Hang Up Your Guns
by Ken James
When I was young and
my step was quick and my joints were limber, the sound of the
gaggles of geese threading their way south in the night sky would
set my pulse pounding. Certainly within a day or two I would find
some excuse to oil my guns just one more time. It was hunting
season again. Over two decades ago that phase of life passed for
me. Then for a couple of years I pouted at the loss of an old
friend before I came to my senses. Yes, my family had been raised,
hence I had no good excuse to kill a deer or moose - I didn’t need
the meat anymore. So what was the primal urge that made me want to
hunt? Was I still a caveman?
I struggled with that
question for a couple of seasons before I came up with the answer.
It was the wine-rich smell of the autumn woods that I missed. It
was the raucous call of the blue jay ringing through the reds and
golds of the maples and aspens on a cold crisp morning that I
missed. I wanted to hunt purely for the sake of being outdoors at
this time of year. Without hunting as an excuse it seemed silly to
just go sit on a stump and watch a squirrel hurry about gathering
nuts. And then I stumbled onto photography. That changed
everything.
No longer do I have closed seasons. I can hunt 12 months of the
year. In fact, I can hunt inside park boundaries that once were
out of bounds to me. I have no tags to buy or weigh-ins to adhere
to. I just go shoot at will. This last season I bagged a trophy
California bighorn ram, an 8-point bull elk, a grizzly bear, a
black bear, countless deer, a woodland buffalo bull, several
cariboo, a dozen moose, countless wild turkeys and geese. That is
only counting the meat; the sunsets and sunrises are all just a
bonus.
Today our travels have
another purpose; we now try to be in areas at the right time of
year to catch certain wildlife doing interesting things. This
October we spent a week in the Canadian Rockies expressly
photographing the rutting season for elk and bighorns. What an
exciting time to be in the mountains! The hills ring to the
challenges of the bulls, the fall colors are all at their very
best, and the regular tourists are all at home by now. How
glorious it all is!
We tow a small huntin’ camp behind us - our little fiberglass
trailer. In there we have a dry warm bed when we need it, a
furnace to dry damp clothes and a three-burner stove to prepare
meals on. The little three-way fridge carries just enough food to
keep a couple going for about a week. With this combo we can
linger in areas that might give us the best chance to capture
wildlife on camera. Before, when I hunted with guns, I never had
the luxury of a lawn chair or a hot meal right at my elbow. We do
now.
This August we drove the Alaska Highway in search of photo
subjects and filled our bag. Then, as I mentioned earlier, in
October this year we were deep in the Canadian Rockies. It has
been a very good year. And another bonus, today with digital
cameras you do not even need film. So, when the snows begin to
pile up in the driveway, we can sit at the computer and play with
the digital images we shot in nicer weather. With a camcorder and
a simple software program on your computer you can create your own
movies. You can make up narrated slide shows of your favorite
shots. That will eat up a lot of your hours during winter and
before you know it the geese will be making their way north once
more and you’ll be out with your camera shooting nestlings and
pussy willows again.
© Ken James 2003
|
