The title is; "His Last Stand".

Here's the story on this canvas:

While working in Anchorage, I became a friend with the co-owner of Sports West; Vern. He invited me to go winter camping in the Tok area and provided most of the arctic gear for the trip.

While I was scrounging for firewood after a snowstorm I entered this draw and came across this confrontation between a pack of wolves and a lone bull moose. I was pretty much hidden behind a pile of deadwood and the wolves were not really interested in me. They had the moose cold.

Wolves DO NOT make quick merciful clean kills. I stood there; semi-paralyzed while that moose fought for it’s life. Beyond using his antlers, moose have an extra joint in their front legs that make them very dangerous with front kicks. While I watched that moose killed 3 or 4 wolves outright and took out another 4 that became too injured to continue. But in the end they hamstrung him, were hanging off him and brought him down.

They must’ve been really starved because they killed and ate the ones that were too crippled to go on. They even ate the bloody snow. For reasons I’ll never understand, they gave me a wide berth and as soon as I could I got out of there. Vern and I went there the next morning (with our guns) but all that was left was a few bones that had been cracked open for the marrow and thoroughly gnawed. I’m going to remember that scene forever. It took me a while to get it on canvas, because I was only in a 1 bedroom without my art supplies.

But this is just 1 of the many things I’ve been lucky enough to see and experience in Alaska and why I won’t move back “outside”. Who needs the crowding and problems when you can be part of this.