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Oklahoma Station Safari Trails – May 2011

HUNTING IN CANADA--BRITISH COLUMBIA--DIARY OF CAMP

Objectives: STONE SHEEP, MOUNTAIN GOAT and MOOSE

in the heart of the Cassiar Mountains

[Texts & photos of the author JUAN IGLESIAS www.gadorcaza.com]

Part Three “MOOSE…EL GIGANTE DE LA TUNDRA”

[“Moose…The Giant Of The Tundra”]

Foreword by Mike Mistelske:

My friend and SCI member in Spain, Juan Iglesias, shares the last of the three parts of his diary of a month-long hunt in British Columbia. In ”Part One”, in the November, 2010, issue of Safari Trails, Juan recounted the first eleven days of his adventure and the high price he paid to take a great Stone Sheep. In “Part Two”, in the February, 2011, issue, Juan described his successful pursuit of a white goat in the most northerly of Canada’s Northern Interior Mountains. Now Juan concludes his adventure in pursuit of a big bull moose. Thanks again, Juan, for sharing this with us.

The Moose (or Elk as we call him in Europe) is the largest cervid of the world. The adult males can weigh 750 kilos and attain a height at the shoulders of two meters. Six subspecies are known. His habitat is the northerly forests of Europe, Asia, and North America…and the peninsula of Kamchatka, where the largest and most superior trophy bulls have been sighted. In the rutting season, they may be seen along the edges of the lakes and rivers where females look for companionship. In the months before the rut, they can be found at medium altitudes in the Canadian mountains, and it is incredible to see them running across stony areas with great agility. His hair is thick, brilliant and silky. Trophies are ranked from major to minor: KAMCHATKA, Page 10 Page 10