Walking Out

You have a good year?

Uh, yeah. Sure.

Well, you sure grew some.

This year we have a moose tag.

A moose.

Yeah. I got one picked out.

A bull.

I stalked him for two weeks.

Up there. At the Crazies.

Way up.

There's still plenty of time to scare up

some grouse before dark.

Come on, David.

Put your legs into it.

Let's go! We're burning daylight.

Remember, David, what did I tell you about grouse?

I don't know.

Grouse are stupid and slow.

Not like ducks or grebes.

They even sound stupid.

Not like a quail, huh?

Come on. Let's hear your best quail.

I really don't remember how.

Of course you do.

You were getting good at it last year.

Louder.

Louder.

Loud enough for me to know where you are

if we get separated.

It's how hunters say, "I'm here"

without tipping off the prey.

Your mother. How is she?

Uh, I don't know. She's...alright.

Are you friends with her?

Am I friends with her?

Um. Yeah. I guess.

Is she still a beautiful lady?

I don't know.

What do you mean, you don't know?

Of course you know.

Yeah, she's still a beautiful lady, I guess.

She tell you any messages for me?

Yeah. She...

...said that I should...

I should send you her love.

Well, thank you, David.

That's kind of you to say.

The next one's yours.

We're not going home until you get

your first bird.

Now!

Find him. Get behind him.

Come on up on him. Come on up on him.

You blinked.

David! David!

It's alright, relax and get your dinner.

Come on.

Breathe.

Safety.

Don't close your eyes.

You can't quit.

It's hard, I know.

Then it gets easier. Alright?

All of a sudden it gets very easy.

It's not easy.

It'll never be easy.

You'll get a bird.

I know you will.

Just use your muscle memory.

Easy, easy.

You hit him.

- You sure? - Yeah, I'm sure.

You winged him. He faltered and dropped.

I don't understand it.

You crippled him.

He couldn't have gone far.

I probably just didn't hit him.

You hit it, David.

I don't know how you couldn't see that.

You never leave what you shot behind.

If you had a dog, we could find it right away.

We had a dog when I was little.

Why don't you have one now?

Since you're...

...you know... already alone.

Isn't that what dogs are for?

I don't know what dogs are for, David.

All I know is I don't give that much love

to a creature who would only live

a dozen or so years.

That bird must have run off and hidden itself

to die in the darkness.

I'm sorry.

You used to sleep like a puppy

in the crook of my arm.

I remember that day.

It's like a memory of a memory.

Yeah.

That whole damn set-up was your mother's idea.

She even got me to put gunk in my hair.

That's a good picture of grandpa.

- Did you take that? - Mm-hmm.

You remember him at all?

Your grandfather?

I remember his funeral.

Oh, wasn't his best day exactly.

That's all I really remember about him.

That and his face scratching me

when he kissed me.

Oh, yeah.

- Sandpaper. - Yeah.

He always smelt of pipe tobacco.

Gunpowder.

Jack pine.

What about those moose?

What about moose?

Are they stupid and slow, like grouse?

No. No, moose are different.

They're regal.

Up in Alaska they get so tall

a grown man can walk under a moose's belly

and never touch fur.

Oh, yeah. You'll see.

So...why kill them then?

If they're so...royal?

Well, they make 600 pounds of delicious meat.

A winter's worth.

It is way better than a Thanksgiving turkey.

I told mom I'd call her when I got here.

Well, you won't find a signal up here.

Should have called her from town.

About time you cut loose from Katie's apron strings anyhow.

What, so there's...

...there's no way I can talk to her?

Well, there's always the two-way in an emergency.

Emergency.

Are moose dangerous?

They're no joke.

Won't be like one of your asinine games.

Can't start over at the first sign of trouble.

This year we hunt big game.

This year you'll get your first kill.

David.

Put that away.

Well, put that damn toy away.

I don't want to see it again.

If I do, I'll smash it to smithereens.

You wearing long johns?

It'll be freezing up above.

Long johns, wool socks, mittens.

Mom went over that checklist you sent

and doubled it.

She remembers how cold it gets up here.

Mittens.

Mittens for her kittens.

Here.

Here's something she didn't double.

That's simpler than the over-and-under

you used yesterday.

It's heavier. Packs a hell of a punch.

This is the rifle I shot my first moose with

when I was 14.

Your grandfather gave me this gun.

Safety. Click.

It's not moving like those grouse though.

Well, if we come up on that moose quiet

like we're meant to, he won't be moving either.

Be a tad bit bigger than a coffee can too.

His heart's about the same size.

Now breathe out slowly.

You won't need that where we're going.

What if it keeps snowing?

Or we get lost?

You worry too much.

Like your mother.

I'm just not used to being so...

...remote.

Well, you're not remote. You're with me.

And we are here.

Just up that drainage.

At the head of the creek.

How far is it?

Five miles, give or take.

We won't barely break a sweat.

Is that where you saw the moose?

No. That's where I saw the sheepman's hut.

The moose is up further.

How much further?

All the way further. It's up on top.

We have to sleep in a hut?

Yeah.

Why didn't we just bring a tent?

Why should we haul a tent up there

when we already have a perfectly good hut?

I...

I don't want to sleep all

squashed up next to you...

...in a smelly sheepman's hut.

You just think what you'll tell those kids

back in Briar Meadow. Hm?