What happens at Elk Camp...Shows up in this Blog!

As far as elk camps go, ours is no different.  There's a bunch of men who gather for 10 days, not only to hunt, but to exercise that primeval need to bond with other males of their species.  Some of the generalizations of all elk camps are present; the booze, the girly magazines, guns and knives, etc,.  Just imagine a Spike TV program series with a little bit of censorship about every 20 minutes and you'll get the idea.

The Wapiti Warriors is a unique bunch of guys.  Nearly all of us have a background in the military and most of us served 20 years or more, retiring with honors and a few extra pounds around the mid section.  I'm in that category although I've come to realize that I don't fit into this group any longer.  Along with changes in my life, and by recognizing differences in others (some I may have overlooked in the past), I've come to understand that this is "their group" not mine.  So it is with 2011, I move on from the Wapiti Warriors to keep the peace within the ranks.

My tour in the Wapiti warriors began in 1994, the year I shot my first white-tail buck.  I had hunted as early as 14 or 15 years old in South Carolina, and then in Michigan in the 1980s, and when I began hunting and climbing with my buddy Harv in 1991, I began a relationship that would lead to my first buck, first successful summit of Mt. Rainier, and Harv would become best man in my wedding with Kandy.  Most of the Wapiti Warriors were at my wedding in 1996, and we have a long and fruitful history.  But some people change, and some do not.

I hunted this Elk Camp in 1995 and 1996 before shipping off to Iceland in 1997.  Through a series of reassignments in the US Air Force, it would be 2002 before I would rejoin the WW, and even that was a spur of the moment decision.  I just looked forward to being with the guys again and enjoying a good beer in the outdoors.  In the period from 2002 to 2011, I actively hunted two of those years and I missed last year.  The decision to miss 2010 was due to a combination of factors; Kandy's vacation time, Makenna's needs, and mainly because I wanted to take a break and see if I really missed being there with the WW.

Now everyone has their own slant on life, but my perception of the WW is that each member of the WW is a remarkable individual who's character takes on a different entity when mixed into the group dynamics at Elk Camp.  For example, I don't hunt that much because I live out of state, and the rate to put in for the basic elk tag, the special draws, and the effort to push each day isn't a priority for me...I come to help set up, make camp comfortable, contribute propane, shelters, potable water, and physical labor needed when firewood must be split and dead elk need hauling.  If I were a WA resident, I'd keep my hunting points up, put in for draws each year and join into the daily ritual of early mornings and late nights watching for the perfect shot.  But I'm totally satisfied going for a day-hike to see Mount Rainier across the canyon, catch a beautiful sunrise with a cup of hot, black, dark, stark, thick coffee, and stacking firewood and tying knots are fun...maybe it satisfies my OCD tendencies.

Some people change, and some don't; perhaps there's a basic resistance to change, as well as a natural fear of people who are different than you.  I've made some decisions about how I eat based of of scientific evidence and through personal trials that have left me feeling healthier and happy.  Alcohol is only one of them, but food choices I've taken should be accepted as it's my body and my decision.  Some of the WW must be threatened by that because a few have disappointed me with their attitudes, opinions and resistance to my food choices.  At no time have I suggested they change or eat like me...but the fact that I don't eat Eggs and bacon everyday should be a natural thing to expect, not a reason to feel threatened by a petty difference between people.  I should mention that not all of the WW feel this way toward me, and I appreciate those who accept my primarily vegetarian-mostly organic food choices.  I didn't pick this lifestyle to threaten you, it just makes me feel better.

I'd have to say, many people accept the USDA as an independent agency that has the welfare of the American Public's health in mine, but it should be known that the USDA is basically funded by the lobbyist from the beef and corn interests in America.  Often, you've heard me talk about what I refer to as "The Real-World Matrix" and the USDA could be considered a part of that.  Perhaps there's a conspiracy with the USDA and the major health corporations to keep American's on a diet that keeps them in need of healthcare so those corporations can continue to get rich while we enter a second decade of the obesity epidemic.  But what do I know?  I do know that everyone accepted my decision to give up alcohol for a year and since this blog is about that subject, perhaps I should write a little about drinking at Elk Camp....WW Style.

This year at elk camp, there were eight people drinking, I was the ninth and only non-drinker there.  Our WW leader surveyed the boxes of wine and tallied nearly 50 liters of wine, excluding the countless cases and 18-packs of beer, and the undisclosed numbers of bottles of hard alcohol floating from cooler, to tent to behind the wine boxes.  Variety was abundant and we surely had enough alcohol to pickle every hunter within a 20-mile radius for sure!  For some, the day consisted of returning from the morning hunt around 10 am to 11 am and cracking into a beer or glass of boxed wine.  This, accompanied by coffee and breakfast of eggs and bacon, usually followed with more beer or wine until the evening hunt, which over the last few years have led to coming in after dark to enjoy a night of beer, wine, and hot-toddy's.  Some of the hunters have cow tags and are waiting five days to hunt, so their day begins at liquid brunch and by sunset and dinner time, a few are sloshed beyond the point of decent manor and respectful treatment.  Which leads me to the main reason I don't feel a part of this camp any longer.

Our camp has one individual who considers himself the leader by virtue of age and number of years hunting in this area.  None of us is in the military any longer, but this guy must feel he still is, as I, and a few others have challenged his behavior to end up on his shit list.  This has happened at the annual fishing trip in Alaska a few years ago, and that individual (the guy in trouble with the boss) had to lick his wounds and get back in line because being in the group was more important than being respected as a friend.  When someone sees you as merely a subordinate, there's only a line of one-way respect anticipated.  That's when I lost respect for the leader entirely.  I was basically banned from Elk Camp this year because I denied an order to refill the leader's wine glass when it was dictated, not asked, of me.  When you ask someone to please get you something, you acknowledge your respect and appreciation of that act of help and assistance.  But when you bark off orders in short, drunken gruff, you simple diminish respect up and down the chain of command.  Now there are times in war when commanders and squad leaders don't have time to say please and thanks, but we're not at war in the WW...unless some of us are in their mind.

I'm not the first WW member to challenge the leaders manors and disrespectful behavior, but I am the first to admit that my membership in the WW isn't worth it.  Over the years, maybe because I wasn't hunting actively, the leader perceived me as having a lack of worth to him or the group, so his reaction was to try and make me his errand boy or servant to wait on his every need.  When someone respects themselves to take a year off of drinking, change the ways they eat, and ad a regular exercise effort in their life, one's self-worth rises and when you realize your value as a human being, your tolerance for abuse by others declines greatly.  It's a good thing I've always been proud to be different than everyone else, and I'm happy with my life and the healthy changes I've made lately.  Without this, perhaps I'd be worried about being cast out by a tyrannical leader who pickles himself from noon until fall-over time.  My advice to him is within all things important at Elk Camp, do take time to enjoy the sunsets, observe the wind in the trees and listen to the water flow.  Ye find more peace in this natural things then in the spirits within a cardboard vessel.