Asheville daily citizen., 1894-03-12
SNOWBALLlNG A MOOSE.

SNowBALLlNo A MOOSE.
An odd Hours Sport In the Snow.olad For
ests Of New brunswick.
A party Of government surveyors In
the province of New Brunswick had a
curious hours fun not long ago at the
expense Of bull moose. They were
on their way into the northeastern
forest for their winters work upon the
crown lands. A deep snow had fallen
and the men were plodding along on
snow-shocs in single file. The line OF
surveyors, chainmcn, axmen and car
ricrs stretched ont over distance OF
an eighth of mile in the treelesS gully
through which their course lay. Sud
denly those in the lead discovered
the fresh tracks OF IL moose head.
| ing in the same direction as the party.
They showed that the animal was hav-
ing hard time of it. foundering belly
deep in the soft snow. and was evi.
IDENTIFY fleeing in alarm at the noise OF
the advancing column. Several times
the tracks dcviated from the path of
the party, disappearing in the thick
underbrush of the wooded hills at
either side. But they always returned
to the less obstructed ground in the
gully.
Word was passed lack along the
| line that there was moose ahead, and
the pace was 1uickcned There was
no particular object in ovcrtaking the
moose, as every man in the party had
as heavy a load strapped to his back as
he cared to carry, and fresh meat was
plenty. Besides, the chief engineer
was noted throughout the province as
Il stckler for the game laws. But the
moose was going their way, and there
chase in the effort to get u glimpse OF
him.
They kept up the rapid pace for over
an hour, every minute showing that
the moose was STRUGGLING on with in
creasing difficulty. At intervals the
trail indicated that he had fallen from
exhaustion, and had lain for moment
to rest in the snow. These snow casts
of his big body became more frequent,
and it became evident at last that their
quarry was almost spent, and that un'
less he sought shelter in the hills they
must soon overtake him. A moment
later a shout from the head of the col
umn told that the moose was in sight
The stragglers came up quickly, and
there, about five rods to one side of the
snowshOe trail, was the moose, a splen
did bull, three or four years old. He
was imbcddcd In the snow almost uI
to the back, and was putting like ;
steam engine, completely exhausted.
Now that they had Overtaken the
moose, the men, under the watchfu
eye of the chief, looked rather sheep
ish until one of them, idly picking NJ
Il piece of snow, tossed IL at the ami
NAL Then everyone seemed taker
with the novelty of snowballing ;
moose and II perfect fusillade of missiles
was directed ut the terrified beast. IL,
was too tired to make further attcmp
to escape, hut rolling his great eyes
he stretched ont his head on the snow
the stcaming breath from his nostril
blowing the flakes aside in smal
clouds. The white balls flew in show
.. crs about his broad d-branched horns an,
whistled past his ears, but the onl.
sign of the terror he felt at the un
usual attack was the rapid, spasmodi
: twitching of his short tail, movemen
that was strangely discordant with tn
dignity of the monarch of the Acadia1
/, forests.
After a fve minutes fusillade tn
men tired of the fun and resumed thei
weary tramp, leaving the moose to re
cover from his exhaustion and fright
and to wonder what manner of creu
lures they were who, after chasing hir
:. for miles, had contented themselve
, with pelting him with harmless ball
. Of snow. IN. Y. Sun