Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-07-24
A FAMOUS MAINE HUNTER.
The Slayer of Two Hundred and
Seventy-fiVe Moose.
From tie Ls,ctstcn the.l journal.

from the Ls1ClStcN (He.l OoNfHdfs
One day this week MI Nathan b. Moore,
of Bingham, came into the Journal office
IN company with one OF his old friends,
Lewiston amateur hunter, ana remained
long enough to spin few yarns OF the
moose hunt and leave behind him an en-
yiOus longing Tor the woods. Mr.. Moore
IS one OF the most celebrated moose hunt
ers in Maine. He is IS years old" he is
thin and poor, with gray hair and beard,
and walks as though he had carried many
burden. he il, 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 bunting are over now, for
his boys have grown up and have scat
tered, and his good wife doesn't want hlm
to be alone in the woods or tending the
traps. He has been at it sixty years.
he began when he was I. His father used
to take him out along TIE line of the traps
aud let him tend them. If any big 'crit-
ter had been trapped ne used to run back
and ind hrs father. Think OF your 7-year-
ola baby alone in the forests where bears
and wild cats are half as thick as the
spruce trees, When one of the big traps
was found sprung he had to lind his tatb-
er, and often il was no easy matter tor the
little fellow to find his way back home
again. Perhaps you think this is easy.
lIy IL sOlut tlul6, anu Ill Tue DdbuleSS lOI-
est with dimmed sun above you are liza
bic not 10 know whether you are standing
on your head or feet, or whether your right
arm Is your right arm or your lett leg.
Ever since these early days he has been
hunter and trapper, farmer and
guide, aud has an honorable record at
each of them. He has always been at
Bingham, near the Forks" He has al
ready Killed his 215th moose. He hopes
60 Ii k,t.5 /. tI,r Ia.xt
permits only one moose year to be killed
by any person, mis- only hope is that he
will Kill moose in his 93d year and in all
the years that intervene. He hasn't kept
any run of mis- bear hunts or of his slsugh-
Ter of caribou and deer, Nowadays he
never goes on moose hunt, because 1t is
not worth while to start out for only one
moose. He reckons Il moose as the no.
blest game in the woods of Maine, and
iondly believes that at,their present rate
of increase the Maine woods VIII again
be alive with them. Mr.. Moore related a
good story of narrow escape in the for
ests near the forks of the Kennebec.
II was out moose hunting once, several
years ago." said Mr. Moore. Il had a
companion and just before night we
tracked two moose on the light snow into
yard well up the mountain. 1t was
getting too dark to hunt, so we went back
was excellent, for light snow had fallen.
We started on as soon as we could and
came up TO them in about an hour Grtwo.
Both of them were up hill from US when
we first saw them, one being about fifty
rods from the other. They saw us about
as soon as we saw them. The bull moose
| started straight down the hillside, when
the COW moose made an angle so as to
meet him about at the foot of the hill. ]
! w N m al typ n q 10 m, vyN
did, Halt down the side or the hill was
a 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 go over i'll the air
and strike broadside on the snow. He got
up quick and made for the foot of the hill,
leapIng rod at q jump. Twenty-Five rods
further he went into the yard and turned.
| fired and he fell, thrashing his head. On
going up TO MIN | saw that his fOreleg was
as big as 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 hard beaten road which
the moose makes. She mad left no track
on this, but little further we found where
she had gone on and we followed. A little
ahead of US we heard the dogs bark and
we knew they were on the moose. We
found her in an open space, two rods wide,
surrounded by thick cedars and pines.
Near here was the mOOse's beds. Tnev
never lie In the same place but once. The
snow being soft their warm bodies melt
it, and after they rise the melted snow
freezes into ice and is too hard for a oom-
Portable bed after that. Beyond the icy
places where they had lain was an 'open,'
with the snow from eight to ten inches
thick.
''We went ir to the thicket and threw
down our gun-cases and 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 and she came
out. l never saw a COW moose so ugly
before. She was terribly mad. Her ewes
glared, her bristleS were all on end. her
ears were laid back. 1t is not often that
you see such sight. Bad business
said to myself, IF that critter gets atus.'
"a funny thing now happened. Instead
Of making for the dogs, as in nine cases
out OF ten a moose does, she made for me.
was in the middle of the road, wearing
snowshoes, 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 | missed nothing. waited until she
got where i could see the little mark to
shoot at on her breast and pulled the
trigger. There was no report! The ham,
mer fell with a duh sound and tue next
minute l bad risen to my feet and was
going down the hard road with the moose
coming rod at a jump. just then the
other man fired and broke the mOose's
foreleg. 1t didn'1 stop her even for
minute. She jumped wilder than ever
after me.
Between me and the opening were the
moose beds. IL | could cross them and
reach the snow could run away from her
on my snOwshoes, but there was great
danger in crossing the icy beds, where
the moose had been lying, OF being tripped
and of falling. IL would have been death
TO fall under the moose's forefeet. / made
for the opening, though, and it was the
awiuilest run | ever made. ! could touch
the critters nose once just as struck the
snow. Once her tore,Oot hit my SNOW
shoe 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 rifle and found that a dry
twig had caught over the tube and mad
broken tire force of the hammer and had
made it tail me. We killedthe moose I've
minutes afterward."
Mr.. Moore's biggest moose was first seen