Live To See Another Day

IMG_8570 IMG_8579 IMG_8591 IMG_8621 IMG_8636 IMG_8651 IMG_8717 IMG_8731 IMG_8734 IMG_8745 IMG_8793 IMG_8812 IMG_8837 IMG_8865 IMG_8878 IMG_8889 IMG_8916Robbie and I spent December 23rd and 24th hunting on the rim rock over in the Bennet Hills and King Hill area of Idaho.  The weather was gorgeous on Christamas Eve, simply incredible.  I spent the morning hiking around in a button down shirt until the wind came up, and when I say wind I mean wind — wild west wind, gusts of what felt like 50mph strength, ripping across sage flats and turning into purely vertical columns of current once hitting the volcanic rubble benches we were hunting.  Oh!  It was brisk!  I put on more clothing when the wind came, a layer of down and my big wool scarf.  The hiking was glorious.  We were alive.  The dogs were working their tails off and the chukar were plentiful.  It was a good day to be Idahoan.

On one of Farley’s points, on the edge of a basalt cliff, I stood still for what felt like forever waiting for my birds to grow nervous enough to flush.  I imagined that little partridge down in a crevice of black rock, breaking a cold sweat, eyes beady, toes twitching, wings begging to fly.  It’s hard work scrambling down through volcanic rubble to find and flush the bird your dog is pointing.  Robert taught me that if I stand long enough in one place, aware of the direction of my dogs point and in faith of my dogs point, the birds will eventually flush out of sheer nervousness, saving me the tricky, ankle breaking work of climbing down a cliff face and the annoyance of taking a terribly off-balanced shot on wobbly rock.  Rob is a good teacher.  Sometimes I have to climb down cliff faces anyway and I don’t mind the hard work; a good hunter is an efficient hunter (but not a lazy hunter), and a hardworking point from a dog must always be honored and pursued, no matter what.  At least that’s what I’ve been taught by the man I love and respect.  So there I was, standing still and alert, patiently waiting for my birds to go, shotgun ready in my hands, the wind biting at my cheeks and lips, Farley holding a staunch point when suddenly my bird went; a single chukar against a bright blue sky.  I mounted my gun to my shoulder, pressed my cheek to wood while simultaneously pressing the safety off, rested my finger on the trigger and drew a bead on my bird when out of nowhere and I do mean that, out of nowhere a hawk came out of the sky to take the very same bird I was gunning for.  I gasped aloud.  I pulled my cheek off my gun and lifted my head.  The chukar spiraled in mid-air, the hawk, too, matching acrobatics for acrobatics.  There was a flailing of feathers, talons, beaks and eyes, a flash of stripes and red legs.  It was nearly too much for me.  I yelled an unintelligible sound into thin air and the hawk and chukar broke apart.  The hawk was taken by the strength of the wind, sailing off to land on a branch of sage and continue its hunt.  The chukar gave in to gravity, dove low and tucked itself away beneath black rock.

I turned to Robert who was behind me by a dozen steps and I said, “Did you see it?  Did you see the hawk?

He smiled big at me and said he had.

I told him, “We were after the same bird!  We were in competition for the same chukar!

It was the first moment in my life, while hunting, that I realized hunting puts me in competition with other predator animals.  When I take a chukar or quail or grouse from the land, I take a meal away from a hawk or coyote or any other numerous predators stalking the rim rock and aspen stands, likewise, they take a meal from me when they have a successful hunt.  I might not use tooth and claw to do it, I’m a poor pathetic biped with crummy senses of sight, smell and hearing compared most all wild animals, I get my meat with the help of a gun.  But getting is getting and getting is rarely easy.  This time, both the hawk and I missed our bird, but I know there will be times when the hawk gets my chukar, just like there will be times when I get the chukar and the hawk must keep hunting and there seems to be something sort of holy about that, to me.  Knowing this makes my honest efforts all the more honest, knowing I may have lost before I even begin.  Also, I think this realization whittles away, even more, the unwild parts of my life that I am sometimes ashamed of.

A brush with many wings.  A shotgun lowered.  A wind too strong for all of us.  A winter sun shining.  Three of us living to hunt and be hunted another day.  It was a moment to be remembered.

Comments

  1. I have witnessed such things, and it is intensely glorious. Near sensory overload.

  2. Yes! I love your “being” with the land. It’s how we are meant to be: part of it, not simply observer of it.
    Thank you for giving your beauty and strength to us all.
    Kerry

  3. Catherine Chandler says

    That sounds absolutely incredible! What an experience, and you so aptly bring us into that moment with your writing.

  4. Wowzers. That moment! That’s a mighty powerful story.
    And I had to reread this sentence several times, as it resonated with me deeply, “Perhaps, too, this realization whittles away, even more, the unwild parts of my life that I am sometimes ashamed of.”
    Thanks for your wild eloquence, Ms. Plume.

  5. Also….THAT LICHEN. I die. So much color.

  6. beautiful post: the hunting, together and against.
    you experience nature at her finest, my friend.

    and, all that colour. no wonder you love colour pencils and paints.

  7. a beautiful story
    with beautiful images
    by a beautiful woman
    all in all
    beautiful

    xo
    love and light

  8. Gosh, Nature… I can picture you perfectly awestruck, flapping and chirping away, fighting for your dinner! ( I giggled at how calm and cool Robert’s response was, hehe)

    Love to you, stunning creatures!

  9. ~to be under the wings of a teacher who is patient and kind…who guides you and gives you strength inside is a blessings indeed…i remember the first time my love drove me high into the mountains and handed me his shotgun…there comes a certain rare trust that many do not experience nor live in their lives…it is enough to stand there with a shotgun in hand…adrenalin running…your heart rushing…your moment comes…and then is taken right before your very eyes…a moment that leaves me speechless…such valuable lessons we learn when we open ourselves up and surrender to nature…you weave magically moving tales…much love light and blessings be with you~

  10. The land, it does speak to us. It gives and it takes. It is our destiny to go with the flow of the land, of nature. You, my dear, have perfected this destiny. Beautiful.

  11. How incredible to feel that connection to the land, realizing exactly your place in living and surviving.

  12. Plume 0
    Hawk 0
    Big smiles 3 (yours, Rob’s and mine)
    The wind won.
    Damn that wind, I tell ya.
    And that picture, with you in the hot pink hat? Holding that sun bleached shed? Postcard please. x

  13. Elizabeth Waggoner says

    A glorious, perfect day!

  14. Thanks to you all for being here and sharing these thoughts. Thanks also for being so open and willing to receive my stories about hunting, fishing and being out on the land — you never give me a reason to be unbrave when it comes to my writing topics.

  15. I read this aloud to my fella, knowing that we have shared a similar experience. He is a falconer and we’ve had the experience of hunting for a hawk and with a hawk. I have also felt those experiences have taken me on holy ground, when there is only breath, wind and the alertness of a common wildness. Thank you for sharing these moments, and your beautiful writing with us!

    • “…those experiences have taken me on holy ground, when there is only breath, wind and the alertness of a common wildness.”

      EXACTLY.
      I’m glad you’ve known it too.

  16. all the color in your photographs is beautiful and breathtaking.
    you rekindle my desire to live in the mountains. someday, i hope i will.
    for now, i’ll be planning our next visit to such wild places . . .

  17. “…the unwild parts of my life that I am sometimes ashamed of.” This resonated deep in my chest. Sometimes I struggle with the fact that I seem to be alone in struggling with this feeling. Thank you so much for sharing your life this way. It gives a lot of us hope.

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