![]() ![]() I grimaced each time Dade, the trapper, was set up as the villain because he hunted animals for money instead of the pure joy of the sport. Like in Henry's book, there's a certain amount of glorifying fox hunting. Kjelgaard, a former forest ranger, knows a lot about the woods and animals, and it shows. I appreciate touches like this when you have a creature whose behaviors don't require you to suspend your disbelief, the ways in which they demonstrate their brilliance become even more impressive. He doesn't suddenly deduce how the trap works, or determine how to get her out of it he sniffs and analyzes enough of the trap structure to determine that the chain is holding her fast, so he buries the chain under a layer of snow and thinks that might help. He figures out a lot of things about hunting and humans and traps, including how to harmlessly spring them - but when his mate, Vixen, gets caught in a trap, he responds in a very interesting way. Star is a crafty, woods-wise fox who doesn't have anything approaching human intelligence. Kjelgaard knows how to tell an engrossing, believable, empathy-inducing story about animals while letting them remain animals. They're minor characters, showing up at the beginning and the end, with only brief mentions in all the pages between, which are dedicated to Star himself. Jack - and his foxhound, Thunder - are actually barely in the story at all. The summary is misleading I'd thought, going into this story, that it'd be a heartwarming tale about a boy and a fox, potentially with the boy taming the fox. My assumptions proved correct: Henry's writing is a much faster, easier read, while I found Kjelgaard's book significantly more to my taste. I intentionally read this immediately after Cinnabar, the One O'Clock Fox because I wanted to draw direct comparisons between the two fox books on my shelf. Wholeheartedly recommended to young readers who enjoy animal stories, or to anyone who appreciates tales about clever foxes. I enjoyed this tale immensely, largely because I found Star, whose narrative predominates, such an engaging character, but also because the unexpected complexity in the depiction of hunters and hunting gave me something to think about. This was not the outcome I was expecting, and left me with a great deal to ponder. And so it is that when Jack finds Star caught in one of Dade Matson's many traps, while pursuing him through the snowy forest, he sets him free, rather than killing him. What seems to separate good hunters from bad hunters, in Kjelgaard's view, is joy: Dade Matson's hunt is all about the outcome, the killing whereas Jack and Thunder's hunt is all about the process, about pitting one's skills against a worthy adversary. Jack Crowley, on the other hand, is depicted as a hunter who appreciates the cunning of his foe, the loyalty and perseverance of his dog, and the pleasure of the hunt itself. Dade Matson, who makes his living from the woods, is depicted as a cold and mercenary man, one who has no real interest in the animals he kills, save as a means to earning money. What I discovered instead was that, although the author does indeed depict hunting as a noble activity, he by no means finds all hunting or hunters admirable. As someone who believes that subsistence hunting is justifiable, but finds sport hunting morally deranged, I was worried that the author would glorify hunting in a way I found unpleasant - that the focus would be on killing the animal as a kind of victory for the boy. Although long aware of the author's reputation, I had never before picked up one of his books, and wasn't sure just what to expect. Originally published in 1954, Haunt Fox is one of Jim Kjelgaard's many stories featuring animal characters - the author's dog books, from Big Red to Snow Dog, are perhaps amongst his best-known work - who are realistically depicted in their natural setting. But when the boy and fox do finally meet, the outcome is unexpected. ![]() As Star pursues his own path in the wild - ranging far abroad to avoid an outbreak of rabies, finding and mating with the she-fox Vixen, providing for his first family of cubs - Jack yearns to bring him down, thereby winning a reputation as a hunter, and proving the worth of his hound, Thunder. When his raids on the farms in the valley, and subsequent ability to elude his hunters, earn him the sobriquet 'Haunt Fox' - "A "haunt" fox was an especially elusive one, a beast with ghost-like qualities," the narrator informs the reader - he becomes the prime quarry for all the eager fox-hunters of the area, from grim woodsman Dade Matson to adolescent farm-boy Jack Crowley. Star - so named because of the star-shaped patch of white fur on his chest - was an inquisitive young fox with a nose for adventure, and a talent for getting himself out of tight spots. ![]()
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