Legendary guide Henry Braithwaite was 84 years old when he had his first - and only - accident in the woods. Alone in the deep forests of central New Brunswick, he tripped over a log. His shotgun went off, blowing several fingers clean off.
He bandaged the hand himself and walked 60 miles to the nearest town for medical attention, sleeping two nights on the forest floor along the way. After recovering, he decided it was finally time to retire.
It was the end of the career of one of the province’s most storied guides.
Braithwaite had learned the ways of the forest from the very best - the legendary “Sachem Gabe” himself, Gabriel Acquin, now recognized as a Canadian National Historic Person.
Gabe - as he was always known - wasn’t particularly eager to train a white person in the traditional Wolastoqiyik ways. Especially not a 13-year-old boy who, by his own account, was rather annoying, relentlessly pestering Gabe to teach him the secrets of the forest.
But Gabe needed help. He’d been hired to guide Lt.-Gov. John Henry Thomas Manners-Sutton on a hunt and required another assistant. Reluctantly, he agreed to bring the boy along.
Things got off to a rough start. Young Henry Braithwaite forgot the lieutenant-governor’s all-important personal keg of rum and had to trudge back through the snow alone with a toboggan to retrieve it.
When he returned, rum in tow, he was elated to hear Manners-Sutton cheering him on.
