shines@times
Well-known member
That's a fine picture Cav1.
It illustrates something that ranks of anti-hunters and non-hunters will likely never comprehend: that being the objective of modern hunters, those who are not forced to hunt for physical sustenance, is not as much a kill as it is LIFE. Isolated by clouds on peak or plateau, one may convene with ancestors, both known and unknowable, who honored and pursued their prey from African savannas to ice sheet fringes.
A paradox I have experienced at such times, or on crystalline nights after the fire has died down to dull red embers and the blazing Milky Way clocks the horizon, is the sense of feeling infinitesimally tiny, yet, an integral part of Cosmic grandeur.
Hope that didn't come across as New Age mumbo-jumbo. However, I recognize that we are a remarkable species. Moreover, I believe that human beings' destiny is not restricted to this planet, wondrous as it is. Thus, the Heinlein quote I have adopted as my tagline.
Three days after the photo that I now use as my avatar was snapped; after I had returned to the sheep meat cached under a rocky cairn, slept another night in a half-snow, half-rock cave; after I'd invested another two days humping that 125# meat pack and also extracting my (useless) base camp; after I had indulged in a long, relaxing shower, I found it challenging to gather a pinch of my own waistline 'twixt finger and thumb where, previously, I could have clutched a fatty roll. A bathroom scale read: 157 pounds. Four weeks earlier, huffing and gasping, I'd entered the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness at somewhere between 180 and 185 pounds. So, I understand how fit you are feeling now, how ready and eager to pursue antlered game.
Enjoy LIFE! (That goes for ALL hunters of the unlimited units this year--and those of us still contemplating our next adventure.)
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