We made our plans.

Dad was going to watch where the trails to the ‘Evergreen Watch’ and ‘The Knob’ meet. I was assigned to watching the top of the sunny ridge which was directly north of the ‘Evergreen Watch’. We were a good distance apart and our proximity to the same trail would make getting a moose out fairly simple. A blue sky and a bright, warm sun should have provided a warning as to what was about to happen.

Those of you who hunt know that warm, sunny afternoons (at the right moose stand) can trigger SHS (or Spontaneous Hunter’s Sleep).

It can be deadly - as this story will show.

After about an hour at our moose watches, I heard a some breaking branches and the rhythmic sound of crunching leaves coming towards me. I brought my rifle up to my shoulder and waited to see what the cause of the noise was. As fate would have it, a cow moose ran right in front of me at perfect broad side. I would have taken a shot but we only had calf and bull tags in our gang. When she realized that I was there, she increased her speed and bolted through the hardwood forest. The track her train was on was diverted towards dad.

I used my radio to warn dad that a COW moose was headed his way. Sometimes, us young lads, have to look out for the senior members of our hunt club. To aging eyes - hardwoods could look like antlers.

Unexpectedly, I did not get a reply from dad. He got a sudden case of SHS and was napping on his watch. If you can imagine a piece of blueberry pie for a moment. Dad’s position was at the tip of the blueberry end of the pie. The trails, I mentioned earlier, form the long blueberry edges of the same piece. The moose that ran past me was running up the middle of the piece of pie towards the blueberry tip.

Of course, at the time, I did not know this. Dad did not expect it either.

Fortunately, my sleeping father, heard the commotion of something running towards him and (with seconds to spare) managed to roll out of the way, stand up and ‘ID’ the cow moose. The surprised moose, then turned around and headed back towards me where I saw her briefly running east.

She had heard of SHS in her hunter training courses at the big oak. Until now, she had thought it was just a story adult moose shared with their offspring to scare them into obedience.

We don’t let dad hunt by himself on sunny days.