130 MOOSE

such a thing, I believe that I had a chance of doing so two
years ago, but lost it through a little lack of energy. While
on my return trip from a hunt in Cassiar, one evening,
shortly after we had stopped to camp for the night, we
heard a bull bellow. He was about half a mile away
in some green timber not very far up the mountain opposite
to where we were. It happened that there was a good
foot of snow on the ground, which had made the going
so hard that we had put in a short day of it so as to rest
and have plenty of time to make a comfortable camp
before dark. All that evening, and at times during the
night, we heard the moose bellowing, and yet again in
the morning before we left there. Now it would not
have taken me much more than half an hour to make
the climb up to the place of battle, and as it was evident
that there was a serious war being waged I did think of
going. We had, however, got all the moose we wanted ;
moreover, after six or seven weeks’ steady, hard travelling,
the idea of a climb in deep snow, perhaps only to find
they had moved before I got there, was not very enticing,
especially as there was a most strenuous day’s tramp
ahead of me. Anyway I did not go, and ever since have
bitterly regretted my lack of energy, as it is hardly likely
that moose would have stayed right on one spot for that
length of time, even if the fight was an exceptionally
vicious one, unless there was a most unusual reason for
it, such as locked horns.

With regard to the number of moose that are apt to
be seen together when they are in full ‘‘ rut,” while the
general rule is that only two go together, it is quite common
to find more. The most I have ever seen was seven,
three bulls and four cows, but several times I have come
across five. Any young bull that may be with the bunch
keeps at a respectable distance from the older bulls, and
often takes advantage of their fighting to try to drive
the cows off.

During the “rutting” season, both bulls and cows
call, but the latter not to nearly the same extent. A
bull’s call is hard to describe; it is a sort of throaty