Tracks of the StoneBear Odyssey
Tracks of the StoneBear Copyright MCMLXIII Uncle Hargus ALL Rights reserved
ROF= Ring of Fire Odyssey
MEF-H = Marine Expeditionary Force- Hargus
ROF = Ring of Fire ITW Flagg to Cody, WYHunting / Photography
Circa 1984 Etowah County, Alabama
Tracks of the StoneBear Odyssey ROF = Ring of Fire ITW Flagg to Cody, WY
Hunting / Photography
Circa 1984 Etowah County, Alabama
During a night wake up while flipping channels came to "The Hunt" ... genericly speaking. .... some Joe Bob decked out in camo gear on his trek -- with a "Guide" stalking an Elk,... or Carribou... somewhere out in the hinterlands.
Now I know that hunting is in our genes; it's primal. Years ago observed social settings where a predator guy would spot the insecure, vulnerable lady, single them out from the herd, and move in for the kill. should have had my camera then.
Hunting with my teenage buddy's amounted to small varmint, a few squirrels, possums. it was a lot of shooting cans. Never had a good clear shot at a deer... didn't want to kill it anyway; I was more interested in outdoor exploring/ adventuring than hunting.
I remember a Thanksgiving day in the early 80s, up at 4am, out in the Alabama fields at dawn with the dogs running a field perimeter, cold... freezing... 34*... and Jake would point a covey. Absolutely fantastic to see this. ... and we'd get 3 birds on the rise... a couple more singles. dosen't get much better. And we'd follow lady and Queen onto the next field past the Alabama southern pine trees.
By 9am with 2 dozen birds, head back. Cleaning / plucking feathers,... dressing out the birds... soaking them in saltwater for an hour. ... then a brunch dinner at noon of quail, grits and biscuits. The South is a great place ! Afternoon was watching Alabama / auburn football. Hard to beat.
Knowing Docs health was failing and there would not be many more quail hunts I left the 12 guage pump in the truck and only took my camera. One of my best gifts in life was to hand a couple rolls of film to Docs family and say " this is where your Dad is happy ; this is where he's best ". I never got to see those pictures. I'm pretty sure it went right over their heads like most things.
Seeing these "hunters" out shooting and Elk, Carribou, Bear, Moose, ect... I want to ask the question : ? Is it just you or is everybody in your family stupid? Or " are you that insecure with yourself that you have to have these trophys to prove your manhood" ? I'm sure they would point to my quail hunting as equal. I wonder. It's not quite the same.
I mean... these guys hunting-- they call it hunting-- ... let me see if I understand this correctly; they fly airplanes to their destination to hunt, then cars / trucks to the lodge / motel, eat at resturaunts leading up to the "hunt", ride trucks out into the wilderness,... drive 4 wheelers from some remote point,.... THEN... you start walking / hiking a couple miles -- and your guide carries half your gear (and there's some you don't even see-- camera crew ect) , and when you find an Elk or whatever, you start whispering while looking through a high powered scope on a high powered rifle... and you shoot a kill... a pretty neat looking large Elk with beautiful antlers. And you high 5 the guide for a succesful hunt / kill. ?... and you're some wilderness mountain man stalker / hunter?
No, I'm not a bleeding heart liberal that lives a PETA mentality, and am a confirmed meat eater for life. But you've got to have a little sanity about these " hunts ". First of all, you're no more hunting than when I go through Costco and look at a 4 pack of ribeyes; there is no one I'm trying to fool. ?Who do you think you are fooling with the " hunting" clown suit on? ?Me? ?Us? We are not fooled, so ?who is it you think you are fooling? I think yourself. ?You want some respect and admiration? Load your pack like The Blackfeet and hike down through the Bighorn Canyon for a couple weeks, down into the plains -- the ancestral hunting grounds-- where the bison herds roamed for ions of time. Stalk your prey, use your SPEAR, not rifle or gun, to fell the same animal you hunted on tv... then,... we'll be impressed with your hunt ; but not until then. The guys that bow hunt... I have a little respect for them / their skill.... but there are also laser sights for bows. The guys that grew up hunting with their Dads and Grandads guns.... they are usually real hunters that love the land and outdoors.
Those ancestral native indians,... when they tracked, outran.... ran after their game,... threw the spear they made,... shot with bow and arrow they made... and killed a large animal... They made that guy cheif of the tribe. Hunter is a respected skill. It reflects intelect, skill, courage, and strength. And leadership. ... to kill a large beast for the tribe to have meat... that's cheif material. Using a 10 power scope on your high powered rifle = NOT cheif material.
Most hunters respect the outdoors, land, and wildlife; the TV hunters are ridiculous.
At the U of Alabama working in the photo lab at audio visual services, learning photography.... just glad to have lived to see this digital camera image era and am glad to put a few pix on this website. Glad I hunt w/ a camera.
The pic above of the Coyote ~ Wolf... wondered if this was a wolf. The grey coat... can't see the tip of it's tail, and the tail is hanging down... view blocked by the brush. I've looked close at this pic and am pretty sure it's a coyote. The ears are wider / angular and bigger than pics of wolves. ... the face is more like a fox, and the eyes are somewhat horizontal ; Wolf eyes tend to be more angular/ diagonal. The thought that this would be a wolf is fairly scary... as he would have been stalking me... and wolves tend to travel in a pack of 8 to 10. ... Coyotes often travel in pairs.
While hiking in Wyoming observed a movement in my periferal vision and manuvered of a shot / pic. On pix like these I tend to shoot first rather than try to zoom in and bracket the shot.... one shot was all I got. The moment our eyes met was a freeze moment for both... and he bolted / flushed. I didn't see or hear another companion ... that's why I believe it was a coyote.
You never drink twice from the same stream.
Just because you wander doesn't mean you're lost.
Uncle Hargus: Last of the Independents
Have Bear,
Will Travel
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