The independent-reporter., 1923-09-27

three and three-fourths pounds. It's
entire length was about forty inches
and it is cast steel made by hand,
by d. H. Bisbee of Buckfeld. Grand
father used this rife for several years
and shot ninety-six moose with it,
besides other game. When after a
moose or a bear he always loaded
it with a double charge of powder
and two balls he told me-"
The following article relative to
the grandfather of Mrs. Gates who
was the father OF Chandler Moore,
will doubtless be glad to read again
of the wonderful hunting achieve
ments of Nathan Moore and the fol-
lowing article was taken from the
New York Tribune at the time of the
death of this noted hunter.
"Uncle" Nathan Moore, the famous
guide and hunter of Somerset County
| is dead at his home in Moscow, at
the age of eighty-eight There is
little question that Mr. Moore was
the oldest hunter in the state and
! that he had more game to his credit
than has any other man who ever
| hunted in those woods. For more
than seventy years Mr.. Moore tramp
ed through the great northern wilder
| ness. hunting all the big game animals
which inhabited those woods.
In the seventy-odd years that Mr..
Moore hunted he 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.
The whole secret of this was living
up to the simple rule Never shoot
until you know what you are shoot
| ing at" That rule Mr.. Moore made
at the outset of his career as a hunt
er, and he followed it, with one ex-
ception, all his life, with the result
above told. That exception was one
which it seems was a reasonable one.
One afternoon he was ont hunting
and shot a fox. He skinned the
fox and threw the body into a small
clump of bushes. taking the pelt home
with him. Next morning he went
out on hunt and went over the same
territory as on the previous after
noon. Arriving at the clump of
bushes he could hear noise and
could see something moving. He
knew that it must be an animal, for
| there was no room for a person. so
he took a chance and fired. With
| the report of the rifle a great golden
eagle scared up into the air for
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 lost many
moose, caribou and bear, and his rec
ord was so much lessened thereby,
but he said that he was glad of it,
! for he would rather never have killed
any game than to have a human life
charged against him.
That his rule saved him from
shooting, at least one man, Mr.. Moore
knew. The story of it shows how
cool headed man. even in the excite
ment of coming upon a big game ami
NAL which he has traced for miles,
can have control enough to stop and
think.
He got upon the track of a moose
one day. and started in to follow him.
1t was long chase hut he kept gain
ing for in a chase of this kind, though
it is not generally known. a man will
always gain upon Il, 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 twelve
rods distant, as pretty a shot as
man OF MoOres ability could wish for
Up went the rife. which had never
failed before, and the finger pres
sure was ON the trigger But 1t
refused To work. The lock had froz-
en-. Before it could be thawed out
the moose was gone.
The chase had to start all over
again This time it did not last so
long. for coming into a spruce growth,
the hunter saw, not more than three
rods away what he thought was the
moose, standing head toward him. He
was confident that it was the same
moose. for the breast, as it appeared
through the opening, was as black
as a bear, and in the view which he
had previously had of the animal, such
was the case. His rifle spring To
his shoulder and he was ready to fire.
Then he remembered something.
A moose, standing in the woods.
either face to or back to a hunter.
as he views him through the opening
of the boughs, frequently looks like
a man. Therefore, ii was possible
that man might have the appearance
of a moose, it viewed in the same
way. All that he had to convince
him that it was his moose was that
ii was black and looked like moose's
breast.
Remembering this he took three
steps to the left, and there he saw
his moose was man from nearby
lumber camp, who was standing be- |
side a logging road waiting for a team. |
In telling of this Mr.. Moore says that |
he was never more frightened in his |
life than at that moment,