#trophymoose

[misterangler]

Big Game Hunting Tales from the Early 1900s by Graham M. Mott

The fall moon that comes nearest the first of October brings with it the height of the hunting season for moose and consequently, the best of the hunting season. Later comes the snow which closely rivals the rut. Between these two seasons comes the last two weeks in October which are likely to give barren hunting in the New Brunswick woods. As the rut is over, the old bulls are wary, and most of the fools are dead. Generally, ice has formed on the ponds and dead waters. The bulls are on the high beech ridges indulging in pleasant and tender memories of the last full moon.

Yet, despite the disadvantages of the season, the 17th of October found me starting a two-week hunt with Adam Moore on the little Tobique River in New Brunswick, Canada. The weather had turned warm. Two days of hunting convinced us that we had a better chance near the water than on the ridges. On the 19th after working over the ridges in the morning, we visited a lick at noon which Adam had discovered during the past summer. It was located about three miles back from our camp on the Tobique River and consisted of a small pond or mudhole about twenty-five feet wide by fifty feet long. This spot was in the depths of the forest surrounded by thickets of young firs and spruces. From every direction, muddy game trails led into it. The water and mud in the hole seemed to have no distinctive qualities, but something about it was evidently attractive to the moose.

Log Platform

When Adam first discovered the lick, he was confronted with a problem. It was impossible to lie in wait anywhere near the hole without the moose seeing or scenting a hunter before he could get a shot. To obviate this difficulty, he built a platform of logs in the top of a large yellow birch tree near the edge of the hole. A rough ladder led up it and formed a first-rate imitation of the machan* of East Indian hunting stories. The height of the machan prevented the scent from getting low enough to warn the moose while the hunter commanded the entire hole and its approaches. *Editor’s Note: Machan is a platform (as in a tree) used for observation in hunting. 

Read More: https://misterangler.com/big-game-hunting-tales-from-the-early-1900s-by-graham-m-mott/

[nativebycarlton]

#bowhunter #bowhunting #westernhunting #hunting #trophymoose (at Montrose, Colorado)