Wade paused at certain passages that mentioned specific locations and setup times, the writer’s once-hopeful admiration spiraling into an unsettling drive to find the elusive calf at any cost. By the final entries, the journal brimmed with bleak resolve.
Pages were filled with carefully drawn pit-trap diagrams, instructions for mixing potent sedatives, and lists of materials for building wire snares. The writer no longer called these creatures “majestic” or “vital to the ecosystem,” but rather discussed them in terms of profit, prestige, and the fame that would follow if they secured exclusive footage of the rare white moose.