No subject

After reading your grizzlies post, it's clear you haven't lost the =
ability to reason and write. And if we get charged by a griz in Sycamore =
Canyon, I hope you haven't lost your ability to aim.

(That reminds me of the joke: Two guys were in the wood when a grizzly =
charged. The first guy started lacing up his sneakers. The second guy =
said: What are you doing? You know you can't outrun a grizzly bear. The =
first guy answered: I know. I just have to outrun you.)

A week ago, Hunter and I were biking on some dirt trails in Wilderness =
Park, an edge-of-town park about a mile wide and seven miles long. About =
the only real woods near Lincoln. We stumbled across a dead deer tangled =
in a fallen tree along the trail. It looked like it had broken its rear =
leg and had languished and died where it fell.

It was a medium-sized buck, four points on each antler. It was pretty =
fresh; still had most of its fur. And it was clear it was feeding the =
park -- its stomach cavity was hollowed out and its ribs picked clean.

We decided yesterday to go back and get the antlers. We figured if the =
deer had been proud of its antlers in life, it wouldn't mind if we =
gathered them and treasured them after its death. Hunter wanted to make =
an antler necklace like the one you gave me (the one I used to wear when =
my elementary school class on Navajo Nation would perform songs in the =
community).

So we filled a backpack with saws and set out for the park. On the way, =
we saw a handful of deer paralleling us as we made our way. They'd run =
alongside and ahead of us in a field, and then wait until we caught up. =
Then they'd do it again.=20

We reached the dead deer just as the sun was going down. Jack had joined =
me and Hunter, and the three of us stood around the deer for several =
minutes, none of us eager to start cutting antlers off its fur-covered =
head. Jack suggested we toss tobacco to the four directions. I did, but =
ultimately all of us reached the conclusion that this just wasn't the =
right thing to do.

We used the saws - to cut down thick pine boughs to blanket the deer.

I know this is kind of corny, but on the way home, an owl flew to a =
perch just above us. It looked down and hooted several times. And Hunter =
and I had the same immediate thought -- that it was talking to us about =
what we'd done, thanking us.

Later [Peter Gray Salter -- aka Mack]

HUNTER GRAY  [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR]   Mi'kmaq /St. Francis
Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk
Protected by Na=B4shdo=B4i=B4ba=B4i=B4
 and Ohkwari'
=20
Check out our Hunterbear website Directory =
http://hunterbear.org/directory.htm
[The site is dedicated to our one-half Bobcat, Cloudy Gray:
http://hunterbear.org/cloudy_gray.htm
=20
See Sycamore Trek:   http://hunterbear.org/sycamore_trek.htm

And Coming of Age Memoir: =
http://hunterbear.org/coming%20of%20age%20[western%20memoir.%20htm.htm