 et seq.; Sir Ferdinando Gorges, I1-12; William Wood, 13; Thomas Morton, 14; Montanus, 20-21; Josselyn, 21-23; Judge Dudley, 23-25; of elk — Caesar, 274; Pliny, 275; Miinster, 278 Deterioration in antlers, 169- 170 :: 334-335 Development of antlers, 1 70-1 71:: 339-341 Dewclaw bones as paper cutters, 200 De Weese, Dall, 60 Diereville, the epilepsy super- stition, 267 (note) DigestibiUty of various foods, 205 Diseases of moose, 72, 73 :: 305- .307 Division into species, 56-62 Dogs in hunting, 145 :: 318-322, 326; used by Indians, 9, 134- 135. 138; in Cape Breton, 145 Dog-Rib Indian myth, 257-260 Domestication of elk, 307-315; of moose, 17, 71-75; of moose proposed, 12, 13, 14, 17 Douglas-Lithgow, Dr., quoted, 54 Dried moose meat, 16, 18 Driving game, by Indians, 11, 134-136; methods employed, 147. Elk drives in Europe, see Elk 360 INDEX Driving moose in harness, 74-75:: 307-309 Dudley, Judge Paul, 35, 262; description of moose, 23-25; moose's mufifle, 213 Earliest use of the word moose, 12 East Prussia, elk in, 281, 284, 290, 293-295. 306 "East Siberian elk," 345 (note) Eaton, A. W., quoted, 247-248 Edward VII., a New Brunswick moose head, 188; elk drive in Sweden, 327 Elend, origin of name, 239-241 Elk, American, see Wapiti Elk, European and Asiatic — Antlers, 334-345; growth of, 312; slow development, 339- 341; in captivity, 314; time of casting, 341-342; fossil, 336- 337; best specimens, 337-339; Alces bedfordicB, 343-345; used in medicine, 351 Hunting methods — with dogs, 318-322, 326; driving, 293- 294, 322-327; "circling," 325; calling, 327-330; pitfalls, etc., 330-333 Age, 301-302; diseases, 305- 307; domestication, 307-315; food of, 303, 3 1 0-3 11; in herds, 302; identical with moose, 57, 58, 62, 243, 273; insect pests, 306-307; migrations, 304-305; misbeliefs, 346-355; not mo- nogamous, 303; number, 291- 292, 293; playfulness, 310, 312; elk products in the arts, 284- 287; in medicine, 346-351; range, 288-290; rutting season, 302 ; size, 281-282, 300; fondness for water, 303 Elk, origin of name, 239-240 Embroidery in moose hair, 68 Epilepsy in moose, superstitious belief, 263-267:: 346-351 Ermine, attacks on elk, 354 Everett, R. W., quoted, 51 Exaggeration in respect to size, 21-22, 24, 64, 81 (note) :: 280, 353; in respect to antlers, 21, 26, 176 Extermination of moose, no danger of, 32, 226-227 Eyesight of moose, infenor to that of man, 90-93 Fat of the moose, 207; prized by Indians, 18 Fay, S. P., moose antlers, 182 Field Museum, Chicago, moose antlers, 178 Fights between moose, 81, 83, 125, 172, 173, 175 :: 328-329 Finland, elk in, 288, 290, 291- 292 Firearms, 152-160 "Flat-horned elk," 243 Fog siren as a moose call, 124 (note) Food, moose meat as, 204-219; easily digested, 205; baked mufHe, 216-218; broihng, 208; chafing dish, 210; chops, 209; cold storage, 206-207; corned, 218; the fat, 207; feet, 212; liver, 210; marrow, 211; muffle, 212-218; pan broiUng, 208; roast, 209; smoked, 18; steaks, 208; stewing, 209; stewed muffle, 216; tongue, 211 Food of moose, 86-87:: 303, 310- 311; eflfect of, on growth of ant- lers, 174 Footwear, 161-162 Forest conservation, 220 et seq. Fossil elk antlers, 272, 336-337 Fossil remains of moose, 4, 272 France, extinction of elk in, 276 Eraser, Rev. J., on moose's muffle, 214 Future of the moose, 220-231 Gait of the moose, 74 Game