DANGEROUS MOOSE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVI, Issue III, 18 January 1896, Page 79

DANGEROUS MOOSE.

Stories are told of killing moose with an axe, after running them down in the deep snow. * This may have been done in Maine or Canada,’ writes the author of an article on ‘ Moose-Hunting in the Rocky Mountains,’ contributed to ‘ The Big Game of North America,’ * but, if so, it proves to my mind that the moose there do not possess the same wild, savage, pugnacious natures as those found in the Rocky Mountains. No sane man would dare to attack one of our vicious mountain moose, single-handed, with any weapon short of a repeating rifle.’ The writer tells this story to support his assertion :— ‘ A party of river men wounded a large moose near the bank of Clear Water River, in Idaho, and it took to the water. The eager, but unskilled, hunters rushed upon the wounded animal with a bateau. It was a large boat, and was manned by six strong and fearless men. They were either without a gun, or scorned to use it, and determined to kill the moose with axes, cant-hooks, and other woodsman’s implements. ‘ They bore down by the side of the swimming moose, which was kept in the current by walls of rocks, and dealt him a blow. He turned to fight. The men rushed to the battle with shouts of defiance. * The moose struck the boat with his antlers, raised it clear out of the water, and turned it upside down so quickly that the men were all frightened, and two of them were either killed or drowned. The other four were rescued by their companions on shore, after the moose had been shot several times. * The writer himself once narrowly escaped being killed by a moose he had shot and thought dead. He had chased, on snow shoes and down a decline two large moose, and, at thirty feet above them, fired at the larger bull. He staggered, and kept on ; but a ghastly line of blood on the trail told of the deadly effect of the shot.’ ‘ The second shot was aimed at the smaller moose. He fell at the crack of the rifle ; but the other struggled on, bleeding, snorting from a deadly shot through the lungs. Four shots were fired into him before he fell and buried himself in the snow. * The hunter, standing exhausted above the fallen moose, gave no thought to the animal that he supposed to be lying dead three or four rods back. Suddenly he heard a loud snort and felt a rush from behind. As he dodged on one side, the moose he had thought dead charged upon him and buried him in the snow. * His rush carried the moose past the fallen hunter, but he turned to charge again before the man could shoot. His broken shoulder failed him, however, and he tumbled downhill. Again he rose and charged again ; but the hunter, having recovered himself, placed a bullet between his eyes. Although the snow was seven feet deep, and the moose had a broken shoulder, it was more good fortune than any advantage the hunter had, that saved him from being cut to pieces by the enraged animal’s feet.'