Vince is home. 
(This is a warning to any sensitive readers out there. Following are pictures from his trip. Most of them are beautiful. Some of them are about hunting and 'harvesting wild game'. Also is the abbreviated story from his hunt. It's a story about hunting. It's not gruesome, but if you are sensitive...you might want to skip it.)Vince had a good time. Of course, that said, he felt it was too long away from home, to far away from home, ect. This is the perfect way for him to say to me that he had a good time...with plenty of "...but..." involved. I always miss him when he is gone and he knows just how to tell me that he has had a good time without making me feel like he wanted to be away from me. Yes, I realize I've been blessed!
If you would like precise details about this excursion please call him. The story of a hunt is not something that I can articulate clearly. This is a part of the male psyche that I don't get. I know that humans need to eat and that this activity has been hard wired into our brain stem and should be as natural to us as picking peaches. 
I know that there is an element of anticipation and excitement. I know that these men willingly sit quietly surrounded by gnats in the cold for hours. I don't get it. I think this is a genre that is wonderful (and it is such a good story that it is worth hearing in guy speak), but it is out of my artistic league.For those who are curious but can not call or come by for the story themselves , I will give the story in the girl friendly Spark Notes version. 
This float trip occurred on the Reed River which is in the preserve around Gates of the Arctic National Park. It is beautiful place. The river is fast moving and deep. It is not one that requires any portaging of raft. The river is moving so quickly that their biggest concern was moving too fast and getting to the pick up zone before schedule. Because of this, the group had enough time to stop and hunt and fish on their way.
There was a slough off of the river that the guys were floating that Vince thought looked like a good location. He was walking and sitting and napping besides the slough enjoying the outdoors. 
After a while, he began to make a moose call. Before long he found that he had called a moose in. It was a large, obviously legal animal. He had a clean shot. The moose turned casually and sat down in a lovely location. Vince stood by waiting for the last breath.
In the next second he heard another bull moose run toward him at full gate. This is unusual because usually animals run AWAY from the sound of gun shot. Vince stood back and braced himself because he could not be sure what the second moose was going to do. Fortunately, this second moose and Vince were very startled by each other and both stopped to stare at each other.
Vince had unknowingly called in this second bull moose who had arrived to fight with the first, who at this point was nearly dead. (Here is where I can put in a Princess Bride Movie reference, but for the sake of this presentation will not.)
Perhaps it was the pheromones in the air, the call of nature, the urge to not go down without a fight, but this bull decided to use his last breath to stand up and fight the second bull.
Unfortunately for him, he took what could have been a beautiful and peaceful exit from this earth and made it a huge mess by standing up from his dry comfortable resting place. Once he rose he took his last deep breath and tumbled over, upside down right into the slough.
Vince hiked back to camp to get Russ and Ty. When they returned they found bull number two standing over bull number one.
We have all had fun making a thought bubble over that second moose's head. We went from "You think you can hide from me!" to "What? It was a trick?"
Next came the unusually long and excruciating cleaning process. Getting a 1500 pound animal out of a slough to butcher it is difficult to say the least. It took the three of them 7 hours to finish and get back to camp.
That was the last moose they saw. On the last day of their hunt there was a 'bear event' that was scary and had a disappointing ending for the bear. This bear was an ego maniac and had no problems getting aggressive with the boys. He would not go away. He would not stop being aggressive. Call the house to hear Vince tell the story.
This float trip occurred on the Reed River which is in the preserve around Gates of the Arctic National Park. It is beautiful place. The river is fast moving and deep. It is not one that requires any portaging of raft. The river is moving so quickly that their biggest concern was moving too fast and getting to the pick up zone before schedule. Because of this, the group had enough time to stop and hunt and fish on their way.
There was a slough off of the river that the guys were floating that Vince thought looked like a good location. He was walking and sitting and napping besides the slough enjoying the outdoors. 
After a while, he began to make a moose call. Before long he found that he had called a moose in. It was a large, obviously legal animal. He had a clean shot. The moose turned casually and sat down in a lovely location. Vince stood by waiting for the last breath. In the next second he heard another bull moose run toward him at full gate. This is unusual because usually animals run AWAY from the sound of gun shot. Vince stood back and braced himself because he could not be sure what the second moose was going to do. Fortunately, this second moose and Vince were very startled by each other and both stopped to stare at each other.
Vince had unknowingly called in this second bull moose who had arrived to fight with the first, who at this point was nearly dead. (Here is where I can put in a Princess Bride Movie reference, but for the sake of this presentation will not.)
Perhaps it was the pheromones in the air, the call of nature, the urge to not go down without a fight, but this bull decided to use his last breath to stand up and fight the second bull.
Unfortunately for him, he took what could have been a beautiful and peaceful exit from this earth and made it a huge mess by standing up from his dry comfortable resting place. Once he rose he took his last deep breath and tumbled over, upside down right into the slough.Vince hiked back to camp to get Russ and Ty. When they returned they found bull number two standing over bull number one.We have all had fun making a thought bubble over that second moose's head. We went from "You think you can hide from me!" to "What? It was a trick?"
Next came the unusually long and excruciating cleaning process. Getting a 1500 pound animal out of a slough to butcher it is difficult to say the least. It took the three of them 7 hours to finish and get back to camp.That was the last moose they saw. On the last day of their hunt there was a 'bear event' that was scary and had a disappointing ending for the bear. This bear was an ego maniac and had no problems getting aggressive with the boys. He would not go away. He would not stop being aggressive. Call the house to hear Vince tell the story.
Because Russ and Vince have strong hunting ethics they had planned on eating the bear. When they started cutting into it the meat stunk so badly of rotting fish that they could not do it. Vince said it would actually have made the perfect Micronesian/South East Asian meal: Meat with the taste of putrid fish. The Paag brothers really laughed at the truth in that. Ty took the hide to the taxidermist.
The evening before Vince was home I was delighted with a phone call from Vince, Russ, and my old friend Kimmy. She has been on many hunts and can relate to the thrill of this great catch. I told her about the 61 inch rack and she started laughing. When I asked her what was so funny, she said, "Alana, you are going to have a moose rack hanging up in your living room!" That hadn't occurred to me, that our house was going to be turning into a big game showcase. I guess I had just thought he'd hang it over the garage...but, we don't have a garage...When she heard my breathing stop she really started laughing. I married a hunter. I live in Alaska. What did I think was going to happen?
One thing is for sure, I'm so happy to have Vince home that he could hang just about anything he wants from the walls of this house. "Babe, you want your dirty underwear hanging from the ceiling fan? No problem!" Remind me that I feel this way the next time he comes home with something dead would you?
The evening before Vince was home I was delighted with a phone call from Vince, Russ, and my old friend Kimmy. She has been on many hunts and can relate to the thrill of this great catch. I told her about the 61 inch rack and she started laughing. When I asked her what was so funny, she said, "Alana, you are going to have a moose rack hanging up in your living room!" That hadn't occurred to me, that our house was going to be turning into a big game showcase. I guess I had just thought he'd hang it over the garage...but, we don't have a garage...When she heard my breathing stop she really started laughing. I married a hunter. I live in Alaska. What did I think was going to happen?One thing is for sure, I'm so happy to have Vince home that he could hang just about anything he wants from the walls of this house. "Babe, you want your dirty underwear hanging from the ceiling fan? No problem!" Remind me that I feel this way the next time he comes home with something dead would you?
No comments:
Post a Comment