Gilpin observer., 1913-03-27

H people. therefore, are sur
prised to learn that in the for
ests of Moldavia there exist today sew
eral species of big game. most OF
which are the largest Of their kind
now living in Europe. The list Of
game Is by no means a small one,
containing as it does red deer, roe
deer, chamois. bears. wild boar,
wolves, lynx. foxes and wildcats. On
one large private estate, which is well
known to the writer, you can find all
these animals with the exception OF
chamois. The red deer here are noto-
rious for the size of their antlers,
which on the average exceed even
those now found in the Carpathians
The roedeer, too. can boast of horns
which put to shame the best heads
from Austria and Germany. Also the
brown bears grow to size which is
seldom approached by any other Euro
pean bear. And the reader can certify
this statement by glancing at photo
graph which accompanies this article.
and depicts roadside scene when the
writer recently encountered travel
ing troupe of bear trainers. 1t is wor-
thy of note that the largest bear in
this group is only a female. and. as
every sportsman knows. the males
grow to far greater size.
Animals Are Large.
But above all animals the giant
wild boars of Roumania stand in a
class by themselves. So much larger
are the old boars there than speci-
mems found in other parts Of Europe
that one is almost inclined to classify
them as a distinct species.
1t is probable that the abnormal
size of the Roumanian big game is
owing to the fact that the woods there
are SO rich in natural feeding grounds.
For here in the vast forests are count
less acres Of beech and oak trees.
while the open glades are densely
clothed with luxuriant grasses and
wild flowers which often reach to the
height of a mans shoulder. In sum-
mer time the mountain slopes are
thickly strewn with a profusion of
wild fruits and berries. so dearly be-
loved by bears. So dense are the for
ests that 1t is seldom possible to ap-
proach game other than roedeer or
chamois by stalking them Conse-
quently 1t is only during winter
months. when big drives are organ
lied, that much shooting is done But
during the past summer the writer
and a friend happened to be staying
on the finest estate for big game in
Roumania. Their real object was a
fishing expedition; but a steady Sc
quence of many days rain laving
turned the rivers into a state resem-
bling pea soup. In desperation 1t was
decided that they must kill something.
Hence one morning. when forester
reported that wild boars were numer-
GUS and much in evidence by their
nightly depredations on his beat we
determined to move our quarters from
n comfortable house and betake our
selves to the woods. where we pro-
posed to try what the Americans call
still hunting" for boars. Since this
method was somewhat unorthodox,
our good host. who was himself a
great sportsman. was rather skeptical
about our chances OF seeing game.
Having reQuisitioned the services
Of two pack ponies, and accompanied
by couple OF forestors. we set out
on a short trek Of about six miles to
spot where an old abandoned log
cabin. on the edge of forest clear
Ing. appealed to US strongly as a good
camping ground. Since my compan.
ion, s., and myself were both old
campaigners. 1t was not long before
camp was fixed up. and towards even
Ing we wandered of to take up posi-.
tions near to the place where the
boars fed at night.
Battle With Mosquitoes.
For some two hours we waited mo.
tionless, save for our enforced move
ments to repel the attacks OF count
less mosquitoes which suddenly an.
peared in such numbers and were so
vicious that they reminded us of
many months which we had spent In
former years on the shores of Alaska
and Siberia, combating by day or
night the onslaughts OF these pests.
Soon after the sun had sunk to rest
beyond the highest peak away on the
Hungarian frontier our ears were re-