as a national asset, 222-223, 225-226 Game laws, 41-52, 227-231 :: 296-298 Gasp^ Peninsula, 25, 31, 40 Geographic names derived from moose, 53-56 Germany, gradual extinction of elk in, 276, 281 Gesner, Conrad, epilepsy in elk, 347 Giant moose, Indian belief m, 2bo-26i INDEX 361 Gibb, L. M., moose antlers, 186 Glacier National Park, moose in, 37 Glooskap in Indian myth, 247 Gorges, Sir Ferdinando, describes the moose, 11-12 Grant, Madison, 33, 34, 96, 261; range of moose, 39 (note); brow palmation of Alaska ant- lers, 61 Greek name for elk, 239-240 Growth of antlers, 170-174 :: 312, 339-341 Hair of moose, 68, 172 :: 286; used in Indian embroidery, 202-203 ; grows upward from the nose, 201 Hampton Court Palace, moose antlers in, 166-169 Hardiness of moose, 223, 226 Hardy, Campbell, snaring moose in Nova Scotia, 137 (note); cooking marrow, 2 1 1 ; an Indian myth, 249 Harness, moose driven in, 74-75 : : 307-309 Hearing, sense of, in moose, 93 Height of moose, 64-67:: 300 Heraldic moose of Michigan, 29 Herding of elk, 302 Hesketh-Prichard, 290, 298; jack- ing, 147; hunting with dog, 319; Norwegian elk heads, 338 Hibbs, N., moose muffle baked in the ground, 216-217 Hide of moose as leather, 14, 15, 28, 201:: 284-286; Indian uses for, 202-203 Hinman, Maj. C. W., capture of calf moose, 85-86 Hock, skin used for moccasins, 202 Hoflfman, Dr. W. J., Indian myths, 255-257 Hoofs, as weapons, 81, 138 :: 311- 312; used in cure of epilepsy, 263-267:: 346-351 Horn used in calling, 128 Homaday, W. T., 37, 67, 70, 244, 339; specific differences in moose, 59 (note) ; size of antlers influenced by food, 61 (note); comparison of antlers, 191 (note); commercial value of venison, 222-223 Horse, size compared with moose, 66; speed compared with moose, 74 :: 309 Hudson Bay, 38, 53 Human scent in tracks, 108 Hunting methods now obsolete, 132-147 Huron Indians, moose-hair em- broidery, 68; moose drives, 135 Ibenhorst elk preserve, 284, 301 Ice avoided by moose, 76 Idaho, moose in, 32, 37, 81 Indians, their bows and spears, 10, 11; moose calling by, 122 (note) ; calling in British Colum- bia, 130; cooking methods, 8-9, 17-18; crust hunting, 6, 8, 137-140; driving moose, 134- 136; moose-hair embroidery, 68; feasts, 9, 17-18; moose meat as food, 6, 8, 15-16, 27- 29, 140; killing for market, 16- 17, 27; myths regarding moose, 245-261; names for the moose, 237; names of Indian origin, 54; moose products, 202-203; destruction of moose by, 27, 28, 30, 98 (note), 140; snaring moose, 136; superstitious beliefs, 262-268; tongue of moose highly prized, 18, 211 Indifference of moose to danger, occasional, 93-97, 104-105 Insects which afflict the elk, 306- 307 Instinct of the moose, 69, 100 Intelligence of moose, 67, 69-71 Irish elk, 243-244 Isle Royale, moose on, 36 Jacking, forbidden by law, 145; misconceptions concerning, 145- 147; fire hunting in Siberia, 332 Jackson Hole, moose m, 51 "Jesuit Relations," 15-18, 251 (note), 261, 263 Josselyn, Dr. John, 211, 262-263; description of moose, 21-23 "Jumping deer," 239 Kaiser, as an elk hunter, 293- 295 362 INDEX Kapherr, Baron von, 241, 261, 298; European elk identical with moose, 58; diseases of elk, 305-306; riding on elk's back, 314 (note); Russian hunting methods, 322-326, 327-328; il- legal methods, 331-332 Kenai Peninsula, 38, 41-43, 53. 