Nature’s Way

A newborn moose calf rests and takes a look at the world.

It was 1981, during the Spring in the wee hours of daylight, I was driving West of Chetwynd, BC to work on some cayuses and broom tails (both are benevolent names for Peace River Horses). The truck I was driving, an ’81 Ford F350 is sitting in the yard and still needs the bodywork done to be considered completely rebuilt, the economy fell down the outhouse hole and Obama was elected just before I finished the truck.

This is one of my favorite times of the day, watching the early morning mists being burned off by the sun. Yet the peacefulness of the idyllic mountains belies the dangerous run off that is thundering just beyond the trees in every stream and river. The turbulence will kill the unwary, the stupid, and the foolishly brave, one of the most enduring parts of Mr Darwin’s theory that is unarguable, nature will cull the stupid from the gene pool.

I topped a hill and caught a rare glimpse of nature in a high meadow only twenty yards from the road. A cow moose had just dropped a baby calf, it was steaming and standing up within five seconds of hitting the ground. There was a coyote to her left and one to her right, but she stood still with her legs locked and didn’t move. In a few more seconds I saw why, a second calf was dropped to the ground. This one didn’t look as strong and took a little longer to stand. The cow was expelling the placenta and charging the coyote on her left.

I picked up my 8 mm Mauser and pointed it out the window. It would have been an easy shot to drop at least one of the coyotes and then the second if he hesitated a moment too long, but something told me to let this play out.

The cow only made a show of charging the first coyote before she turned and charge the second with her mouth open and her teeth showing. She had now expelled both the placentas, but there would be no time for eating them, this was an epic struggle for the survival of the calves. Both calves were up and testing out their legs, they were about twenty five pounds each with long gangly legs that had enormous knees and feltlocks. There was no time to waste and they were wasting none. The cow would charge one coyote and the other coyote would rush in to grab a calf. It was a major battle and the cow was really good, but if her timing was off or she stumbled, she’d lose one or both of her calves.

Moose don’t kick like horses or mules, they use their sharp front hooves to spear and deliver a lightening strike by one of those front legs can destroy the organs of a wolf or split a wolf’s head in half. These were coyotes, a much lesser animal than the wolf, but still more than capable of stealing one or both of these calves. It is commonally accepted that a battle between a bull moose and a single wolf is even money on who will win. Contrary to the myths perpetuated on nature channels and fanciful novels, wolves are ultimate sportsmen and will singly challenge a black bear or a bull moose for the sport itself, knowing that death is the loser’s reward.

A coyote pelt has no value for the trapper in the spring or summer, so I didn’t have an ulterior motive for shooting the coyotes. Greed was their problem; normally, they would have been happy to drive the cow moose away before she had a chance to eat the placentas, that would have filled their bellies; but they wanted the whole enchilada or should I say two moose calf burritos.

The moose will eat the placentas for two reasons that I have surmised, larger predators will not scent the blood and be attracted to the birthing site and the trail of the new born. It is also logical to assume that the cow receives nutritional benefit or anti-bodies from the placenta. This is based solely on my personal observation of ranch animals and animals in the wild.

After several rushes by the coyotes, they were each getting closer to the helpless calves and the cow seemed to know when her calves were ready to travel. She stood over the calves and started moving at a fast walk, the calves stayed directly under her belly and her huge legs didn’t knock them down as she increased her speed with every stride. The coyotesfollowed for a short distance hoping that one of the calves couldn’t keep up, but within fifty yards the cow was in a ground covering pace and covering ground at an unbelievable rate, the little calves were still under her belly running without a care in the world.

Let me say, I am grateful to have witnessed this vignette of nature and I am thankful not to have been overly tempted to intervene with my rifle. There were several dynamics at work here and there are analogies to our economy. If a coyote was clearly going to get a calf and I shot him or if I had prematurely shot them in some misplaced notion of being the great equalizer in all matters, the cow may have been frightened and left her new born calves to die of exposure and starvation. So what seems like the most natural intervention may have doomed both the calves. Rifles have a loud report, especially when the barrel is pointed in your direction and animals have no comprehension of this terrible noise, it is a horror show to them. If one of the calves was born weak or physically impaired, nature’s way would have been for it to be pulled down and for the cow to be giving all her milk to the stronger calf.

Fortunately, for me, the cow moose, and the calves, everything went well and they have since produced many generations of calves that can hit the ground running: that is what makes the species or the economy strong. Intervening in an economy and keeping weaker entities alive only weakens the economy and allows sloth and poor management to continue.

The Obama Administration or rather Mr Obama, nationalized General Motors (hence forth known as Government Motors) and Chrysler. Dissolved the stock and bond ownership and gave priority and ownership to the unions, to further interfere they began micromanaging by using nepotism to install political hacks as CEOs and board members. The nepotism was carried to bizarre lengths by dissolving dealerships that were not loyal Democrats and contributors.

The end result has been catastrophic, first and foremost investors will never have confidence in any business that is on the ropes, why invest when Obama will come in and seize all investments? Consequently, Government Motors will be a continual drag on the government, because no investor will be likely to invest in the future of car companies being managed by a president. Of course the effects have trickled down to the retail market, only Democrats and a few people who can’t resist a bargain will buy a Government Motors car and that isn’t likely to be a big enough market to sustain that industry.

In a larger sense, destroying consumer confidence is one of the most damaging effects of government intervention and we are seeing the results like ripples on a quiet pond after a large rock has been thrown in the pond. Unfortunately, these ripples aren’t dissipating, they just keep coming and consumers hold on to their money and the economy starts it death rattle while President Obama looks for even more ways to jump start the economy.

Apparently, spending over $800,000 to study genital washing after sex in Africa didn’t have much effect on the economy, but it no doubt stimulated the libido of a few Democrat perverts.

Letting the market forces play out and not being overly concerned with union pensions will do more to establish consumer confidence, like letting the strong moose calves depend on instinct and strength to survive rather than firing a rifle and destroying the balance of nature or of the naural business cycle. Despite the high mortality rate for moose calves from predators, the species is strong and flourishing: American business could also be strong if allowed to participate in a Free Market without the specter of Obama and his Socialist hegemony.

America’s business vitality can never recover until Obama is out of office, he has ruined confidence in America’s Free Market system, because it no longer exists in the Obamanation.