Elk Camp Highlights

...Ok, my conscience tells me that I'm being lame relying on other's posts and need to write a few of my own thoughts on elk camp. It's hard after Deanna has said it all so well, but maybe I've got something I can add...

In the interest of convincing myself to do it all again next year I'm going to try to focus on all the fun parts and conveniently skip over all the hard work. Surely NJ will be walking by next September... Surely a walker will be less work than a crawler... don't tell me if I'm wrong because it would be so sad to have all my extended family at elk camp while I sit at home by myself with my baby- I mean my two year old. See, the best part about elk camp is the family. We've never really done a formal family reunion, so this is as close as i get. There's something about living in the woods that bonds you. The guys are getting to be guys, flinging arrows at a walking hunk of meat (I should mention that one of the hunters was actually my aunt Charlene- you go girl!) and the women get to sit around, scrapbook, and chat (and change diapers, make dinners, sweep campers, search for runaway dogs/children). Seriously, there were a few days that we managed to get our two babies' afternoon naps to overlap for an hour. Deanna and I got two or three speed scrapbooking sessions in and I managed to complete two layouts. If you've never done speed scrapbooking, let me give you some pointers. First, don't bother to pull out all your embellishments until you've narrowed the pictures down and chosen your background paper. If you do, you may very well find yourself spending all your time getting the junk out and putting it all away instead of focusing on completing a layout. Second, don't get too picky. It's like a pop quiz- The trick is to go with your 1st instinct. Third, apply your double sided tape as soon as possible. This helps you stick with that 1st instinct and it prevents the wind from carrying your photos away. (yes, this is me being funny- you get what you pay for...)

What else can I add to my sister's summary? The food was, indeed, remarkable. It was a lot of work, and I did end up creating an Access database for it, but if you know me, you know that I look for excuses to use Access over Excel, so I'm not sure that's saying much. In fact, all it may tell you is that I'm going crazy being a full time mom and needed a good project to sink my teeth into. Either way, it worked out well. I can't think of any other way to cook three meals a day for 9 people out of a camper with a 2ft by 3ft fridge (ok, so there were actually three refrigerators, but Deanna’s was smaller and mom’s only stayed cold when it felt like it). It's interesting to me as I look back at it- I felt like I was doing a lot of work. I was stressed by the responsibility of it all. Yet each time we sat down to eat, I looked at the food on the table and realized mom had done most of the cooking. Sure I counted up how many plates we needed and occasionally dumped biscuits out of a can to cook in the oven, but mom made all the casseroles and then did the veggies most of the time too. huh. Someday, I hope to be half as productive as my mom!

Of course, mom left her dog at home and I had to devote considerable energy to trying to keep my dog from wandering off. We started out with Max on a leash, but he looked so sad being tethered to the camper while the great outdoors awaited. So, we experimentally let him off his leash and the sweet little thing barely left our side. I suspect it was because the forest was big and full of unknown dangers... Of course, within a day or so, his investigative work led him beyond the confines of the camp where he found countless treasures like a very good stick, and old bone, and the big prize: a hoof with a little bit of yuck left on it. Well, after discoveries like that you know he was inspired to search the great unknown. Twice I thought I'd really lost him- picture me walking in progressively larger circles around the camp yelling, "MAX!" Once he went up the road where there was another campsite. I'm thinking he was pretty confused at that point because when one of the guys road up on the quad and called to him, Max came right over in spite of his deep fear of loud noisy machines. But the worst time was when he came trotting back into camp with a bloody smile- literally. I guess he finally caught some sort of varmint or found the drippings from the elk Larry had killed the night before. He was pretty impressed with himself and I was furious. From then on out he didn't get much off-leash time. Overall, I think Max would say it was a good trip though. Prior to elk camp he really didn't want to get too close to the camper even though it was our 2nd trip in it. Now Max doesn't like me being in the camper without him. Maybe he just really likes the taste of elk.

Ah, the taste of elk... that was the purpose for the trip after all. Happily, B was successful and we'll be tasting his elk soon too, although I like mine significantly less rare than Max likes his. I have to say I had my doubts. B told me he wanted to get his elk opening day and then relax and hang out with family the rest of the week. We'd even tossed around the idea of doing some day trips around the area and checking in on some friends we don't get to see often enough. But day after day, no elk. It was a hard year for the hunters. The moon was so full that the elk stayed up all night and slept all day. Elk look incredibly similar to everything else when they're lying down, so it's close to impossible to see them when they're sleeping. Plus it had rained several times the week before, which meant there were plenty of puddles for the elk to drink from. So, they didn't need to walk to the "tanks" (big muddy ponds) to get a drink. Larry, the expert, full time hunter (and part time electrician) got his first elk most of the way through the week. However, none of the rest of the guys were having any luck. I think they all saw some bulls (boy elk), but they all had cow (lady elk) tags. We had to leave on Sunday, so on Saturday afternoon I told B, "If you're not bringing a elk with you, don't bother coming back!" Not really- I'm not THAT mean. But I did point out that this was the last possible chance. Wouldn't you know it, that night, September 20th, 2008, at 6:49pm, I got a text message:

"i shot one shes down send others!"

It's hard to explain how happy I was for him, how proud I was of him. I had to read the text twice to make sure I didn't just imagine it. I ran to tell Mom and Deanna and then physically jumped up and down a few times! A lot of archery hunting is skill- you have to make sure the elk don't see you, or hear you, or even smell you before you get within 40 yards of them and then you have to be on mark with your arrow or you'll pierce them but not kill them. But a lot of it's luck too. We had 8 hunters at camp with us and most of them didn't even get an opportunity to fling an arrow. But on that Saturday night, one nice lady elk was playing hard to get with one handsome bull. He was making all sorts of noise trying to show off and she had come to the tank to check him out. B said he waited and waited for her to get in just the right spot. When he took the shot, she was a 25 yards and went down right away! What a triumph!

B getting his elk saved the trip for me. I'm not sure why I thought it was so much work- must have been something about the 5 babies, 13 adults, 2 dogs, 5 campers, 20 lawn chairs, 5 tents, 12 days, 33 meals, 300 plates and 5 quads. But when B got his elk, it all seemed worth it. The only thing that could have made it better is if all the hunters had the same chance to bring home an elk.