60, 64, 94, 96, 171, 317; antlers, 177-180; locked antlers, 175 ^ . Kennebec, Indian moose himtmg in 1604, 6 Kennedy, M. A., moose antlers, 185 Kettles, Indian method of making, 8-10 Kineo, Indian myth, 248 Lahontan, Baron, Indian crust hunting, 137-140; antlers weigh- ing 300 pounds, 176; the epilepsy superstition, 265 Lake Superior, 26, 36, 135, 250 Lantz, D. E., 225; food value of venison, 205 Lapland, elk in, 288 Laws affecting game propagation, 73. See Game laws Leather of moose skin, 14, 15, 28, 201, 203 :: 284-286 LeClercq, Fr., the epilepsy super- stition, 267 Lejeune, Fr., quoted, 17, 18, 262 Leland, C. G., Indian legends, 247. 251 (note) Lescarbot, picture of moose, 7, 8; Indian method of cooking, 8-9 Licenses to hunt, see Game laws Linnaeus, 62 Lithuania, name for elk, 241; traffic in elk hoofs, 348, 350 Liver of moose, 210-211 Livonia, 292, 306, 309, 342 Lloyd, L., 175, 296, 327; elk call- ing by viohn, 329; illegal hunt- ing devices, 332-333 Locked antlers of moose, 175 Lydekker, R., moose and Euro- pean elk identical, 57; origin oi name elk, 239; Alces bedfordice, 343-345 Mackay, C. H., moose antlers, 179 Mackenzie River, 39, 202, 258 Magnus, Olaus, elk as draft animals, 308-309; elk hoofs in medicine, 347; the ermine fable, 354 Maine, 6, 12, 21, 28, 30, 53, 55, 71, 74, 96, 142; moose in, 32; moose protected until 1919, 45; increase of moose in the '90's, 46; antlers, 186-187, 189; deteri- oration in antlers, 170; crust hunting in, 141 Malignant anthrax, 73 :: 305 Mammoth and the moose, 260- 261, 272 Manitoba, 35, 54. 55. 239, 345; game law, 52 ; number of moose killed, 46; game preserves, 47; white clothing for hunters, 50; antlers, 183 Marrow as food, 2H Martenson, A., 309, 323 (note); European elk identical with moose, 58; elk range, 290 (note) ; number of elk in Europe and Asia, 291-292; decrease in some parts of Russia, 297, 330; age of elk, 301; elk migrations, 304; insect pests, 306-307; elk calling in Russia, 328; crust hunting in Russia, 331; antlers, 334. 335. 340-343; Alces bed- fordtcB, 344-345 Massachusetts, 13, 23, 35 McCutcheon, R. R., moose ant- lers, 182 Measurement of moose, 64-67; of antlers, 190-194 Menomini Indian myths, 255-257 Merriam, Dr. C. H., quoted, 34 Michigan, moose m, 36; m 1834, 29 Micmac myths, 249-251 Migration of moose, 3, 39-40, 42:: 289, 304-305 Millais, J. G., European elk ant- lers, 339 Miller, G. S., Jr., charactenstics of Alces gigas, 59-60 Milzbrand, 73 :: 305 Minnesota, 53,55; moose in, 36- 37; number of moose killed, 47; game law, 52; antlers, 184 Moccasins of moose skin, 15, 201, 203; moose-hock, 202 INDEX 363 Monogamy, not practised by moose, 82 :: 303 Montana, moose in, 37, 53 Montanus, Arnoldus, quoted, 19 Moonlight, important in calling, 128 "Moose," earliest use of word, 12 ; origin of the name, 237 Moose birds, 306 Moose meat as food, see Food Mooselucmaguntic, 54 Moose wood, 87 Morton, Thomas, describes the moose, 14 Mount Desert Island, 12, 55, 248 Mountain sheep, 43, 51, 180 Mounting game heads, 194-198 Muffle of moose, 212-218; stewed muffle, 216; baked muffle, 216- 218 Mimro, Dr. W. L., moose antlers, Munster, description of elk, 278, 314 (note) Myths concerning the moose, 245-261 Names of the moose, errors re- specting, 237-243 Napkin rings of moose horn, 198 National Collection of Heads and Horns, 175, 179 (note) New