The Western World: Picturesque Sketches of Nature and Natural History in North; and South AmericaKingston, William Henry Giles
History
The Western World: Picturesque Sketches of Nature and Natural History in North; and South America
Kingston, William Henry Giles
Natural history -- North America; Natural history -- South America
We will, however, start off on a moose hunt, in autumn, with a practical
Indian hunter. The air of the autumnal night is frosty and bracing.
The moose are moving rapidly from place to place. Night is drawing on.
The last fluttering of the aspens dying away, leaves that perfect repose
in the air which is so necessary to the sport. The moon rises, shedding
a broad and silvery light through the forest. Mysterious sounds greet
our ears. The Indian hunter is provided with his trumpet of birch-bark,
in the form of a cone, about two feet in length. He shelters himself
behind the edge of the banks, a clump of bushes, or rocks; and now he
emits the cry of the cow moose, so exactly, that the male animal is
easily deceived by it. He waits: there is no response. An interval of
fifteen minutes elapses; still no reply is heard. Again the Indian
sends his wild cry pealing through the wood. Presently a low grunt,
quickly repeated, comes from some distant hill; and the snapping of
branches and falling trees attests the approach of the bull. The hunter
is now doubly careful; kneeling down, and thrusting the mouth of his
call into some bushes close by, he utters a lower and more plaintive
sound. At length an answer reaches his ears. The snapping of the
branches is resumed; and presently the moose is seen stalking into the
middle of the moonlit "barren." Our weapons are ready; and as the
magnificent animal stands looking eagerly around in the woodland
amphitheatre, a rifle ball, laden with death, brings him to the ground.
In some districts the Indians employ another method of calling. They
conceal themselves in a swamp, in the midst of some damp mossy valley,
during a dark night. One holds a torch of birch-bark with a match ready
for lighting. The hunter calls, and the moose approaches more readily
than towards the open "barren." When the creature is within distance of
the deadly rifle, the match is applied to the torch, which, flaring up,
illuminates the swamp, and discovers the startled moose standing amidst
the trees, and incapable apparently of flight. The Indians declare that
he is fascinated by the light; and though he may walk round and round
it, he will not leave the spot, and thus presents an easy mark to the
hunter's rifle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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