cellini's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Dangerous Game Today I worked as a hunting guide because I needed the money. I could actually do this probably 4 days a week throughout the fall and winter but I always seem to have other shit to do. These guys were nice enough. They behaved very well. But twice I got them right onto deer and they fucked it up. Dude forgot to take the safety off. Naturally the gun did not go 'bang' when required. I told him ' take the shot! Take the shot!' and yet he could not make the gun shoot. Because he had the safety on. Sigh. And in this place I was finding more bear sign than I have ever seen in any one place. The whole area was fucking thick with bear tracks. New and old; big and small. Fresh bear tracks were fucking everywhere. I could have got them onto a bear except that they were so fucking loud. They were all wearing this ridiculous Gore-Tex stuff that surely kept them very dry but was very loud. 'Zip zip zip' as they walked. The coolest thing of the day happened before I even met up with the clients. I saw a pair of bald eagles! I got a bunch of pretty good photos of the pair. Really I would have been happier all day taking pictures of animals. But I had to make a living. They were pretty good clients. I should not complain. They did not do anything unsafe. Nobody pointed a gun at me. I got paid $200 for my efforts My gorgeous Swedish girlfriend had photos and an email waiting for me when I came home. It was a good day. Sometimes the $200 a day looks really good. Other days it probably seems rather thin. Like when a client takes a shot at something right at dusk and fucks it up and then I have a wounded animal to follow up and track and kill and butcher no matter how late it goes. There could be a 400 pound black bear with a bullet in its shoulder, furious and alert, in the brush waiting to tear my face off. I could walk into the thorns and scrub pine in the dark and get rushed by that. Literally, these are things that can kill me. At that moment, is $200 a day a lot of money? No, it really isn't. Every time that I take clients out on a hunt, in a state that puts a bear license on every single big game permit, I am gambling my life. I am taking beginners out to hunt dangerous game and when they wound it it is my duty to finish the task. This isn't an easy job. But my Christmas shopping isn't over and my children want things. And we need groceries. So I do this. And for all that I risk, is $200 a day so much? 9:03 p.m. - 2011-12-22 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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