Brunswick, 54, 67, 75, 98, 165, 175, 199, 248; moose in, 32; game law, 52; number of moose killed, 47; number of moose increasing, 48; size of moose, 60; antlers, 187-189 Newfoundland, 155; attempt to stock with moose, 38 (note) New Hampshire, 54, 55; last moose in, 33 "New Netherland, Game in," 19-21 New York, 19-20, 33-35, 53, 54» 55 Niedieck, P., moose antlers, 180; an adventure on Kenai Penin- sula, 96 Night, moose active at, 89 Northern boundary of moose's range, 38-39 :: 288-289 Northwest Territories, 55, 80, 202 Norway, 316, 317; Pontoppidan's description of elk, 280; elk in, 290, 291, 296; hunting regu- lations, 296, 298; elk in harness, 308; hunting with dog, 319; antlers, 338. See Scandinavia Nova Scotia, 7-8, 54, 55, 85, 90, 104, 128, 165, 218, 248; moose in, 32; game law, 48, 52; pro- tection of cow moose, 48, 228- 229; number of moose killed, 48; moose rarely yard, 98; ant- lers, 189; wild land in, 221; re- moval of meat from the woods, 230; Micmac myths, 249-251 Number of elk — East Prussia, 293; Russia, 292; Scandinavia, 291. Increase in number, 289; East Prussia, 293; Finland, 291-292; Norway, 290-291. Decrease, Russia, 297, 330 Number of moose, estimated — in America, 40; Glacier National Park, 37; Kenai Peninsula, 43; ISIinnesota, 37; Yellowstone Park, 38; Wyoming, 51. In- crease in number. New Bruns- wick, 32, 48; Maine, 32, 46; Yellowstone Park, 38; Canadian Northwest, 39; Alaska, 39, 42-43; Ontario, 49; Wyoming, Nuremberg, elk antlers m, 276 October Mountain preserve, 35- 36 Onager, a name for elk, 242, 280 Ontario, 30, 53, 54, 55, 66, 239; game law, 52; hunting in, 48; number of moose increasing, 49; antlers, 184-186 Orenac, Basque name for moose, 238 Orignac, orignal, origin of name, 238 Osborn, Prof. H. F., quoted, 3, 4, 244 Osborn, J. B., moose antlers, 193 Osgood, W. H., quoted, 121 Ottawa River, 140 (note), 214 Palmation, measurement, 191 364 INDEX Pan broiling, 208 Paper cutters of dewclaw bones, 200 Parasites which attack elk, 305- 307 Passamaquoddy myth concerning creation, 247 Pausanias, mentions the elk, 240 Peeling bark, 87, 107 Penobscot belief concerning origin of moose, 249 Percival, H. C., moose antlers, 184 Perrot, Nicolas, moose driving by dogs, 135 Photographing game, 145-146 Pitfalls, used by Indians, 1 1 ; in Europe, 330, 332 Playfulness of elk, 310, 312 Pliny, his name for elk, 241; description, 275 Poachers, 297-298, 331-333 Poland, fossil elk antlers, 336; 1 extinction of elk in, 285 Pomet, Pierre, elk hoofs in medi- cine, 349-350 Pontoppidan, description of elk, 280 Pottinger, Sir Henry, 160, 320, 327; increase of elk in Norway, 290-291; size of elk, 300 Pounding on a tree in calling, 130 Prehistoric hunters, 132 Preserves of moose, private, 35, 36, 72-73; public — Manitoba, 47; Minnesota, 37; Montana, 37; Yellowstone Park, 38 Prichard, see Hesketh-Prichard Prince Edward Island, 27, 251 (note) Prongs, how counted, 190, 191 Propagation of moose, 72-73 Protective legislation, 41, 52, 227- 231 Purchas, "Pilgrimes," quoted, 1 1- 12 Quebec, 54, 78, 237; moose in, 39; game law, 52 ; number of moose killed, 49; antlers, 186 Radclyffe, Capt., 178 (note); stalking moose, 316-317 Radisson, moose hunting, 26 Rand, Rev. S. T., an Indian myth, 250-251 Range of moose, 32-52, 226:: 288- 290; Montanus quoted, 20-21; Judge Dudley, 24; Cham- plain, 