Facing the Hunter by David Adams Richards Read Free Book Online Page A

hunting utopia. So people have championed elk as perhaps the greatest of gentlemen’s game.
    But to call a moose and have the bull answer—or the cow in curiosity appear—is one of the finest feats of a good hunter.
    To wait as a giant bull approaches out of the woods, its rack cracking branches of trees so it sounds like .22 bullets exploding, makes anyone’s heart race.
    To have only three days to accomplish all of this, to have this very limited time to scout out, and kill, and bring themoose out, means for those three days there is constant excitement and movement and worry.
    The hunt starts at sunrise on a Thursday morning on or about September 28, and ends on Saturday at dark. Those are the three days. People generally save up holidays to go moose hunting, and arrive in camp sometime on Wednesday afternoon.
    They have scouted out their area—but you cannot scout too soon, for fear of the moose moving. Too late, though, and you might be second or third man to a place. Other camps might be set up. There is an unspoken rule that one shouldn’t intrude on someone else’s territory. However, those hunters who put their names on trees or pieces of wood to signal their ownership are not always welcome. So one has to be cognizant of rules, spoken and unspoken, and of how the moose are behaving.
    The September days lately have been too warm, as well, and any warmth discourages movement. Still, moose are killed.
    The first moose taken down start arriving at the forest rangers’ station to be registered as early as nine o’clock on the first day.
    Many people who don’t get their moose the first day get agitated, feeling they have missed their chance—especially if other hunters in their area have already been lucky. Sometimes a person will leave a very prime place to go to a poor one, simply because he has talked himself into bolting, and so he spends his hunt in the cab of a truck moving back and forth from one spot to another. Sometimes a man will luck in, even then, and be able to see a moose on the road. Also, people who hardly ever hunt deer will putin for a moose draw and have little idea of where they are going. The idea of getting a moose becomes, for some New Brunswickers, an obligation of citizenship.
    Many who hardly go hunting at all will have been in on a moose hunt at least once. It is a rite of passage, but also an affirmation of tradition, and a signal that this tradition is one that is respected by both men and women.
    There are other reasons for going. For women, one reason is to be kind to their husbands by pretending to like the adventure. To put up with his nonsense. And they do. However, it seems to me more women go moose hunting than deer hunting. I mentioned earlier that the deer is looked upon as the most graceful and wonderful animal, and perhaps more women think that killing them is a crime. However, the moose isn’t afforded this particular dispensation. It is considered by many people to be clumsy and ugly (why this is considered by some to be a prerequisite to its destruction still baffles me). But in all seriousness, the moose is just as graceful. Still, for whatever reason (and the size of the animal and the quantity and quality of meat is certainly one), moose are hunted by many non-hunting New Brunswickers.
    Though there are many experienced hunters in the woods, there are many others there, at this time of year, who have rarely fired a rifle. This is actually something that is looked upon with a good deal of graciousness by the regular hunter. At times, however, those who do not know what they are actually doing, or hunting, can make a mess of things.
    “I will tell you how that goes,” a friend once told me. “I had a lad come in, on Sunday before the hunt. He hadnot hunted moose before and had rarely hunted deer. And never hunted deer successfully. He wanted to make a good impression, which of course is a common mistake, and something he did not need to do. The thing is, you can