The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-02-05


Nimrods these City sportsmen Area
Nights Bivouac in the Dense Woods
How Woodsinan keeps from Freezing
Tracking Moose Days and Weeks.
Mr.. Jonathan Darling, of Lowell,
Penobscot county, known to fame as
Captain Jock Darling, of the Nlcatous
region, was in Portland the other day,
on his way home from attending the
Megantic Club dinner at Boston. Some
of the Game Commissioners used to slls-
pect Captain Darling of being somewhat
of a Rob Roy if good big deer happened
to tempt him too much in close time;
but these insinuations were never proved,
and now Captain Jock is one of the
best-known game wardens as we'll as the
most famous hunters of the East. He is
well-preserved, neatly-dressed man of
go, whose grammar and address give no
indication that his opportunities for
education have been very slight, OF that
his occupation for AZ years has been the
hunting of big game in the Maine woods.
The Maine Worlds Fair commission
ers, who are anxious that the Pine Tree
State shall show-up at Chicago for all
there is in her, have been consulting
with Captain Darling about an exhibit of
our resources of forest and stream. He
is going to get all the mounted specimens
he can, and only a month ago killed a
fine moose, the head of which he is hav-
ing mounted in Bangor. He also thinks
that it might be well to have park of
Live Moose and Deer.
The moose, however, would have to
be quite young, as it would, in Captain
Darling's opinion, be little unhandy to
catch and tame full-grown one in time
for the Fair He does not at present
know of any tame moose in Maine, al
though one or two were exhibited at
the State Fair by a Frenchman from
Molunkus. But Captain Darling is
under the impression that they were
liberated.
In pleasant half-hour's conversation
Captain Darling told a PRESS reporter
many incidents of his career of fifty years
as hunter. IF / wanted to kill
moose he said, in reply to a question,
81 should go back into the northern
country where the moose are, say into
the counties of Washington, Aroostook,
fPenobscot, Franklin or Oxford, look for
his track and follow him up on snow
Shoes. You must get along as easily and
quietly as possible, and may steal upon
him, if you keep the right way of the
wind so that he will not scent you. You
can't always tell how to keep the right
way of the wind. You might be going
up against the wind, and the moose
might be partly behind you, and you
could not tell. They make what we
call yards in good feeding ground and
cruise round in them. The size Of the
yard depends upon the depth of snow,
several acres being included sometimes.
There are from one to
Eight or Ten Moose in Yard,
and on a windy day they would scent you
half mile. SO that it is a pretty ticklish
thing to get on to a moose. When they
find you out, they go from you on a run,
and it is then stern chase. The length
- -
penas upon 1he oepoh OIL snow. IL some
times takes as long as three weeks to do
it. never follow them so long. If the
snow is not deep so that / can do it in a
day. / won't hunt them. You are going
to oct them upon the start. or probably
not at all on that day. Two and a half
feet of snow. with a crust on the same.
is enough to tire them out With this
denth Of snow. I used to oct one in the
coi1rse of half day. II is inst like fol
1owing q horse IF he is ooing moder-
ate naee and Won can See him close to
Won Won can easily oyertake him. But if
he Gets the start ofsyou and begins to 90
fast. YOU would have quite a lob to over
take him. If a moose scents YOU and
gets mile ahead. YOU will have to follow
him till he is tired out. sometimes as far
as Is or 20 miles. The hunters wear snow
shoes. When hunters start out to follow
a moose. for four or five DAYS, thew carry
provisions on their backs-bread and
meat and hard tack. They camp at night,
build a fire and keep as warm as thew
can and somehow suffer along till morn.
ing. and then start again. | never have
cot lost, but sometimes have got belated