Daily Kennebec journal., 1895-07-08
MOOSE CALLING.
Wood-Iore Deficient Unless Huntsman is
Proficient in Blowing Birch Horn.

No man who tramps the American for
| ests for pleasure or pecuniary profit can
claim to have developed his wood lore to
a fine art unless his education embraces
proficiency with the moose-horn. And,
like poets, moose callers are born, not
made. To learn to sound the seductive
| notes of the lovelorn COW requires not
only thorough knowledge of every mood
of the wilderness but an intimate ac-
auaintance rs well with the eccentric &C.
tions of the greatest of all American game
animals.
Today, the few moose that roam the
Maine wilderness are the most wary of
all the wild animals. Their intuitions
are almost human, and when one man
has called to his stand and has shot un-
aided one of these broad -antlered kings
of the wilderness he can assure himself
that he has some knowledge of hunting.
The Penobscot Indians enjoy today al
most "a monopoly of skill in the calling of
moose. Few whites can equal them and
none ever surpassed them. With them
the art seems to have been handed down
from generation to generation. To the
uninitiated all calls seem the same but
the suspicious ear of the courting bull
seldom fails to detect the false ring In the
wooing notes. And when once the sus-
picion has become a certainty the court
ship of that particular moose is postponed
for an indefinite period.
The call of the love-lorn cow-moose Is
like no other sound heard In forest. The
sound nearest, and yet by no means like
| it, is the moo -oo-ing of domesticated
COW. 1t is resonant, deep-lunged bel
low, gradually dropping into plaintive
wall, a sigh Of intense fervor. 1t ends
with one or more pctulant grunts. In ex-
preston it is almost human, and when it
rises above the deep silence of forest
night it is weird and almost majestic.
On still night the call of the moose is
heard for miles. The resonant quality of
the notes carries it afar, and it is, there
fore, an important aid to hunters. Crust
ing, that is, hunting when SHOWS are
deep and WHEN n crust has formed on top
that will hold the hunter, but which will
not bear the great weight of the moose, is,
of course, more deadly, but wise laws in
Maine now prohibit the slaughter So the
best hunting in Maine is when the moose
are mating, the time when the moose
horn comes into play.
IHc HiouSe-hOrH 10 siinply DlG OF
birchen bark, rolled into the form of a
cornucopia. At the small end, the orifice
is about an inch across, at the other eight
inches or more.
The night best adapted for successful
calling is still and light; the stand where
the hunter takes his place, on point or
high piece of ground where it will be
difficult for the wary quarry to circle and
get the hunters wind. Rolled in a COM
Portable blanket the hunter waits. The
guide, with the birchen call, sounds the
| first love notes, then relapses into silence.
If no answering call comes he waits many
minutes. There cannot be too much
time taken between the calls, for much
called moose seldom answers.
| But If the answer sounds across the
forest the call, with plaintive note, with
the sigh of the COW yearning for her
mate, sounds again. II the bull comes
| slowly, the Indian gives the challenge of
a trouble seating bull, and with the horn
| thrashes about the bushes. Sometimes
the thought that rival is by drives the
most suspicious Of moose mad with jeaI.
ousy, and they come dashing through the
forest, sounding hoarse challenge as they
come. Success now depends alone upon
the Workmanship Of the hunter, for the
bull will rush snortiDg to the fray. But
If the bull suspects, he may quietly creep
within earshot of the hunter. and under
certain in his fear by a tainted air. steal
away so quietly that not twig is dis
turbed. And when once he is cut of range.
the next day will see him many leagues