skin the cold wind from
the glaciers soon chilled me to such a degree that I was unable to
remain quietly in one place and allow the game to get in a favorable
position for a stalk. I had been obliged to keep constantly going, and
this frequently meant shooting at long range. With the exception of the
rams shot on the eleventh and thirteenth of September, I had killed
nothing under three hundred yards. Therefore much of the sport in
making a careful and proper stalk had been lost.
My success with the white sheep had come only with the hardest kind of
work, but I now had five really fine heads--which I later increased to
six, my limit. I was quite satisfied with the measurements of these
horns along the curve, but had hoped to have shot at least one which
would tape over 14 inches around the butts, although this would be
extreme, for the horns of the white sheep do not grow so large as the
common Rocky Mountain variety. They are also much lighter in color. I
believe that large and perfect heads will be most difficult to find a
few years hence in this section, and the sportsman who has ambitions in
this direction would do well not to delay his trip too long; for this
range of hills is not over large, and unless these sheep have some
protection, it is only a question of time before they will be almost
entirely killed off.
V.
HUNTING THE GIANT MOOSE
On September 17 we packed up and moved down the lake several miles,
where we made another base of supplies, for we were now going upon the
moose range.
The rutting season of the moose begins on the Kenai Peninsula about the
15th of September, and lasts, roughly speaking, for one month. At this
time the bulls come from the remote places where they have passed the
summer and seek the cows, and the country which they now roam is
generally the high tablelands which lie at the base of the mountains
just below the timber line. We had timed our hunt to be in the moose
range during this season, for then the bulls are bold, and not so
difficult to find.
Bull moose differ from the rest of the deer family in not getting
together a big band of cows, but pair off. The female remains with the
bull only a short time, and then slips away, and then the bulls roam the
forest in search of other partners. They are now very fearless, and if
they come upon a female accompanied by another bull, fight gallantly to
get possession of her. Their sense of smell is rather dulled at thi
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