The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1900-12-07
ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURE
Perils of Hunting Moose in the Ca
madam Mountains in
the Winter.

Nearly all the adventure of the re-
gion of the Rocky mountains comes
from the satisfying of the sporting in
stinct. There is little lawlessness
among the resident population, and
what there is is strongly curbed by
the Canadian mounted police. There
is practically no mining. Mountain
climbing for exploration has probably
caused more deaths than anything
else, writes Will Sparks, in Ainslee's.
Travel through this region in the
winter season, while beset with hard
ships enough, is still much more
agreeable than in the summer. Hunt
ers and trappers usually locate in
some habitation and use it as CEN
trail point from which they search
game, travelling on snow shoes. Even
when a long journey is necessary, the
old, experienced trapper seldom thinks
of taking tent with him, but trusts
to luck to find a big, hollow tree for
the night. Such trees are common
in certain sections of the Canadian
Rockies. They are all old and have
only a thick outer shell. An old oak,
six feet in diameter, affords an admi-
rable place to bunk, provided the
opening is not too large. The expert
enced hunter always looks for hol-
low tree with the opening into it
6own close to the ground, as it pre-
vents the possibility of wild beasts
climbing in on top of him. Sometimes
the man finds the hollow tree already
occupied by bear OF a catamount,
which he must fight or hunt another
tree. If nightfall is already well ad-
vanced there is generally a fight, as
hollow trees are hard to find in the
dark by even the most experienced
hunters, and In most cases the man
gets the tree and the skin of the wild
beast, too.
When the hunter has completed his
work he builds fire in the snow,
not far from the hole in the tree,
cuts piece of meat from his van
quished foe, and prepares his supper.
And never does man partake of a meal
amid more solemn surroundings. The
air is still, and no sound breaks the
silence except the cracking of the ice
on the sleet-covered twigs. Rocks,
canyons and gorges are buried deep
under the snow, and the light from
the camp fire lights up the scene with
a vivid glare.
His evening meal finished, the hunt
er crawls into the hollow tree and
gets into his sleeping bag, lying so
that his head will be close to the
opening. And there he sleeps as COM
fortably as if he were in bed of
$10-a-day hotel in New York. Such
an experience is usually an event to
mark an epoch in mans life, and
yet to the hunter and trapper in the
Canadian Rockies it is an everyday
occurrence.
During the winter the moose and
the wood buffalo are hunted along the
eastern slope of the Canadian Rock
les. Both of these animals are still
plentiful there, and are stalked in
much the same manner as deer. But
the hunting of the moose is more dan
gereus, and requires all the nerve a
man has. The beasts are vicious, es.
pecially after slight wound. They
are hard to KILL and a rifle ball must
reach vital point to drop the game.
So the hunter, hindered at every step
by cumbersome snowshoes, must get
quite near, When the time comes to
shoot he must not waver, and yet he
must be ready to run in case the beast
should turn on him. The least mis-
chance means death, for the moose's
front feet are sharp. 1t has trick
of rushing at a man and striking an
outward and downward blow that is
likely to out him in two. Dogs are
generally able to take care of them.
selves as far as moose are concerned,
but at the critical moment can do
little to help their masters. When the
moose, driven to bay, turns, it always
makes for the man, seeming, by some
strange intelligence, to know who il
the real enemy. For all this, moose
hunting is the most exciting sport to
be found on the American continent
to-day, and the man who loves adven.
ture will get enough on one hunt to
last him until another year. Then he
will go after more moose. But it may
be that he will never come back.