Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Wrigley (Aug 26/05) - D'Arcy Moses has one foot firmly planted in the big city, but the other remains in the bush.

The garment designer is still immersed in the glitz and glamour of the fashion world, but he's also absorbed in the gritty pursuit of hunting and skinning caribou and moose.

D'Arcy Moses uses a double-handled knife to flesh a caribou hide that he draped over a piece of PVC pipe at the end of a sawhorse. Many observers remarked on how efficient his method is compared to using a bone or home-made metal scraper.

Moses returned to Wrigley from Toronto three months ago.

He came back to take a job as Protected Areas Strategy co-ordinator with the Pehdzeh Ki First Nation. He also longed to spend time with his birth family.

"I thought, what a great time to get to see the country, get to know my relatives and go hunting," he said. "Wrigley's been very good to me, that's for sure."

He has rapidly developed an appreciation for hunting. Since he returned, Moses has shot, skinned and butchered several caribou, including his first. He's also been doing some slashing work on the side.

"I enjoy being out in the bush," he said. "I needed a sabbatical from the (fashion) industry. I find, you know, you get soft and flabby after a while."

As a one-year-old, Moses was adopted and raised near Camrose, Alta. He had come back to the Deh Cho in 1995, but became so engrossed in running Nats'enelu, a local Dene-clothing business, that he had to forsake nearly everything else.

Nats'enelu collapsed after he departed in 2001. He went to Winnipeg in search of a licensing deal to market Nats'enelu's products through an apparel manufacturer, but he said there wasn't enough funding to make it successful.

"Personally I went through a very tough time with that," he said. "When (Nats'enelu) was at its height it was a beautiful thing. We gave it a damn good shot. My only regret is that it's not open today."

Moses is continuing to design collections under his own label in Toronto.

He said he's on the verge of signing a contract to launch a line of aboriginal-inspired sports wear this fall. He's also been working on a selection of winter coats to be sold in the North.

Having returned to his roots in Wrigley for the time being, he has been reminded how vital the land is to the First Nation. He's working on advancing the Pehdzeh Ki Deh protected area, a huge area northeast of Wrigley.

"People in this community value their traditional lifestyle more than they value dividends," he said.