Life in a fire lookout was great for people who enjoyed seeing wildlife – moose, caribou, or bears – and hearing wolves howl. But sometimes the wildlife came too close for comfort. A towerman tells this story.

In 1953…my brother was on this tower and one day the tower started to shake and rumble, and he didn’t know what was happening.

Then he finally realized that it was the phone line was jumping and jerking, so he went down and he followed the phone line down. There was a moose that got tangled in the phone line, of that number 9 phone wire around its hind leg and it had caught, so there was no way of saving the animal, he had to shoot it.

The conservation officers or game wardens came the next day and flew the moose meat out to give to charity, but they were good enough to leave him 10 or 15 pounds of fresh meat.

Paul Peever Collection. Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre.

Photo Credit:
Natural Resources Canada [Moose]