Jacque
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Jacque |
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The story you are about to read was performed by professionals please do not try this at home or anywhere else for that matter!
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| Jacque is another big bull that we often see
especially in the fall at one of our favorite ponds. Though in the
last couple of years he has not been seen by us or anyone else to our
knowledge. I don't think he was old enough to have died from old age
but he could have fell pray to a hunter or to some other natural causes
like "brain worm" disease or "lung worm" disease or to
a tick that is claiming some of the moose in our woods called the
"winter tick" that thrives in cold weather. Other ticks,
like the one that carries the dreaded lyme disease, are not very prevalent in our area.
To my knowledge there have
been no reported cases of lyme disease in our area probably because we do
not have a tick infestation.
There is a story that goes along with the following photos of Jacque so here we go. I was at one of Jacques favorite haunts one evening with some guests and we had walked into a pond that shall remain unnamed. At the further end of the pond was Jacque all by himself in the water doing what moose do best EATING. Jacque was alone because just the day before he had gotten himself into a fight with another bigger bull that stole his girl away from him. Jacque had been coming to this pond and breeding for several years, the photo at the top of this page was taken on one of those previous years. As you can see Jacque is an impressive bull but no match for the challenger. From what I heard from people who did see the bull that left Jacque love sick, he was a much larger bull than Jacque. I wish I had seen him with my own eyes, I didn't see him though Vicki one of our guides did see him and said he was massive. All of us except two headed to the other end of the pond to get a closer look but about half way to him I noticed he had turned around and was headed out of the water and going in the opposite direction. I knew I had to do something fast so I started making a call like another big bull who was there to challenge his domain. As soon as I began to call he stopped and turned back in our direction and returned the call and headed in our direction. Well, all my guests thought that was pretty cool, and I have to admit I was pretty proud of myself as well. He kept coming closer and closer until I realized this was not as "cool" as I originally thought because ole Jacque was fighting mad and he intended to do battle with this invader as soon as he got out on shore and could find him. The distance between Jacque and shore was increasingly getting shorter and shorter and not only that but he intended to get out of the water right where he heard this invader challenging him to a fight. I had to act fast because he was headed right for me and my guests so I ran up the knoll behind us in an attempt to draw him away from my guests but nothing doing he was soon to get out of the water right where my guests were. I yelled to them to get back on the path and return in the direction had come from but there seemed to be some problem and I'm not talking about the moose. As it turned out latter they said they couldn't find the path. I yelled again and told them that they needed to get on the path and head back in the direction we came from this time more assertively and a little louder. This time they did find the path and started making their way down the path but far to much time had been wasted and Jacque was hot on their heels. Trying desperately to evade a catastrophe I ran down off the knoll and jumped in the path directly in front of Jacque. I yelled at the love sick moose with the first words that came into my mind and said, "Hey big boy you've been fooled so why don't you just turn around and go back where you came from."
By this time we were face to snout, him looking love sick and me just looking crazy talking to this huge lovesick beast. But just like he understood English he turned and headed back into the water away from my guests. One of the adult male guests came back up the path to see if I was alright and when he saw Jacque had left he said, "Oh Dale that was so cool...where is he now?" I pointed in the direction of Jacque and then he said, "call him out again" By now I had had enough excitement and told him I didn't think I could fool him again but the guest begged me to try. Dumb as I am I made a call, and as love sick as Jacque was he answered and out of the water he came again. I told the guest to get up ahead and get the others to go up the trail ahead of Jacque and me. He did as he was told and I stayed (running) just ahead of ole Jacque calling as I went with him following us all the way to the end of the pond where we had begun this adventure. We had to cross a brook with two logs across it and on the other side was an elderly couple who stayed behind because the brook would have been to hard for the lady to cross with her hip. I could see the others all helping one another scurry across the logs and when they got to the other side their excitement was overflowing as they told the elderly couple of their escapade. All of them trying to talk at the same time and as I got to their side of the brook I soon reminded them Jacque was hot on our heels. One of the guests said, "Well, he won't cross those logs." I soon let him know in no uncertain terms he was right, that Jacque wouldn't cross those logs but it wouldn't bother him in the least to cross the brook. No sooner did the words leave my mouth when ole Jacque started across the brook as my guest headed toward the van. Once Jacque crossed brook he decided not to follow us anymore because the invading bull had probably avoided us and gone in the other direction so that is where he focused his attention.
The story doesn't stop here though because Jacque was very love sick and just knew that the invading bull was probably accompanied by his ex girlfriend so he stayed in the area all night.
The next morning I had a tour of professional photographers who were to be with me all day and evening so guess where I took them? Exactly, right back to visit ole love sick Jacque. When we arrived there was an amateur photographer who was witness to the goings on the evening before and she thought just like me that "lover boy" would stay put all night. By the time we arrived which was just after daybreak she told us we were to late and that he had been there but had left. Upon questioning how long ago we discovered it hadn't been that long so I began making calls of the bullish kind. It wasn't long and ole Jacque began returning the calls with short but loud grunts. Within a few minutes he appeared on the further shore through a heavy mist that was rising from the water. Below you will see one of those photos as he crossed the pond to get to the other shore to begin the battle. |
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As soon as ole Jacque reached the other
shore he began making his way toward that "other bull" that was
invading his territory hopeful that this time he would win back the love
he had lost. He immediately began showing signs of aggression and
dominance by raking his antlers in the bushes, grass and anything else in
his path. He would stop and look in our direction and continue to
answer the calls the bully was making. Many times his antlers would
hold broken branches after these raking sessions unfortunately none of
those photos were clear enough to display here. The photo on
the right shows him as he approached us and stopped long enough to look
for the other bull and probably wondered why we were here though nobody
knows what goes on in the minds of these huge creatures especially this
time of year and in the state his mind/body was in. As he approached
us we had to remove ourselves and equipment or he would have walked
right over the top of us to get to the "invader" that must
have been on the other side of us (or so he thought). The photo
on the left shows him after we got back into position again and I began
calling again. His head is turned in our direction listening to
the calls...a little confused because he just came from over there and no
bull was present then.
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