'toast goes to Isle Royale!

“Okay, here's the deal. I go with my father-in-law/brothers-in-law in the second week in August for 5-6 days of moose hunting. Can't wait! I've spent my time stomping around the Rockies and the Ozarks--I can't wait to get up to the great northwoods!

any thoughts?”

“I heard Moose eat folks with guns.”

“Check out my backpacking site ( Scrapbook Adventures ) for several journal entries from my visits to Isle Royale. You are in for the trip of a life time!

E-mail any specific questions.”

“Just don't go too far north. They say if a polar bear sees a man on the ice, it's already too late.”

“Do you pronounce it Isle Royal or Isle Royaaaalllllll?”

“What is your itinerary? Come on we need details.

Buddur its "royal" not "royaaal". We arent Canadians you know.”

“Hey, Snacks! I already talked to you on the phone about it :)

We're starting at McCargo cove and hiking West to Windigo. Uh, Buddur (is that code for "butter?" I think it's pronounce "'D Island."”

“burnt toast,

Dat would be pronounced da island, eh. Judging from medic girls post, not all Canaydienz tok wit a accent, eh. Hey, when did dey start letten yooz guyz hunt on da island? I didn't know ya could. Geez, I musta been sleepen, eh. ;o)

BTW, I'm a yooper. Some yoopers speak that way.”

“Burnt (I'll call you that rather than Toast, since I have a friend that sometimes goes by Toast so that's mentally taken), just remember, you can "hunt" the moose, but sometimes they "hunt" you. Despite the large number of moose on I.R., they don't always show themselves, and they can blend into the scenery rather magically considering their size. On my two trips we didn't see any moose until the next to last day each time.

The rut was clearly beginning the first time. As we hiked down the Tobin Harbor trail toward Rock Harbor, grumbling about five mooseless days of hiking (meeting people who said we'd just missed one), I looked uphill from the trail and there he stood: a big bull with very unpalmated antlers, just long wicked spikes branching more like an elk. Naturally, I had one shot left on the camera, so I had to quick reload. Meanwhile, my brother, with full pack on, starts working into the thimbleberry plants to get a better angle on the bull for pics.

That's when I look up to see what my brother can't -- a cow with calf in the bushes that the bull is guarding from any potential rivals. I started calling to my brother to not get any closer, but too late. The bull's head dropped to the ground and he charged like in the old WB cartoons where the bull turns into a locomotive, sweeping through the undergrowth with those antlers. My brother was backpedaling (having seen the charge through his camera lens) but disappeared. The moose stopped right where he had been standing. I thought, "I've got to tell my mother how I took my brother to I.R. and got him killed by a bull moose." The my brother's head popped up from the bushes about 20 feet away - pack still on but a rather wild, heart-attack look on his face.

BTW, In the spring, it's the cows you have to watch out for.

Maybe we'll run into each other up there. That's about when I expect to be on I.R. somewhere.”

“I'm not too worried 'bout the moose (I have a couple cans of Counter Assault bear spray left). Ask Snacks about the moose pic he has. I hear it's a doozie!!”

“Hey snacks, nice scrapbook. Thanks for finally sharing!”

“Burnt, I think pepper spray might only antagonize a bull moose even more than it already is during the rut. Plus, by the time it gets close enough to you to spray it, its 1,000-lb. payload of antlers, hooves, and muscle is going to be up to a speed that won't stop unless it really wants to. Unlike a bear, I think you'd want to run from a moose that is charging. Just don't be like my brother and try to get closer.”