The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1892-02-04

class condition and everything was ar
ranged for q three.daysh shy in the
Woods. l kept hearing them talk
about good hunting dog theyswere
going to take with them, but when
they brought it out on tho morning of
our start couldn't keep from laugh
ing. 1t was a little shaggy mongrel,
about as large as rat terrier and the
most undoubted plebeian of the dog
kind l ever saw in my life. For good
ness sake, Felix l exclaimed, is that
the best this country can do in the
way of hunting dog? oh, you don't
know it at air retorted Felix, good
naturally. 1T wouldn't take a moose
more than three minutes to tramp one
of your fine dogs into shoestrings'
And then I said no more. especially as
the little dog took a most insane fancy
for me and followed me around like
a shadow. l saw that his tastes were
good. though his pedigree might be a
little off.
1--WE drove easily through the open
woods, and finally struck camp at a
point about eight miles from the mill.
The men cut down poles and made a
kind of pen house, open on the south
side and rooted over with poles and
brush, taking as much pains as though
they had come to spend the winter.
told them. They built huge bonfire
opposite the open side of the hut, and
we spent the night very comfortably,
wrapped in our heavy blankets
The next morning we started on
our first hunt, separating into two
parties, the three mill men constitut-
ing one, while Felix, the manager and
composed the other. The little dog
went with me, of course, but even
with his assistance we found no moose
that morning We saw the tracks of
some very large ones, however, and we
even came upon one of their yards,
on the southern slope of a hill, where
the snow was all trampled down and
where the twigs and banks of the trees
showed that they had recently been
browsing, but the yard was empty.
When we returned to camp, however,
we found the other party already
there, and the savory odors arising
from the fire told that they had not re-
turned empty handed. They had, in
truth, killed yearling calf and had
brought the choicest morsels of its
flesh to the camp.
The next morning we started out
again, in the same order, and after we
had tramped an hour or two we reached
the deserted yard. 1t was evident that
several large moose had been there
since we left Felix and the manager
decided to lie in wait for little while,
on the chance of their return, while
begged them to hold that miserable
little nuisance of a dog and let me slip
off ard hunt over the ridge and down
the valley for a mile or SO. To tell the
truth l was devoured by frantic de-
sire to meet a moose and kill him all
by myself, and I didn't think anything
else could satisfy me. I was awfully
conceited, but it didn't take long to
knock all that out of me.
81 had gone about half a mile, l
should think, and was wandering along
trying to look everywhere at once,
when all at once l came face to face
with the very thing was looking for,
and was within fifteen feet of it be-
fore l saw it. The minute l saw it l
expected to see such an enormous
brute in the first place, and hadn't
expected it to be as ugly as homemade
sin, either. Boys, that animal was
eight feet high, and you can see for
yourself what his horns looked like
To add to his wicked appearance, he
had evidently been engaged in a fight
with some hated rival, for there were
numerous wounds on his body and neck,
still trickiing in little streams, making
crimson spots in the snow, and his eyes
were fiery and bloodshot. 1t didn't
take me half an hour to see all this l
just took it in at a glance, you know.
, That took about half second. Then
l thought l would raise my gun and
shoot him through the heart. Just as
l was getting ready to do this, howev-
er, the moose made lunge at me, and
made lunge in another direction. l
decided to wait and shoot him after
awhile. l skipped airily behind tree.
The moose skipped airily after me and
reached for me with one hoof. The
hoof caught my coat and tore long
slit in it. l skipped little faster.
This was growing interesting. l went
lodging about from tree to tree. My
whole heart was in the work, and 1
have always been considered an active
man, but I was hampered by over
shues, overcoat and gun. The moose
carried no excess baggage, and besides
he was on his native heath. He was a
greater success at lodging than l was.
''In the midst of our maneuvers we
had come to the edge of the thick I'M
dergrowth that bordered the river All
at once brilliant thought occurred to
me. l would dash down into this thick
underground and the moose couldn' t
follow on account of his great height
and enormous horns. From this point
of vantage l could then shoot him.