Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-09-21
A GREAT HUNTER.
Such Indeed Is Nathan B.
Moore Of Bingham, Me.
In 70 Years in the Woods He has
Killed Much Game.
Nevor So Much as Wounded Human
Bens--His Rule.

There are few Maine sportsmen. who
| have hunted in the Bingham country.
SO called, who do not know Nathan 3.
! Moore, of that place. 1t is also very
! probable that the greater per cent of the
| men from outside who hunt big game
| in the forests of Maine each wear have
! heard of him, while among the guides
/ of the State his reputation is we'll
! known, and stories of his adventures
| form fthe subject of many a camp fire
story after the days hunt. There is
! little question that Mr.. Moore is the
oldest hunter in the State and that he
| has more game to his credit than has
any other man who ever hunted in our
woods. For more than 20 years Mr.
Moore has tramped through the great
northern wilderness, hunting all the big
! game animals which have inhabited
those woods When he first started in
to hunt the game laws were few and
amounted to but very little Then the
| woods We're running full of all kinds of
| game, moose and caribou We're then to
| be had as easily as deer are today
| perhaps more easily. There was no re-
| striction as to the number of them that
| could be killed in a season Most
people thought that they would last
forever. But they did not understand
those things then, as they do today.
Had they, conditions would have been
different. No one, then supposed that
the day would come when thousands of
men and women would come into Maine
each fall and spend thousands, yes
hundreds of thousands, of dollars for
a.. .r Oh
moose. Had they even supposed
this, it is safe to say that greater care
would have been used in conserving the
supply of big game, especially moose
and caribou. so that there might be Il
greater incentive for people to come
here.
But they felt, like those who had
preceded them, that all the hunting
would be done by those who simply
wanted the meat or the hide that is, for
gain only. Hence they killed more
game than they should have, as the
situation is viewed today. But it would
be wrong for one to say that they killed
Wanlonly, Tor at that time there was no
indication of the exhaustion of the
supply and very few had even given
that proposition Il thought.
TO get back to Mr.. Moore and some
thing about his career in the woods and
the lesson it teaches. This lesson is
one which, if followed by all those who
hunt in Names woods, would do away
with that horrible list of shooting
accidents which has been conspicuous
With the annual resume of the hunting
season, printed in the papers each fall.
4
has hunted he has killed 276 moose
over 200 caribou, over 100 bears and
unnumbered deer and other smaller
animals and yet he never has so much
as wounded a human being, which is
record to be proud Of And yet the
whole secret of this is living up to one
of the simplest rules which a man can
follow. 1t is simply this:
"NeVer shoot until you know what
you are shooting att
That rule Mr.. Moore made al the very
outset Of his carearaS q hunter and he
has followed it, with one exception all
his life, with the result above told.
That exception was one, which it seems
was reaSOna BILE one. One afternoon
he was out hunting and shot a fox. He
dressed the fox and threw the entrails
into Il small clump of bushes, taking
the pelt home with him. Next morn
| ing he went out on hunt and went
| over the same territory as on the
previous afternoon. Arriving at the
| clunp Of bushes he could hear a noise
| in there and could see something NOV
| ing. He knew that it must be an
animal, for there was not room for Il
| l, 5.J,a nd {Inl
| With the report of the rifle a great
| golden eagle scared up into the air for
a short distance and then tumbled
back dead. The eagle measured seven
| feet and two inches from tip of wing to
| tip of wing.
| BY reason of his close observance of
| his rule Mr.. Moore has lost many a
moose, caribou and bear, and his record
is so much lessened thereby, but he
says that he is glad of it, for he would
rather never have killed any same than
to have a human life charged against
him.
That his rule has saved him from
| shooting, at least, one man. Mr.. Moore
knows. The story of how this occurred
| is well worth telling, for it shows how d
| cool headed man, even in the excite
mcnt of coming upon a big game
animal, which he has tracked for miles,
can have control enough of himself to
! stop and think.
HI got upon the track of q moose one
| day and started in to follow him. il
was q long chase but he kept gaining,
| for in a chase of this kind, though not
! generally known, man will always
| gain upon a moose. AT last he was so
| close that he could hear the big animal
as he crashed through the woods and
over the dry limbs on the ground.
| With renewed vigor he continued the
| chase and in due course OF time came
within sight of his game. He was
standing about II rods distant, as
pretty shot as man Of Moores
ability could wish for. Up went the
rifle, which had never failed before, and
the finger pressure was to the trigger.
IT refused to work. The lock was
frozen. Before it could be thawed out
MIR. Moose was gone.
The chase had to start all over again.
This time it did not last SO long, for
coming into a srpuce growth the hunter
saw. not more than three rods away the
| ,,,ooco .+andipo head towards him, He