The moose and deer are the favorite food of trappers in the country where these animals abound, and the trappers of the Far West find in the flesh of the Moufflon, or Rocky Mountain sheep, a delicacy which they consider superior to the finest venison.  The prong-horn antelope of the Western plains is another favorite food-animal with hunters, and the various “small game,” such as squirrels, rabbits, woodchucks, etc., are by no means to be despised.  The author once knew a trapper who was loud in his praises of “skunk meat” for food, and many hunters can testify to its agreeable flavor when properly dressed and cooked.  It is hard, to be sure, to getup much enthusiasm over a skunk, dead or alive, but where other food is not to be had we would discourage the young trapper from being too fastidious.

The buffalo, or bison, is the great resource of the trappers of the West.  The tongue, tenderloin and brisket are generally preferred, but all the meat is eatable.  The flesh of the cow is best.  It much resembles beef, but has a more gamey flavor.  In winged game there is no food superior to the flesh of the grouse, and the great number of the species and wide range of territory which they inhabit render them the universal food game of trappers throughout the world.  The ruffed grouse or partridge, pinnated grouse or prairie hen, spruce or Canada grouse, and the cock-of-the-plains or sage cock, are familiar American examples of the family, and their near relatives, the ptarmigans, afford a valuable source of food to the trappers and hunters, as well as general inhabitants of our northern cold countries.  Here they are known as “snow grouse,” and there are [Page 239] several species.  The willow ptarmigan is the most common, and in Rome localities exists in almost incredible numbers.  Flocks numbering several thousand have been frequently seen by travellers in the Hudson’s Bay territory; and the surface of the snow in a desirable feeding ground, is often completely covered by the birds, in quest of the willow tops, which form their chief food during the winter season.  The Indians and natives secure the birds in large numbers, by the trap described on page 75, and Hearne, the traveller and explorer of the Hudson’s Bay region, asserts that he has known over three hundred to be thus caught in a single morning, by three persons.

Of water fowl, ducks and geese are especially to be recommended.  The former are hunted with decoys and boats, and are sometimes trapped, as described on pages 94.  The species are distinguished as sea ducks and river or inland ducks.  The latter are considered the most desirable for food, being more delicate and less gamey in flavor than the salt-water, or fish-eating varieties.  The mallard, teal, muscovy, widgeon, and wood-chuck are familiar species of the inland birds, and the merganser and canvass-back are the two most esteemed salt-water varieties.  Wild geese are common throughout North America, and may be seen either in the early spring or late fall migrating in immense numbers.  They form a staple article of food in many parts of British America, and great numbers are salted down for winter supply.  They are trapped in large numbers, as described on page 75, and are hunted with tame geese as decoys, the hunter being secreted behind a screen or covert, and attracting the game by imitating their cries.