If the game on this occasion had been, say a wild turkey or a grouse,
its discriminating eye would have figured out the hunter there on that
log very quickly. This manly exploit of the Western hunter reminds me
of an exploit of a Brooklyn man, who last winter killed a bull moose in
Maine. It was a more sportsmanlike proceeding, but my sympathies were
entirely with the moose. The hero tells his story in a New York paper.
With his guides, all armed with Winchester rifles, he penetrated far
into the wilderness till he found a moose yard. It was near the top of
a mountain. They started one of the animals and then took up its trail.
As soon as the moose found it was being followed, it led right off in
hopes of outwalking its enemies. But they had snow-shoes and he did
not; they had food and he did not. On they went, pursued and pursuers,
through the snow-clogged wilderness, day after day. The moose led them
the most difficult route he could find.
At night the men would make camp, build a fire, eat and smoke, and
roll themselves in their blankets and sleep. In the morning they would
soon come up to the camping-place of the poor moose, where the imprint
of his great body showed in the snow, and where he had passed a cold,
supperless night.
On the fifth day the moose began to show signs of fatigue; he rested
often, he also tried to get around and behind his pursuers and let them
pass on. Think how inadequate his wit was to cope with the problem—he
thought they would pass by him if he went to one side.
On the morning of the sixth day he had made up his mind to travel no
farther, but to face his enemies and have it out with them. As he heard
them approach, he rose up from his couch of snow, mane erect, his look
fierce and determined. Poor creature, he did not know how unequal the
contest was. How I wish he could at that moment have had a Winchester
rifle, too, and had known how to use it. There would have been fair
play then. With such weapons as God had given him he had determined to
meet the foe, and if they had had only such weapons as God had given
them, he would have been safe. But they had weapons which the devil
had given them, and their deadly bullets soon cut him down, and now
probably his noble antlers decorate the hall of his murderer.
XVIII
TALKS WITH YOUNG OBSERVERS
I
To teach young people or old people how to observe nature is a good
deal like trying to teach them how to eat their dinner. The first
thing necessary in the latter case is a good appetite; this given,
the rest follows very easily. And in observing nature, unless you
have the appetite, the love, the spontaneous desire, you will get
little satisfaction. It is the heart that sees more than the mind. To
love Nature is the first step in observing her. If a boy had to learn
fishing as a task, what slow progress he would make; but as his heart
is in it, how soon he becomes an adept.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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