…and answer some questions, and because I thoroughly jacked up some of those pictures, I’m going to move a couple to this entry. The ones on this page will be clickable if you want to see them larger.

catie, I’m not the only woman up there historically, of course, but there hasn’t been another one in camp while I’m there in the five years or so that I’ve been hunting with these guys. Sometimes it’s just bad timing, as some of the wives and daughters do go. Most of them are raising teenagers lately, and have sports and events to attend to on the weekends. Those are some tolerant wives, that don’t mind their husbands hunting for four or five days every week for the six weeks of deer/bear season and the six more of pure bear season. And during the rest of the year, they do a lot of varmint hunting to train the dogs. It’s a consuming hobby.

I think the wives know about me (I know some of them do anyway.) I don’t know if it bothers them or not, but their husbands are safe from me anyway.

nanamama, damn straight that’s poker! They played every afternoon in camp; totally cleaned out a 16-year-old kid teaching him not to smile when he bets. I don’t play, so I still own my quarters.

On Friday night, I couldn’t find my alarm clock, so when I went to bed fairly early, I asked Derek to make noise when he got up and I’d get up too. So when I heard trucks moving and men yelling at dogs, I got up, brushed my teeth, got dressed, ate breakfast, and went out ready to go.

Nobody around, although the light was on in Don’s trailer.

What the hell? Did they leave without me? No, all of the trucks were still there, plus a couple more.

Finally I knocked on Don’s door, and there they all were, sitting around the table smoking and playing poker. It was only 11 PM! They laughed like hell at me (and so did I.) I went back to my trailer, found my clock, and went back to bed. Two mornings that day!