It's a misnomer that guys don't like showing too much emotion...the fact is that most often we are afraid of the reaction of others - you know...societal norms. It's a real blessing when you are able to enjoy something to its fullest and relish in the joys with someone without fear of repercussion (although we all know they are coming in the long run).
I'm not an avid hunter by any means, and I laugh about the fact that two of my four first posts deal with the subject, but I guess the experiences are pretty intense and special...
My friend Blake and I sat out the controlled elk season in the high mountains that contain the Minam wilderness this season (a blessing due to the fact that the snow up there this year was four feet deep in places) and decided to take advantage of the general spike elk second season (everyone can get tag). I knew that we had a few ins with some ranchers near my school, and we felt like our chances would be decent. The season started out like it always does for me - shutout! We searched the local ranches (elk didn't come in) and we explored a few areas in the Elkhorn Mountains to the west of us to no avail. I guess we did see one cow elk that Blake thought might lead us to others. She bolted 15 yards from us (scaring the crap out of me initially), and Blake decided to charge after her. It was raining, and we were in some thick brush. If anyone knows Blake, you know that when he starts after something, he won't go easily. When I saw him plow through the soaking wet foliage, I cringed because I knew I had to follow him or risk losing contact as he scoured the mountainside. Needless to say, we soaked our pants and never saw the cow or another elk that day!
The next morning we tried to find those same elk, but to no avail. We were home by 7:30 in the morning, content in the fact that it was not meant to be. To my surprise, at around 1:30 in the afternoon, a friend from work whose ranch we had explored earlier called and asked if we had filled our tags. Naturally, I began to smile, and I told her no. She proceeded to tell me that there were 200 elk at her place, and we were welcome to come on out to try and fill our tags. I thanked her and told her that we'd be out lickity-split. I called Blake, and told him to be ready in ten minutes because I was coming to get him. I got dressed in about 3 minutes, grinning the whole time because my last day miracles had to be running out (I've killed all my big game on the last day of the hunt at the last hour).
Blake and I were smiling like kids on Christmas morning during the drive to the ranch, shaking our heads at our luck, yet trying to stay calm because we knew it would still take a bit of luck to be successful. We arrived at the ranch, and we were directed to walk in about a mile to get in above the elk in order to catch them on their way out to the cover of the timber. Blake and I made our way to our spot, came up over a ridge, and peered over at a large herd of amazing animals. Neither of us had ever killed an elk, so it would be stating the obvious that we were both pretty energized at this time. We decided to stay on our point, realizing that we could cover ground a lot of ways depending on where the elk decided to go. The elk started to push up the ravine toward us, but they decided that they would follow another way out and Blake and I realized that we were going to miss them unless we moved. That is where the real excitement, hilarity, and elation began.
Once we realized the elk were going to take a path through another ridge, we started running in that direction. Blake and I are of different molds - Blake being the distance/endurance guy, while I have always been the short distance/speed guy. Needless to say there were two different periods to this coverage of distance between us and the elk. Much like the tortoise and the hare, I blazed off down our ridge toward the next one, not giving thought to where Blake was. As I started going up the next ridge, I realized that I was in trouble. It wasn't long before Blake had caught up, and his lungs, having much more training, blew by me up to the top of the next ridge. The great part was that we both were laughing about the whole thing, not having to really discuss what we both knew was so funny. We finally saw the elk headed our direction, and the two of us stood poised a mere five feet apart, eyes in our scopes, praying that our actual abilities would be masked and that we'd just get lucky trying to shoot an elk as it ran past our sights. From 50 yards away, the line of about 25 elk (the herd had thinned into several smaller groups at this time) crossed our path. Unrehearsed, Blake and I, in unison, delcared, "Branch!" as a branched bull passed following a few cows. Once again a larger bull passed the sights, and again, as if we had planned such great communication, we both exclaimed, "Branch!" Finally, we spotted the first spike - we both enthusiastically yelled, "Spike!" and we squeezed our triggers. Another spike came into view, and we both let loose again. In the back of my mind, I feared that we had failed, but both bulls pulled out of the group as they started uphill and fell cleanly within 25 yards of where we had initially shot them. Somehow, we had gotten through the exhaustion, the adrenaline, and the nervousness to fill both our tags on the last day in the last couple of hours before dark. Blake and I dropped our rifles to our sides, looked at eachother with huge grins, and began our celebration. We high fived, and yes, we gave eachother the appropriate 'man-hug.' The emotion was intense and amazing! We had completed something for the first time that was important to us. Naturally, not everyone can or will understand this, but the high we experienced was incredible. We had been given the opportunity to experiece this together and we relished in it.
There is no doubt that the rest of the night was long and tiring - cleaning and prepping an elk takes a lot of time! We thanked our hosts, and drove home with a new story in our pockets and food on our tables.
Men and women are very similar, but the differences are more than obvious. Men's emotions are contained most of the time, but when they are released it is a wonderful thing. Blake and I's experience wasn't gushy and silly - it was just an intense, almost spiritual ordeal. We realize that the story will be joked about with our friends at future gatherings because that's what guys do, but behind every joke is the realization that everyone wants and needs that experience.
