The Apple of the Wilderness

The man wakes up in noises, growling and restless movement of his dog fill the air. It is dark and cold, October in Finland has showed it´s strength and turned a fall to winter in one night. “What are you up to” asks a man from his dog while he gets out from sleeping bag, chills and the cold air hits him like a harpoon when he acts as he tries to wear an old army longsleeve before the coldness gets to him, “damn, im not fast enough, man thinks and makes a fuss.

During the night the temperature has fell down a lot, the scenery is covered with a frost. The man looks at the direction where the dog is growling at, but he cannot see through the light area of the camp fire. It is still total darkness even time is already 05 am. The dog, a Finnish Spitz already starts barking with anger in its voice, and a man thinks: “should I let him loose or what?” But the tracks of wolves in the ground yesterday make him change his mind. He knows that even if there is a bear, moose of something else the dog will manage. But he would not want his dog to get in touch with wolves.. Actually the wolf tracks we´re the reason a man changed his plans for yesterday. He bumped in the tracks 7 kilometers away from todays camp, just in the place where he wanted to make his camp for the night. In the borders of Salla Wilderness area and close to Russian border he changed his plans and walked 7 km more to get out of wolves territory, just because of the dog and its safety.

Man talks to his dog in relaxing sound while he dresses in a hurry, as soon as he gets his shoes on he starts walking to a direction that dog points. He is tensed when he walks into dark and unforgiving woods of north, “oh man, I should´ve took my gun” he thinks while he is grabbing the knife on his belt while the dog is barking in scared sound since he does not see his owner anymore. The man has started to have serious regrets and is about to turn around when the bushes turn alive, huge noise of flapping and breaking branches fills the air, while man scares and falls on his ass. He sees big checked out capercaillie flying through trees and towards a freedom with a fear of death in its mind. Man sits on frosty ground scared with hes eyes open and starts laughing with his mouth open. Man returns to his camp swearing at the capercaillie, lets his dog loose and starts cooking breakfast. The smell of coffee fills the air as he enjoys the silence of the wilderness.

The morning starts to have its first light when a man is drinking hes coffee from a wooden cup as the dog is nervously searching where to find that big bird that just woke them up. Man gathers his stuff to a back pack, but leaves the shelter intact, “you never know if I come back for some reason or some day”. A river next to his camp showed its prizes already in yesterday as he saw a big trout escaping when he was getting water to his evening coffee. “some day I will be here just for fishing”, he thought as he was making his way to south. Todays plan was to walk south for 5 kilometers, go across the same river he was camping next to and continue towards north for 10 kilometers to reach the cabin in the middle of the wilderness. Sauna in the cabin was tempting him, since he had been walking for five days in a row, without a good wash. Only freezing quick washes in the icy rivers we´re keeping him some what reminder of human.

Man walks calmly in the clean wilderness, stops every once in a while to wait for his dog to make a search. At some point of his walk, after few hours he hears sound of cracking branches and his dog starts “the singing”. While the dog barks he closes the area walking upwards to the hill, “why it is always in uphill side” he swears as he closes the sounds with sweat in his forehead and breathing heavily.. Soon he gets close enough to see the dog, there is an old river groove in high ground and dog is barking in that groove towards old spruce trees. Suddenly the growling and snuffle fills the air. Dog runs 20 meters away from the sound like a lightning, just to return back in 20 seconds. Dog is barking angrily, foam is coming from his mouth as he works moving rapidly all the time. Now there is a serious enemy for the dog, you can see it from the behavior and you can hear it, as the growling, snuffing and breaking trees sounds fill the wilderness. A man looks his bird caliber weapon, shakes his head with tense look in his eyes. “not with this one, I can not defeat this beast today” He thinks as he starts to back up, after 30 meters he starts to make sounds by breaking branches while he looks towards carefully, gun pointing towards the sounds all the time. After few branches he hears running sounds, luckily away from him. Dog whimpers as he follows the beast until the man can not hear anymore. He carefully walks across the spruce forest where the bear was just few minutes ago, takes a direction towards North and sets up a fire after few hundreds meters. He is cooking some moose meat in a stick and drinking coffee, he is so relaxed. Just waiting for hes dog arrive from bear hunt. He knows that the bear will not stop soon, since he has been alarmed by people smell and noices. Normally bear run straight away 30 km to Russia and to safety in these cases, he just hopes that the border line has proper fence to stop the dog going to wrong country. After few hours the dog returns all wet and tired, he sits next to a man and looks sharply with his brown eyes. Man talks to a dog, he tells him not to engage any bears on this trip anymore. “I don’t have the gun to take it down and we do not have a license to shoot it”. Dog looks at a man and if it could speak he would probably be saying “Ok, if you don´t dare then you don´t dare”.

The couple continue their journey up North and finally they arrive to the cabin. Man lifts their game, a capercaillie to hang next to a door and they enter a cold cabin. As the night is coming the couple lie down on a bed with full stomach, they are happy. “could it be better, full stomach, clean clothes and a best friend by my side” thinks a man when dog settles his head on a mans chest. The dog falls asleep soon followed by a man and the cabin in the wilderness is filled by sounds of a sleeping brothers and a fire place sounds. They are dreaming of next days and next journeys together.

The Last Frost

The Last Frost

The car stops to the end of the dirt road, dog whimpers in the back seat nervously waiting for the man and the license to rush to frosty morning of October. Sound of front door shut and the back door opens making creeking sound in frozen air of North, man pets a dog and talks to it in soft voice. The vapor from breath and talking rises from mans lips as he reaches for dogs collar and unleashes him saying excitedly “go get them, go get them”. Dog rushes from the car in youthful enthusiasm, but the man looks from distance and shakes his head as the dog is looking so stiff, still the dog runs with its best effort to the pine woods that no man has laid his hands on with the saw, keeping his nose high and seeks for the scent of Capercaillies, bears, moose and grouses.

