MAUDE THE MOOSE

This entry comes from my soul friend from college. It's so perfect for a Maine Summer story that I asked permission to share it.


The true story of Maud, the moose, was a family favorite--

Aunt Loretta and Uncle Moot's camp was on an offshore island in Canada. each summer when school ended, Loretta and Moot closed up their house, packed up their car and headed north. throughout the summer Moot made weekly trips to the mainland in their motor boat to replenish camp supplies.

on one such resupply trip, Moot saw a tired young female moose struggling in the water with no sign of an adult moose nearby. Moot managed to throw a rope over the young moose's head and tow the moose back to camp. the camp kids named the moose Maud and Maud chose to make the island and camp her summer home. Maud wandered around, in and out of cabins, was never aggressive and became an over-sized camp mascot and pet, fond of campfire marshmallows and people, her adopted "family". 

for several years, each summer soon after Loretta and Moot arrived, so did Maud. Maud thrived and grew into an impressively large moose but always remained docile and friendly, walking up to campers and counselors to be petted and scratched. 

then one summer Maud didn't appear. now full-grown, Loretta and Moot thought that perhaps Maud had found a mate on the mainland and had given birth until Moot stopped in a local bar for a beer when he made a weekly resupply run and saw Maud.

Maud's head was mounted on the wall behind the bar and a guy seated at the bar was bragging about the humongous and aggressive moose he had skillfully bagged. with effort, Moot kept his mouth shut, finished his beer and returned to camp. 

                                              **********************

strangely, this true story wasn't perceived as sad but just as a fact of life. 

shooting moose was legal.

Maud was a moose anomaly. 

some people are braggarts and liars. 

being born a creature considered "game" is not the best karma. 

thereafter, Moot settled for buying a soda from a vending machine in town rather than having a beer in the bar.