Page 27 - A Visit with Max Basque, Whycocomagh

ISSUE : Issue 51

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1989/2/1

tracked it across to Sandy Desert. I always think of that--boy, he was a real woodsman. He never even slowed down, tracking that moose, and I couldn't even see the tracks. And...he said, "I'll track the moose. You keep an eye out." We got into the woods and he was saying, "Well, the next time we come to a creek or some? thing, we'll have lunch." First thing I looked, and there's a moose. And he saw it about that time and he just pointed. And me, I was only 14. I up and shot it. And the moose dropped, just more or less turned. My Uncle Henry got mad; he said, "You son-of-a-gun, you shot a cow moose." And sure enough a bull moose--it wasn't the moose we were after, it was a different moose--it took off. We got good money for bull moose. Call up some big- shot here, and the moose is already shot and everything. And then, (he got a) big write-up in the paper, "So- and-so got a moose on his first day of hunting, up in Shubenacadie." Left: Chief John Noel "In typical Micmac ornamented coat, with red sash; and round silver medal presented...by George III, and gilt medallion presented by the Pope (to Chief Louis Benjamin Peminuit Paul, 1856)." Photo circa 1910. Right: Max's uncle, Henry Sack, and Henry's sister, Bridget Anne (Max's mother); Truro, 1902. (After you shot that moose, how would you move it?) Well, we just up and cleaned it there. And now, I could ask how religious they were--it was a Saturday. And we brought just the liver and heart home. And next day, me and my mother and father went to where this moose was. And a 24-pound bag of flour, that I'd emptied that year, saved all of those bags--we used to buy a lot of 24-pound bags--almost filled it up with the fat from the insides of this cow moose. Oh, it was really fat. About 20th of October. Now, we never went after that till the Monday. And quite a few of the menfolks--I know Thomas MacDonald and the Maloneys--packed it out. We had a horse and wagon, and we took the back road for it, brought it out. But wouldn't go pack it out and cut it up on a Sunday. Good? ness, they were religious. Museum of Cape Breton Heritage Northeast Margaree on the Cabot Trail Inverness Co.. Cape Breton, N. S. OPEN 9 TO 6 DAILY Best Western Clapmore Mn and Conference Centre ANTIGONISH, N. S. (902)863-1050 Indoor & Outdoor Pools / Sauna / Hot Tub / Licensed Dining Room & Lounge Golf & Tennis Courts: 5 Minutes * Adjacent to Antigonish Shopping Mall Need a Radiator? Muffler? Shocks? Brakes? RAD-PRO Specializing in Radiator Repair & Recores Heaters Water Pumps, Etc. TWO LOCATIONS: Sydney [ 349 George St. - Downtown ' AND Port Hawkesbury Maclnries Road at Specializing in Mufflers Brakes Shocks MASTER MUFFLER Springs gS'g'' Sydney: 562-2300 • Port Hawkesbury: 625-3781 Port Hawi

Cape Breton's Magazine