The first piece is called "The Battle of the Giants" and comes from W. Douglas Burden's book Look to the Wilderness. Determined to kill the moose with the largest antlers they can find, a guide sets out with a hunter on a multi-day hunting trip during moose mating season. The pivotal moment occurs when the two men come across a stadium-like sprawl of land where hundreds of moose have congregated, and two huge bull moose fight for the privilege of mating with the females and the position of the dominant male. The bulls are both aflame with the deep seated need to fight and be victorious over the other, and eventually one of them retreats. After the truly impressive display, I found myself hoping the men would let the moose go without killing them, but they proceed to shoot one of the gigantic moose because they want his enormous antlers. I must admit that I was repelled by their actions in killing the moose specifically because of his antlers. The men seemed to be exactly like the moose- out to prove themselves and dominate another powerful creature. This is surely an urge that most animals seem to possess, but it is unsettling. It seems so prideful and shallow to kill a moose based on the size of its antlers and I find it very interesting that some people feel the need to conquer such creatures while others would spare such an impressive animal precisely because of its majesty.
The second piece is titled "Moose: Season of the Painted Leaves" and is excerpted from the book Shadows on the Tundra by Tom Walker. Once again, the writing is about two men who set out to hunt a moose for sport, but this time it is from the point of view of the guide who has been hired by a man visiting Alaska and determined to bag a moose. Walker describes the spectrum that the hunters he has guided seem to fall on, ranging from having a true reverence and love of nature-- to the point that one hunter cried when they shot their moose-- to solely being interested in slaughtering a wild animal in a show of swagger. The says that the hunter he is working with this time falls somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, but after he has shot his moose and they begin to gut it, the hunter takes many photos of the carcass. He intends to show the photos to people who are opposed to hunting in an attempt to make them think about the origins of all the animals they consume and to maybe get them to consider whether or not they should really consume animals that they could not handle slaughtering themselves. I found this interesting because this is the very concept that made me decide to be a vegetarian. As a completely tenderhearted animal lover who is fortunate enough to live in a time and place where consuming animals is not necessary to survival, part of why I decided going meatless was right for me is because I would never be able to handle--or even be present for--the killing of an animal, so probably shouldn't eat meat for the sake of not being a hypocrite. Based on his giddiness and photo-happy behavior after he kills the moose, I'm not convinced that the hunter in question wasn't simply looking for excuses to be self righteous in his desire to dominate animals by killing them, but he does have a good point!
The final piece is the short story "Dall" by Pam Houston. While this story provoked in me all manner of disbelief, thought, and flat out hostility towards the male guide because of blatant domestic abuse that I considered to be the central part of the story, I will instead focus on the hunting. In this story, dall sheep are being hunted instead of moose, but once again, it is about two guides and the hunter who pays them for their services. I found the hunter in this story pretty reprehensible as he seems to be the stereotypical inexperienced sport hunter who needs the guides to do everything for him, including telling him exactly when and where to shoot, proceeds to miss his targets, and then when he finally kills a sheep, wants to simply claim the antlers as his prize and leave the carcass to rot. To his slight credit, the aforementioned despicable male guide does make the hunter haul away at least some of the meat, but the hunter's attitude combined with his ineptitude border on infuriating.
Hunter with moose. Photo by John Mackie and from akmoosehunting.com.
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