"...the call is not a mooing. Give it a lot of life, as you are not imitating a simple sound--you are speaking the language of a living animal."
French-Canadian leading man Guy Provost started his career as a member of the distinguished theatre troup "Les Compagnons de St-Laurent." In the 1950s he was was toasted from Ottawa to Kamloop as a consummate thespian in theatre, TV and movies. By 1970 he was grinding out moose calling records.
The Moose Calling Record genre attracts a special breed of record collector: cheapskates. I picked this baby up a few record fairs ago and have regretted it ever since. For this, the Louie Louie of Moose Calling Records, Provost leans into his urgent spiel with only the ruthless vigor that one can muster while accompanied by sound effects of a female moose urinating in a lake.
Side One: The Art of Calling (mp3)
Side Two: Call of the Cow Moose without Narration (mp3)
Damn, that got me chuckling. So what's a fella to do if he's not a famous french canadian actor/furry? Well boys and girls, here's the skinny taught to yours truly by an actual moose hunter ( K's pere ). What you need are three things. 1) A coffee can. The bigger the can, the louder and lower the call. 2) A shoestring. You brough extra laces into the woods, right? Fucking greenhorn... and 3) some water. You take the empty can ( at 5am in the cold that can will empty pretty quick ) and punch a hole in the bottom. Knot the lace, and string it through the hole. Now wet the lace with the water. Holding the can BY THE BASE in your left hand, pinch the string at the base of the can with your index finger and thumb of your right hand. Now pull your fingers down the length of the string. The sound is incredible, and if there are any moose in the area they'll come running.
It's just not nice to kill wonderful mooses, so I recommend you use this device to amuse your friends and add interesting accent to your live performances. I'm a big fan of analog synthesis, as you may have guessed.
Posted by: K | February 17, 2009 at 12:35 PM
That made my day, Heaven's to Betsy, the world just went up a few points... hot damn.
Oh moose, I won't kill you... but I might try to call you over.
Posted by: James Bamberger | February 18, 2009 at 06:29 PM