Well, actually it can be more like moonlighting at a second job than a "vacation." You see, it's elk season. Elk, the large hoofed browser, aka "what's for dinner." Until there is about 200 pounds of it in the freezer and in various other forms (pickled, jerked, etc), most of my blog time will go into hunting.
Although I live in Montana and am in the hills about 200 days a year, elk hunting is very different from trout fishing, hiking, cross country skiing, backpacking, camping etc. It's a matter of gravitas, this taking the life of another being, and not something to be taken lightly or for "sport." Some neighbors seem to just drive their truck around the Forest Service roads and get lucky each year, but for me it's always a matter of hunting. The upside is the many hours spent in peripatetic meditation, trying to become one with nature, fitting into the seams of nature so that even the squirrel takes no notice. As part of that upside elk lead me to places no sane hiker would venture, in cold that freezes eyelashes closed, in snowstorms that erase my tracks like the passing of the ephemeral beast that I am...
I'll get caught up on the blog, including posting pictures of Little Brother AJ and I climbing the ridges and stalking along the dog hair timber on north-facing benches.
Until then, see you in the hills.
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2 comments:
Be safe and good luck. :c)
Looking forward to learning about this sport. I've never hunted big game but enjoyed duck and pheasant hunting for many years. Take care!
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