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_Habits Haunts and Anecdotes
of
The Moose
and
Illustrations from Life_

_By Burt Jones_

_Founder of the National Sportsman_


To

E. A. D.

This volume is respectfully dedicated.


Copyrighted, 1901,
By
CHARLES ALBERT JONES.

Press of
ALFRED MUDGE & SON,
Boston.


Edition de Luxe.

ONE THOUSAND SIGNED COPIES.

No. 812

Signed by Burt Jones


[Illustration: YOUNG BULL MOOSE NEAR RUSSELL POND.

(West Branch Waters.)

Photographed from Life.]




NOTE TO THE READER.


I wish to extend to the following well-known sportsmen my sincere thanks
for their kindness in contributing to the illustrated section of this
volume: Mr. G. E. Harrison, of the New York Press Club; Dr. O. H. Stevens,
Marlboro, Mass.; Messrs. Harry L. and Louis O. Tilton, Newton, Mass.; Mr.
George M. Houghton, Bangor, Maine; and Mr. John E. Barney, Canaan, N. H.,
who secured the photographs facing pages 55, 61, 83, and 127, the one
opposite page 55 deserving special mention, as, in my estimation, it is the
finest photograph of live cow moose and calves in existence.

The entire collection is copyrighted, and any infringement on the same will
be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.




PREFACE.


"This is the forest primeval." "It is my home." So spoke the moose. Suffice
it is to say, that a prize trophy over one's fireplace is an object to be
admired by one and all. It brings you back to a last hunting trip, and well
do you remember, as you gaze thereon, what a chase it had led you in life,
through bog and alder swamp, until at last an opportunity presented itself
whereby the deadly missile from your rifle sends him to his death. As the
blue rings of smoke from your brier pipe float up and away, you are carried
in thought to the North Woods wherein he roamed. There he lived, a monarch
of all he surveyed. The excitement of the chase, while it is on, knows no
bounds, but at the death it subsides, and you return to civilization to
recall the event only when the time arrives that another pilgrimage to the
happy hunting grounds is in order. On the other hand, you find him as a
subject for your camera. An excellent one, too. Exiled in his domain for a
few weeks and a wealth of enjoyment is yours, as, during the long winter
evenings, you may open your album and see him before you as he was in
life. The smoke from the same pipe will float up and away, and you can for
a moment realize what a happy pastime you have enjoyed while a guest of
Dame Nature in the Haunts of the Moose.




TO HIS LORDSHIP.


    "Deep in the silent forest, where oft I've chanced to roam,
    The monarch moose inhabits, it is his woodland home;
    By silent lake at morning, by logan, calm at night,
    Majestic stands his lordship, stands motionless in sight.
    The north wind to him is music, the tall pines are his friends,
    The rivers madly rushing, o'er the rocks and round the bends,
    Seems to him a heavenly blessing, seems to him the work above
    Of a kind and thoughtful Father, and His beings He doth love."

[Illustration: BULL MOOSE IN BLACK POND.

(West Branch Waters.)

Photographed from Life.]




CHAPTER I.

     HABITS AND HAUNTS. SECTIONS WHERE FOUND. STILL HUNTING.
     CALLING. POSSIBLE EXTERMINATION.


Throughout the vast depths of the northern forests, bordered by the virgin
growth of a trackless wilderness, often with an imperial fringe of
timber-crowned hills, lives the moose. He is the largest, as well as the
most highly prized, live game animal extant to-day on the American
continent. Formerly, this species was very abundant throughout the region
of country extending from the wilds of Northern Maine westward through the
wilderness bordering on the Great Lakes and far beyond; but great havoc has
been wrought, especially during the past twenty-five years, in the supply
of this variety of game.

Comparatively few are killed annually in the United States, and those
mostly within the limits of Northern Maine and the States of