In Chapter 2, Paulsen aims to satiate his reader’s interest in the inspiration behind the graphic moose attack in Hatchet. “So many readers demanded to know specific incidents—when and where I was attacked by a moose…” Paulsen writes (Guts: Foreword). Chapter 2 sets the scene as spring in northern Minnesota. Paulsen is 12 and has recently acquired a .22 rifle. He is out hunting grouse when a moose charges him from behind. He can only close his eyes in response. When he opens them, the moose is attacking a small Christmas tree nearby, and he sneaks away marveling at the insanity and madness of the moose.

A year later he is sitting in a farm truck with the farmer when a moose appears and rams the truck repeatedly, eventually wandering away after destroying much of the grill and the radiator. “There seems to be a river of rage just below the surface in moose that has no basis in logic, or at least any logic that I can see,” Paulsen quips (Guts: 39).

In a third moose encounter, Paulsen is fishing from a canoe when he comes upon a moose in the lake. The animal pushes a hoof against his canoe: “One second I was sitting there and the next I—and all of my gear—was in the water beneath the canoe, rod still in my hand, eyes wide open” (Guts: 39).