25; Sagard-Theodat, 25; Radisson, 26; Denys, 26-27; in Michigan, 29 Rasle, Fr., slaughter of moose, 28; Abnaki dictionary, 237 (note), 265, 267, 268 "Red deer," in America, 239 Red deer (Cervus elaphus), 167, 170, 195, 237, 239, 342 Reed, A. S., moose antlers, 178, 182 Reed-McMillan collection, 178 Removal of meat from the woods, 229-231 Rhine, former home of elk, 276, 337 "Riding down" saplings, 87 Rinderpest, 73 :: 305 Roast haunch of moose, 209 Rocky Mountains, 37, 54, 64, 81 (note), 180, 183, 217; an Indian myth, 257-260 Roosevelt, T., encounter with a vicious moose, 78-80 Ross, B. R,, Indian uses for moose products, 202-203 Rungius, C, measurement of New Brunswick moose, 67; moose called by, 121 Russia, elk in, 288-290; number, 292, 297, 330; hunting regu- lations, 296-298; stalking, 318; hunting with dog, 320-322, 326; elk drives, 322-326; "circling," 325; calling, 327- 329; pitfalls, 330; antlers, 334- 335, 339» 344-345; elk in captivity, 14, 309-315; tribute paid in elk skins, 285; elk migrations, 304-305; weight of elk, 300 Rutting season, 81-83 '•' 302; growth of antlers associated with, 81, 172, 173 Saddle, objection of elk to, 314 (note) Saguenay River, 9, 16-17 St. John River, moose driven on ice, 75 INDEX 365 St. Lawrence River, 5, 6, 28, 30- 31. 137 Sale of game, 73, 228 Saskatchewan, 39, 54, 55; game law, 52; number of moose killed, 49; white clothing for hunters, 50 Scandinavia, 339; boundaries of elk range, 288-290; number of elk in, 291; size of elk, 300; antlers, 334-335. 344 Scent of moose, 93 Schoolcraft, 29; Indian myths, 250 Scientific names for the moose, 56-62, 236-243 Scott, Prof. W. B., quoted, 4 Seasons for moose hunting, 41, 52 :: 296; for calling, 120, 122 Selous, F. C, 65 (note), 122; adventure with a sleeping moose, 95; moose antlers, 182 Seton, E. T., 345; number of moose in America, 40 Seymour, Gov. Horatio, 33 Shaw, Otho, moose antlers, 184 (note) Shedding antlers, time of, 171:: 341-342 Shiras, Hon. George, 3d, 60 (note) ; moose on Yellowstone River, 38; adventure with cow moose, 94-95; jacking, 146; cast ant- lers found, 171; moose of Yellow- stone Park, 172 (note) Shiras moose, 60 (note) Shoulder blade of moose, used in calling, 131 Siberia, 320; ancient home of moose, 271, 343-344; elk in, 288; elk migrations, 304; peas- ants' hunting methods, 330- 332; antlers, 334-336, 343-344- Sight, sense of, in moose, 90 Sinews, Indian uses for, 202-203 Size of moose, 60, 64-67 :: 281-282, 300; signs indicating size, 108; compared with Irish elk, 244 Skins of elk, formerly considered bullet-proof, 284 Skins of moose in trade, 16-17, 27, 30 :: 292; as leather, 14-15, 28, 201, 203 :: 284-286 Skrowronnek, Dr. P., elk in East Prussia, 293-294; elk as swim- mers, 303 Sleeping moose, Selous's adventure with, 95 Small-bore rifles, 153 Smell, sense of, in moose, 93 Smoked moose meat, 16, 18 Snares, used by Indians, 11, 136; in Nova Scotia, 137 (note); in Siberia, 330 Snowshoes, ancient, 138-140 "Speaking bull," 126 :: 327-329 Species of moose, 56-62 "Spitzer" bullet in hunting, 156 Spread of antlers, 190, 191; not the only test of quality, 193 Stalking, see Still-hunting Steak, broiling, 208 Stella, Erasmus, quoted, 20, 355 Stewing moose, 209; stewed muffle, 216 Still-hunting, 99-119, 316-318; compared with calling, 100; need of vigilance, loi; windy day