Talk With a Hunter

Wolves and Writing

He’s burning a huge pile of debris in the lot next to my home. Black smoke billows from the fire, darkening the clear morning sky. New to the area and wanting to be neighborly, I walk over to say Hello.

I do not recall how the talk turns to hunting so quickly, but this is a topic that lights up my neighbor’s face, already ruddy from the heat of the fire. He belongs to that tradition of hunters who wrap their personalities and their lifestyles around their sport. He travels to Alaska to hunt, he hunts here in Southern Oregon. Probably in his late 60’s, but trim and muscular and his movements sure, he looks and talks like the hunter he is.

He discusses deer hunting with my other neighbor, who is also standing beside the burn pile. The hunter prefers killing with bow and arrow. I learn that where…

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