Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Liard (Sep 28/01) - It's not a good time to be a moose.

Scores of hunters in the Deh Cho are scouring the woods for a coveted, four-legged source of winter sustenance. Some will search for days and walk away empty-handed, muttering and shaking their heads. Others will have good fortune on their side, such as Floyd Bertrand did.

Fort Liard's Floyd Bertrand and his family have a freezer full of moose meat for the long winter months ahead. He bagged a two-year-old bull on Sept. 16. - Derek Neary/NNSL photo

He and his parents, William and Mary Jane, set out for their camp 35 kilometres south of Fort Liard earlier this month.

After settling down to cook over the fire around 6:30 p.m., a two-year-old bull wondered out of the woods and began to swim across the river. It was easy pickings for Floyd and his father, who had only been in the bush for a few hours.

"That's fairly fast that we shot that one," Floyd said. "It's pretty good, yeah."

Mary Jane used many of the cuts for dry meat, which is Floyd's favourite. He also thinks it's delicious fried.

The family shared some of their prize with an elder.

Seeing as the prey was overly co-operative, Floyd missed the thrill of the hunt. However, he saw tracks from three other moose in the area and he planned to go back to track them.

Hunting isn't just a matter of being lucky, he noted. The odds of success increase during the early morning and evening. Because this is rutting (or mating) season, males tend to rub their antlers against tree branches, leaving visible scratches, he explained.

For the bold and experienced, an old shoulder-blade bone from a former kill is used to imitate the sound of moose antlers rubbing against trees. Floyd demonstrated and said if done properly it would attract moose. But there is a catch.

"Sometimes they'll come charging at you," he smiled. "That's why you have to be careful how you use these things."