The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1886-07-25
ArAmous MAINE HUNTER.


FAMOUS MAINE HUNTER.
The slayer or Two Hundred and Sew.
enty.nve Moose-A Run for Life
Lewiston (Me.) Journal
One day this week Mr.. Nathan B. Moore,
Of Bingham, came into the Journal office In
company with one Of his old friends, a Lew
iston amateur hunter, and remained long
enough TO spin few yarns OF the moose
hunt and leave behind him an envious long
Ing for the woods. Mr.. Moore Is one Of the
most celebrated moose hunters In Maine. He
Is sixty-elght years old. He Is thin and
poor, with gray hair and beard, and walks
as though he had carried many burden.
He Is, however, as active TO day as he was
thirty years ago, and as much at home in
the woods as ever. His days Of steady hunt
Ing are over now for his boys have grown
up and have scattered, and his good wife
doesn't want him TO be alone In the woods
or tending the traps. lie has been at 1t
sixty years. He began when he was seven.
His father used to take him out along the
line OF the traps and let him tend them. II
any big "critter" had been trapped he used
to run back and find his father. Think Of
your seven year.old baby alone in the for.
eats where bears and wild cats are half as
thick as the spruce trees. When one Of the
uis traps WAS iOuuu sprung He hhu w huu
his father, and often II was no easy matter
for the little fellow 10 find his way back home
again. Perhaps you think this Is easy. Try
II some time, and In the painless forest with
dimmed sun above you are liable not to
know whether you are standing on your
head or feet, or whether your right arm is
your right arm or your left leg. Ever since
these early days he has been q hunter and a
trapper, a farmer and guide, and has an
honorable record at each Of them. He has
always been at Bingham, near the Forks
He has already killed his two hundred and
seventy. fifth moose. He hopes to kill his
three hundredth, and, IS the present law
permits only one moose year to bs killed
by any person, his only hope is that he will
kill a moose In his ninety third year and in
oil the years that intervene. He hasn't kept
any run Of his bear hunts or ofhis slaughter
Of caribou and deer. Nowadays he never
goes on q moose hunt, because II is not worth
while to start out for only one moose. He
reckons moose as the noblest game in the
woods Of Maine, aud fondly believes that at
their present rate of increase the Maine
woods will again be alive with them. Mr..
Moore related good story of narrow es-
cape In the forests near the forks of the
Kennebec.
~ was out moose hunting once, several
years ago." said Mr.. Moore. 81 had COM
panion, and just before night we tracked two
moose on the light snow into yard we'll up
the mountain. II was getting too dark to
hunt, 80 we went back and camped for the
night. The morning was excellent, for a
light snow had fallen. We started on as
soon as we could and came up to them
in about an hour or two. Both of them were
up hill from us when we first saw them, ons
being about fifty rods from the other. They
saw us about as soon as We saw them. The
bull moose started straight down the hill
side, when the COW moose made an angle so
as to meet him about at the foot of the hill.
never saw any animal go as the bull moose
did. Half down the side Of the hill was
big spruce that had been felled across the
edge Of rock, so that between the edge Of
the rock and the tree there was space of
several inches. The moose was going fastest
at this point, and just here saw him catch
and 60 over in the air aud strike broadside
OH the snow. He got up quick aud made
for the foot of the hill, leaping rod at a
leap. twenty-five rods further he went
into the yard and turned. fred and he
fell, thrashing his head. On going up to
him saw that his foreleg was as big as a
teakettle and all smashed TO flinders, with
pieces Of bone sticking out. then saw what
made him jump and leap so coming down
hill. He had caught his leg in the spruce
and had broken it.
1--WE then left him and went after the
cow. We found her where she had slipped,
but from the yard to where the moose lies
down there is rd.beaten road which the
moose makes. She had left no track on this,
but little further we found where she had
gone on, aud we followed. A little ahead
nj N w hon I'd tho AOOc hor k and 1uo
they were on the moose. We found her in
an open place, two rods wide, surrounded by
thick cedars and pines. Near here was the
moose's beds. They never lie in the same
place but once. The snow being soft, their
warm bodies melt II and after they rise the
melted snow freezes into ice and is too hard
for comfortable bed after that. Beyond
the 10y places where they had lain was an
open with the snow from eight to ten inches
thick.
1--WE went iuto the thicket aud threw
down our gun cases aud made for her. |
settled myself along the road that led into
the open place where the moose stood at bay.
The dogs made for her aud she came out.
never saw COW moose so ugly before. She
was terribly mad. Her eyes glared, her
bristles were all on end, her ears were laid
back. 1t is not often that you see such q
that critter gets at u.s."
"a funny thing now happened. Instead of
making for the dogs, as in niue cases out of
ten moose does, she made for me. | wa'
in the middle Of the road, wearing snow
shoes, and had dropped on one knee with
my rifle over my arm, waiting. knew IL |
got sight at her and my gun went she was
as good as dead, for in those days l missed
nothing. waited until she got where l
could see the little mark to shoot at on her
breast and pulled the trigger. There was
no report The hammer fell with dull
sound, and the next minute had risen to
my feet and was going down the hard road
with the moose coming a rod at jump.
Just then the other man fred and broke the
moose's foreleg. II didn't stop her even for q
minute. She jumped wilder than ever after
me.
"Betwesn me and the opening were the
moose beds. II l could cross them and reach
the snow could run away from her on my
snowshoes, but there was great danger in
crossing the 10y beds, where the moose had
been lying; of being tripped and of falling.
II would have been death TO fall under the
moose's fore feet. made for the opening,
though, and II was the awfulest run ever
made. could touch the critters nose once
just IS struck the snow. Once her fore
foot hit my snowshoe behind and almost
tripped me. won by six inches, and once
in the snow she gave up the chase and
turned back. looked at my rife and found
that dry twig had caught over the tube
and had broken the force Of thshsmmer, and
had made 1t fail me. We killed the moose
I've minutes afterwards"
Mr.. Moore's biggest moose was first seen
in dream. He was hunting with Capt.
Fsrnald, If Wilton, and q party of other
gentlemen. They were in camp at Pierce
Pond. II was one Sunday night. He
dreamed he saw "long black sided fellow"
coming down the shores Of Pierce Pond.
where they were in camp. Before week,
gentlemen" said he, 1--WE will see something
to remind me Of my DREAM" said Mr.. Moore.
The next day he went down to the pond
after water. Up the lake he saw his "long
black sided fellow" coming down the pond.
He watched. At first he couldn't say
whether 1t was bear or moose. BY and
by the horns lifted from the water. He went
into camp and told them. They laughed
and said II was another dream. Mr.. Moore