The man looks sad in the eyes and talks to himself “he sure has the effort, but this seems to be the last frost to you my brother”. Dog is old already, his mind is like a razor, sharp and quick but those extra moves and lightning fast direction changes from the youth are in the past. At home all the fuss and running from window to window are gone also, man walks slowly in old scenic pine woods and looks dogs work giving him cheerful shouts from time to time. Dog works hard, he runs far away seeking game and comes back in 20 minutes to check the man and to see the direction of advance. Dog always comes from behind touching the man with is nose to a knee, as offsetting the calculator to the next round of search. Dog does not see very well anymore, hes hearing is not good anymore but the nose works like a young lion, with hes sens of smell the dog finds all the game from nearest kilometer, but because of the hearing and eye problem he no longer finds the birds from the trees. From every round the dog makes it arrives seemingly chagrined. Sometimes when the bird has checked out the dog starts barking to the scent, he knows he is doing wrong but the smell is too strong for him and he cannot help it, man walks by and spoils the joy by saying “quit it”.

Dogs pointy ears fall to the side and it speeds by man continuing hes work. After an hour of walking the man whistles loudly as the dog is on its search, takes an axe from back pack and starts preparing a fire from a tar stump. Dog never hears the whistle but from the old habbit and over a decade of journeys together he knows how to act and arrives after half an hour with his nose up a looking where the man is since he is not walking anymore. Dog sits next to a man and pant but changes a place because the fire blows its ugly and bad smelling smoke to his face.

The old dog lies down and closes his eyes but the nose is living his own life, it circles and does its work all the time the dog seems to be sleeping and when the man opens the sausage package with his knife the nose goes wild just before dog jumps up and gets closer to a man. Old brother knows already since he is experienced dog “I am just about to get treats” he thinks. Man talks to a dog like to his only love, pets him, says nice things to him and of course gives him a piece of a sausage in the end. Man gets up, lifts hes back pack and asks the dog: “go get them?”

Dog starts working again and a man thinks he is going to circle around a small swamp an head back to a car, he does not want to wear down an old dog. In five minutes a man hears a sound of checked out black grouse, then surprisingly he hears hoarse barking of an old dog. He looks stunned as he walks closer cautiously: “that is a damn surprise” he thinks while he drops in to hes knees and starts crawling closer to see what the dog barks about. Soon he sees a young female grouse in the lowest branch of a pine and old almost grey Finnish Spitz under a tree barking to a bird, keeping the birds eyes to himself and pointing with hes nose exactly where the game is. Man looks the situation, smiles a little and becomes sensitized, lifts a gun and shoots down the bird that drops almost in dogs mouth.

Oh man how the old brother gets excited, he growls, barks, runs between the man and the bird, licks the mans face, he talks to the man in his own way: “look daddy, look daddy what I got for you, look what I catch for you”. Dog looks with its brown big eyes when a man walks to a bird and takes a knife, carefully takes out the guts and lifts heart, lungs and kidneys to dog. Dog waits until they get a little colder and eats them with good appetite, licks hes lips and gets ready to carry on.

After short walk man and his blood brother arrive to a car, dog looks surprised and confused even he sure knew where they we´re heading. Man can get lost in the woods but Finnish Spitz never does, but when the man starts calling him in to a car he realizes that this fun ended too soon. Dog sits 50 meters away from the car ears pointing to the side, he does not like the situation at all, he hates it. Dog tries to bark, whine and growl to a man that: “lets go, we always stay here days, weeks.. I do not want to go home”. Man sits on a stump next to a car with sadness and longing in hes eyes, he also smiles at the same time when tears fall in hes face, he tries to hide them.. he tries to hide his tears from a dog? The man takes his time and tells the dog in strict tone “Riko in the car now”. Dog runs to a man, jumps in to a car and does not even look the man when he puts a collar on, talks to it, pets and gives greetings with tears in hes eyes. Dog is hurt, he is confused and angry, why so short trip?

Man drives home, takes dog inside, gives him tasty food and massages dogs muscles in the mans own room, man talks to a dog. He talks things that even most of the closest humans in hes life will never hear ever, the man trusts his dog and the dogs trust to a man is like a mountain.

Nine months after the last hunting trip with a man the dog makes a little bit more fuss with a man. He wants to come close, licks a mans arm, enjoys from his touch. He is old, mostly lying but always follows the man where ever he goes. Night falls and the man and the dog put their heads on the same pillow and fall asleep.

When the morning comes a man sees that the dog has closed his eyes for the last time, man looks behind him as making sure that his wife has gone to work and his kids have gone to school. Man takes his best friend in to his laps, pets him and talks to him, remembering the old days and the good trips when young 8 months old Finnish Spitz enters the room. Young spitz smells carefully his best friend, starts whining and goes away with his tail down. Man puts his head down and his shoulders jump up and down for a while.

Man walks to his yard, digs a hole in the ground and carries his brother and best friend to the hole, puts him on his favourite blanket, lifts a big juicy bone next to his best friends head, shovels the hole full and strangely shakes leaning to the shovel. Man wipes his eyes and goes to a garage to work on a sign to his best friend, best friend who has slept hundreds of nights with him nose to nose in wilderness. Best friend who had given his life for this man if it would be the case. Man remembers all, all the feelings of joy, all the feelings of friendship in the wilderness not just because of the man but just because of the brotherhood and the feeling of being one, disappointments and happy moments, all the sights that his best friend is happy. The man feels happy afterall, there would be things in his mind that no one could take away, no one.