The Secrets of The Hunt: Dr. Tony Bubenik

I was 18, I left my schoolbooks on a snowmobile crate in Thornhill one day and took up racing. Years later at a snowmobile race I saw my first real live giant hot air balloon: next thing you know I was flying giant hot air balloons. That's when Dr. Tony Bubenik (the antler man) came knocking on our door, he want to film the moose rut from a platform high up in a giant hot air balloon. We never got around to doing that, but we did exchange a few “up north stories” over a few well aged concoctions. These stories remained with me all my life. I finally learned the secret of the hunt and I shared some important observations about dog/wolf communications that he was unaware of.

Briefly, Tony was a scientist for the MNR in Ontario, specializing in moose and considerable knowledge about Mr. Wolf. “Tony’s specialities in Biology were with ungulates( animals with antlers like deer and Moose) Tony was a world reknown expert and was well thought of in the wildlife section of the Ministry of Natural Resources in the Province of Ontario “

We invited Tony and his lovely wife Mary to our home in North York for dinner, a night to remember. I started to research his credentials before we met, started was the operative word. Dr. Bubenik received worldwide recognition for his work with ungluates, and special acclaim for solving the mystery of the cave paintings in the Pyrenees mountains; the one's with the men with antlers on their heads. 

To show you how far backward we have come since the time of the Neanderthal, it was only when Tony donned the antlers in front of a really big red stag in a theatrical gesture, that he discovered what the cave paintings were all about; hunting instructions. Man puts on antlers, walks into herd; whacks the animal with a frying pan; dinner. After a few beers, he just about paid with his life when the stag charged him. His wife Mary captured the incident on Super8 film; life before cell phones.

The prevailing theory at the time to explain the cave paintings, scholars and scientists alike thought it was some sort of tribal ritual. In fact it was the modern Neanderthals guide to hunting, but it took a further 10,000 years until we got it right. Tory’s wife Mary recorded the clowning episode while working in Czechoslovakia, further down the range was a red stag that came out into the opening. Tony and the stag fixed gazes on each other; both were amazed. The stag was clearly not afraid of the human with antler's, and the human with antlers failed to make the appropriate recessive gesture, as Tony had the smaller set of horns. The stag charged Dr. Bubenik at full gallop; freaked out of his ever loving mind, Tony drops the antlers, the stag stops dead in its tracks. They look at each other in total disbelief, like it has seen a ghost. The stag runs off into the bush. Lesson learned; don't drink and challenge a giant buck. Tony put 2 and 2 together and immediately connected to the Lasceux cave paintings.

This was the eureka moment after the secret was lost for thousands of years: an instruction book for survival. Tony went on to use this technique in his famous hunting treks deep into the Alaskan bush, disguised with only antlers and a big knife, he would slay the beast, quarter it and carry it back on his back; repeating the 20 mile return trip until he had the whole moose. This guy was the real deal.

Tony built and tested many such ungulate costumes for research and of course hunting.

The conversation got around to the aerial platform for filming the moose rut; that set me off into anecdotal balloon stories, one in particular; dog barking. My old friends from the Balloon Days know all about the an unplanned flight, equipment malfunctions etc. This flight was special, I was flying 200 ft above the ground north of Pickering, without power, waiting to hit the ground or something, I observed something really amazing, something only a few humans would have experienced. All other forms of flying machines involve the noise factor.

Tony's favourite dog was the Norwegian Elkhound; it preferred to stay out all winter. Tony learned and practiced chemical communication with dogs and wolves. Biting their lip is the way to establish dominance, as in a real wolf pack. For those a little more squeamish, clamping the dog's lip with your fingers will work in a pinch.

The sight of a giant hot air balloon flying over the country farms started off the usual barrage of dogs barking, I thought nothing at first until I noticed a peculiar pattern. One dog would bark, the dog in the next farm would bark, and then the next and the next: in a straight line. Moments later the bark pattern would return straight back down the same line. Holy *...... I thought to myself out loud; could it be? Then I watched and listened with amazement for the next 15 minutes, they were relaying messages back and forth along symetrical lines just like humans used signal fires; dogs barked.

Eventually I came down, hit a tree as I had no control over the balloon; system malfunction. I went flying out of the gondola, through the tree, and fell to the ground.  The balloon soared up to 10,000 without a pilot, we followed it for 20 miles, it eventually came down in the middle of a big field.  We packed it up and drove home.

I didn't realize it was such a big deal until Tony and I were exchanging stories. Tony told me he suspected this was going on, but had no confirmation. Turns out regular old dogs have a very sophisticated communications network that is suspected to range in the hundreds of miles sending messages back and forth between dogs. Next time your dog barks on the porch, you never know who it's talking to or where. No one has ever continued the research; stuff Tony and I always knew was happening. You have be flying at low level in a giant hot air balloon without firing off the burner to observe this phenomenon. We kept in touch with Dr. Bubenik and Mary for a few years until he retired, he was 80 at the time, fit as a bull moose.

He was more than a rough and tough woodsman, Tony was a true Renascence man, he loved the ballet opera, poetry and especially orchids. When we visited Tony and Mary in their home in Thornhill, his entire house was lined with orchids. Every square inch of wall space around the ceiling with special lighting and nutrient supply. He observed the battle between species, one orchid could kill another orchid at the other end of the house by releasing pheromones. We polished off a few well aged concoctions and headed off in different directions. When confronted with a really big set of antlers, always make sure you display the appropriate recessive gesture.

Tons of great links on the web about this extraordinary man.