The moose is a very huge kind of stag, with an ugly, bulging kind of nose. It lives in the forests of North America and Canada, is very hard to get near, and is pretty dangerous when angry.
Long was in a canoe, fishing, when he heard a moose bull calling in the forest. So just for fun he went ashore and cut a strip of bark off a birch tree and rolled it up cone or trumpet-shaped into a kind of megaphone about fifteen inches long, five inches wide at the larger end, and about an inch or two at the mouth-piece. With this he proceeded to imitate the roaring grunt of the bull-moose. The effect was tremendous. The old moose came tearing down and even went into the water and tried to get at him—and it was only by hard paddling that he got away.
. . . then he flings himself on the ground and throws dust up in the air. The jackal rushes in to join in the fight and is quickly caught.
One of the finest sports is the hunting of big game—that is, going after elephants, lions, rhino, wild boar, deer, and those kinds of animals. A fellow has to be a pretty good Scout if he hopes to succeed at it.
You get plenty of excitement and plenty of danger too, and all that I have told you about observation and tracking and hiding yourself comes in here. In addition to these, you must know all about animals and their habits and ways.
I said that “hunting” or “going after big game” is one of the finest sports. I did not say shooting or killing the game was the finest part, for, as you get to study animals, you get to like them more and more. You will soon find that you don’t want to kill them for the mere sake of killing. Also the more you see of them the more you see the wonderful work of God in them.
Adventurous Life of Hunting
All the fun of hunting lies in the adventurous life in the jungle, the chance in many cases of the animal hunting you instead of you hunting the animal, the interest of tracking
it up, stalking it and watching all
that it does and learning its habits. The actual shooting the animal that
follows is only a very small part of the excitement.
No Scout should ever kill an animal unless there is some real reason for doing so, and in that case he should kill it quickly and effectively, to give it as little pain as possible.
When big- game shooting with a camera, you must have eyes in the back of your head. Otherwise your game may surprise you.
“Shooting” with a Camera
In fact, many big-game hunters nowadays prefer to shoot their game with the camera instead of with the rifle which gives just as interesting results—except when you and your natives are hungry. Then you must, of course, kill your game.
My brother was once big-game shooting in East Africa and had very good sport with the camera,
living in the wilds, and tracking and stalking and finally s nap-shotting elephants, rhinoceroses, and other
big animals.
One day he had crept up near to an elephant and had set up his camera and was focusing it, when his native cried, “Look out, sir!” and started to run. My brother turned around and found a great elephant coming for him, only a few yards off. So he just pressed the button, and then lit out and ran too. The elephant rushed up to the camera, stopped, and seemed to recognize that it was only a camera after all, and smiling at his own irritability lurched off into the jungle again.
Schilling’s book With Flashlight and Rifle in Africa is a most interesting collection of photos of wild animals, most of them taken by night by means of flashlight, which was set going by the animals themselves striking against wires put up for the purpose. Schilling got splendid photos of lions, hyaenas, deer of all sorts, zebras, and other beasts. There is one of a lion actually in the air springing on to a buck.
Boars and Panthers
The boar is certainly the bravest of all animals. He is the real “King of the Jungle”, and the other animals all know it. If you watch a drinking pool in the jungle at night, you will see the animals that come to it all creeping down nervously, looking out in every direction for hidden enemies. But when the boar comes he simply swaggers down with his great head and its shiny tusks swinging from side to side. He cares for nobody, but everybody cares for him. Even a tiger drinking at the pool will give a snarl and sneak quickly out of sight.
I have often lain out on moonlight nights to watch the animals, especially wild boars, in the jungle.
And I have caught and kept a young wild boar and a young panther, and found them most amusing and interesting little beggars. The boar used to live in my garden. He never became really tame, though I got him as a baby.
He would come to me when I called him—but very warily. He would never come to a stranger, and a native he would “go for” and try to cut him down with his little tusks.
He used to practise the use of his tusks while turning at full speed round an old tree stump in the garden. He would gallop at it and round it in a figure eight continuously for over five minutes at a time, and then fling himself down on his side panting with his exertions.
My panther was also a beautiful and delightfully playful beast, and used to go about with me like a dog. But he was very uncertain in his dealings with strangers. I think one gets to know more about animals and to understand them better by keeping them as pets at first, and then going and watching them in their wild natural life.
Study Animals at Home
But before going to study big game in the jungles you must study all animals, wild and tame, at home. Every Boy Scout ought to know all about the tame animals which he sees every day. And if you live in the country, you ought to know all about grooming, feeding, and watering a horse, about putting him into harness or taking him out of harness and putting him in the stable, and know when he is going lame and should not therefore be worked.
