No 'View from Here' post this week nor a peep out of me otherwise! That's because Phil was going bearhunting again Monday and Tuesday and since I didn't have any urgent work deadlines or other places I needed to be, I went with him!
It might be suggested that I wasn't in shape to do so yet, given the hours of bouncing on choppy seas in a tiny inflatable boat, all the heavy hauling to load and unload said boat, and then all the hiking and packing and, if we got a bear, butchering it. Yes, but: Phil did virtually all the heavy hauling, I barely helped at all. And yes, but: I thought that it was time for me to get out there too, in the wilderness where no one lives, and see how it felt to me this time around. And yes, but: this is the sweetness and the marrow of Phil's existence, and whilst he loves going by himself, every time he's left me behind, his potential sorrow at us growing apart and not doing stuff together has increased. I couldn't say no.
And we were so blessed with the weather! It's true, you get cold in the boat: the ocean is about 35 degrees and you're sitting flush with it, moving in the wind, but other than that, I really wasn't cold much. (Of course, I was bundled up in multiple layers at all times, but it did get warm enough whilst hiking that I could take off my hat and scarf and unzip my jacket!) We had bright sunshine both days, clear blue skies. This early in the season too, there are scarcely any mosquitoes, which can be real spoilers later on. And as it turned out, Phil did shoot a bear, and even that turned out perfectly. I had said that I needed a rest, and had sat down to write; he went off a ways, found the bear (middle aged male), one shot and that was it. It did mean that I ended up hiking more than my body needed to and working hard on the skinning/butchering also - but I was able to carry on even past my 'pooping out' feeling. For various reasons, Phil had been anxious to get a bear before Memorial Day, so this was just what he needed. We left all of it sunk in the creek overnight, and came to retrieve it on our way home the next afternoon. The downside of gorgeous weather, in this glaciated mountainous bay system, is that the wind comes up in the afternoon and the sea gets rougher! We couldn't leave before afternoon because of the tide, and so the 10 mile trip home took over two hours of bouncing and slamming up and down over the backs and into the troughs of the waves. We lost an oar, but otherwise got back in one piece, if wet and sore.
Before all that, we spent some precious moments sitting in the sun on the bank of the creek, and saw so many beautiful things. I may make another post and just transcribe what I wrote in my notebook, describing what we saw out there.
About Hunting
But for now, I feel like I need to say something about the whole hunting issue: I'm afraid that some may feel uncomfortable about it and I want to say how it seems to me.
I was a vegan for most of my life and am currently not choosing to eat meat. However, at 61 Phil is mightier, stronger, possessed of better stamina than any health-food enthusiast I have known and he has always eaten a lot of meat. I see that it does him good and I support him in that. And then, I'd far rather prepare wild harvested meat whose provenance we know and that we had to work for, than buy some packaged stuff at the store that's been treated who knows how. At this time of year, the bears are gorging on greens, so their meat is going to be much richer in omega-3s, which is always a good thing.
Additionally, having been a vegan most of my life it was striking to me how much more spiritually connected I felt when I experimented with eating meat (and simultaneously with getting involved in the whole hunting/butchering process): I received a clarity of gratitude, a sensation of connectedness with millennia of human behavior, and a strong message that with gratitude we were converting the animal into a different form of life.
Furthermore, black bears are out of balance in the wilderness across the bay: there are 'way too many of them,' to the point that the Fish and Game service has increased the limit on how many each person can hunt - 'have at,' they say. Male black bears also prey on bear cubs, which is perhaps a less desirable form of population control. Phil is a fantastic shot, and has been since he was about five years old, and his single shot deals an almost instant death, which is the best way for it to go.
It's probably clear from all this that I have some ambivalence about the whole issue, but nothing is black and white, right? That's what the whole 'ulterior harmony' thing is supposed to be about, and sometimes it can be inscrutable to me.
