Editor’s note: Much of the film described in the story was shot by the author’s aunt and uncle, Hettie and Bob Miller.
A large group joined Frank Ritcey, well-known naturalist, videographer and storyteller, on a rainy Saturday morning on May 25 for a day and evening full of moose stories. Ritcey shared interesting personal family history about his father, Ralph Ritcey, a game branch biologist who was involved in moose studies in Wells Gray Park as a researcher.
Ritcey’s current projects involve the digitization of reel-to-reel 16mm film taken in Wells Gray Park by legendary park ranger Bob Miller and wife Hettie, and the incorporation of the journals and notes from his father and the Millers during those early days in the back country.
The day’s events had been widely publicized as a “Moose-Fantastic Day”, with guests from far and near attending to share, contribute to, and learn more about the history of early moose studies, the contributions of early park families, wildlife research, and filming in the beloved wilderness of what is known as Upper Clearwater and Wells Gray Park.
The day’s events started with an introduction and orientation meet-up with Ritcey at the Thompson Rivers University Wells Gray Education and Research Centre, 25 kilometers from Clearwater just off Clearwater Valley Road. The facility — established in 1994 — consists of the land and buildings associated with the former Upper Clearwater School, and an adjacent five-hectare lot donated by naturalists Trevor Goward and Helen Knight. Some 500 hectares of Crown land bordering the property is officially designated for educational and research purposes.
In attendance were many people with strong ties to Wells Gray, including people with ties to the Helset, Ritcey, Miller, and Ludtke families, all of which played a large part in the history of the area. A special guest was former Wells Gray Park ranger Herb Green, who travelled from Smithers to contribute to the colourful storytelling throughout the day. He even brought some props, such as the original moose tags from the first research projects and a sample of the ropes used to hobble or restrain the moose for tagging.
Ritcey shared some interesting history on the real Jerry the moose during both the morning and afternoon sessions. Participants travelled from the education centre to the “moose corral” area on Corral Road in Wells Gray Park and visited the actual moose research site where Jerry was monitored.
Ritcey explained that in the spring of 1959, a rancher from Burns Lake named Charlie Simpson discovered a baby moose near some railway tracks, where its mother had been killed by a train. He and his wife adopted the baby moose and named it Jerry. Ritcey’s father Ralph, who was studying moose in Wells Gray Park, heard about the young moose and enlisted park ranger Green to travel to Burns Lake, where they found the young moose and brought it back to Wells Gray for study.
“I’ve been privileged enough to be going through Dad’s field notes starting from 1950,” said Ritcey. “He was so involved and focused on his research that my sister Susan and I joke with each other about not being mentioned in the notes until, well, I was about four or five years old before I got a mention in his notes.”
The reason young Frank was mentioned at last was because “I got hit in the head by our other young pet cow moose, Lippy. Dad had written ‘Frank got kicked in the head by Lippy and she gave him quite a wallop. We have to build a corral for her, but I think he’ll survive.’”
The group laughed, then hiked to the corral area and the Green Mountain Tower, where Ritcey entertained them with more stories and demonstrated a moose call.
Later, a large crowd gathered at Evergreen Acres Seniors Centre in Clearwater to view a screening of the first in a series of documentary films produced by Ritcey, thanks to grant funding which allowed him to transfer the many reels of 16mm film into a digitized version. The extensive footage taken by Bob and Hettie Miller was combined with meticulous record-keeping by the Millers and Ralph Ritcey’s journals, which provided the narrative for this legacy project.
The first film focuses on “the real Jerry the moose.” It will be followed by a second documentary film about the Millers’ detailed films of life in Wells Gray Park with their two children, Anne and Peter.
The evening started off with some music, including the “Moose-Fantastic” song performed by local musician Loyd Bishop, who had everyone singing along. To the delight of the audience, there was an appearance by none other than Jerry (the mascot) himself, who danced along as everyone joined in the fun.
Prior to the showing of the film, Ritcey shared why he decided to become involved with this project.
“At a very young age I was out hunting and fishing up along the Murtle River in Wells Gray with father and he instilled this love of the wilderness in me then. I still spend much time filming in the wilderness.” Ritcey also shared some memories of his time guiding, and working with the B.C. Conservation Foundation, where he taught people about wildlife safety and how to live in harmony with wildlife while packing his own video equipment after being inspired by people like his parents, Ralph and Clara, and the Millers.
“Jerry the moose is an official mascot of BC Parks based on a real-life moose, and he invites people to the over 1,000 parks in our province,” said Ritcey. “It’s his ‘job,’ so to speak, to help show people how to use the land in a respectful manner and educate people on proper wildlife viewing etiquette while helping visitors enjoy their stay in our parks.
”The real Jerry the moose played an important role in the study of moose in Wells Gray Park.”
You can follow Frank Ritcey’s projects, and learn more about Wells Gray Park, wildlife, living in harmony with nature and where his next events will be, on his YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/FrankRitcey.