favorable, 105; special caution at midday, 106; tracks, 106; browsing and peeling, 107; hunting in pairs, 107; the human scent in tracks, 108; signs indicating size, 108; teeth marks on trees, 109; indications of sex, no; hunting against the wind, no; hunting with the wind, 112; hunting out a yard, 114; importance of seeing the head, 115; possible mistakes, 116; be sure your moose is dead, 118; when walking is noisy, 148 Stone, A. J., 81, 96, 118, 121, 131, 226; moose not in danger of extermination, 32; measurement of Alaska moose, 64 Stuck, Dr., quoted, 56, 221 (note) Superior National Forest and Game Preserve, moose in, 37 Sweden, elk in, 290, 291, 295-296; elk in harness, 307-309; hunt- ing with dog, 320; elk drives, 326-327; calling by violin, 329; antlers, 337, 339. See Scandi- navia Swimming by moose, 75 :: 303 Switzerland, elk in, 276 Tail of moose, 69 366 INDEX Taming moose, 71 Tanana River, 42 Tannin in food of moose, 72 Tanning moose skins, 201 Tansy, elk fond of, 310 Taxidermy, 194-198 Teeth of the moose, 88-89, 1^9 Temagami Forest Reserve, 185 Thompson-Seton, see Seton Thoreau, 164, 246; Indian myths, 249 Timber not destroyed by moose, 224 Timber line, 180; boundary of moose range, 38 :: 288 Tongue of moose, 18, 211 Topham, Anne, the Kaiser's elk hunt, 294-295 Tracking moose, 106 Trade in moose skins, 16-17, 27, 30 :: 292 Traits and habits of moose, 63-98 :: 300-315 Ural Mountains, 288, 289, 304, Utilization of meat required by law, 230 Van Dyke, T. S., quoted, 159 Velvet on antlers, 172 Venison, includes moose meat, 204; especially adapted for invalids, 205; its commercial importance, 222-223, 225-226 Vermont, 54, 55 ; last moose in, 33 Vienna, International Sportsmen's Exhibition, 170, 179, 337 Violin as an elk call, 329 Virginia deer, 28, 33, 46, 67, 69, 70, 72, 74, 76, 80, 84, 115, 224; migration from Asia, 4 ; first met by colonists, 237 Vitality of wounded moose, 118- 119, 160 "Walking down" a moose, 142 Wallow, 83 Wapiti, 24, 30, 46, 51, 67, 72, 140, 223, 239; migration from Asia, 4; misnamed the elk, 237 Ward, Rowland, Records of Big Game, 180, 184, 186, 187 :: 338, 339. 345 (note); Irish elk, 244 Wasteful killing of moose, 25-31, 42-43, 229 Water, moose fond of, 75 :: 303 Weight of moose, 66-67 •• 281- 282, 300; of antlers, 176, 178, 180, 181 (note), 188, 191 West Prussia, extinction of elk in, 281 White clothing for hunters, 50, 141 Whitetail, see Virginia deer Whitney, Hon. Wm. C, moose in preserve, 35 Wind, in still-hunting, 105, lio- "4 . Wisconsin, 55; moose m, 36; Ivlenomini Indian myths, 255- 257 Wolves, 13, 42, 136, 181 (note), 296 Wood, William, 136; verses on New England fauna, 12-13; describes the moose, 13 Worm, Olaus, misbeliefs about the elk, 353 Wounded moose, danger from, 76, 80; vitahty of, I18-119, 160; the "Dawkins trick," 143 Wyoming, 176, 223; moose in, 32, 37; game law, 50-52; num- ber of moose increasing, 50; number killed, 51; Alces ameri- canus shirasi, 60 (note) Yards, 97-98, 114 Yellowstone Park, 60 (note), 172 (note); moose in, 38 Yukon, 54, 55, 65, 95, 98, 122; game law, 52 ; number of moose killed, 52; utiUzation of meat required, 230; antlers, 180- 182 Yukon River, 42, 54, 258-260 ,,,,,,,,,l|||j|l|l!ll|IMn. I ■•u,i li!iilii(lilllllliy!illill I!! -11 111 I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 002 891 994 3 ^