Attack Deer vs. Wild

Every guy sees himself as an outdoorsman. It doesn’t matter how civilized or soft life makes us, we are all positive that, if we wanted to, we could strap on a backpack and disappear into the wilderness for a great adventure. This is why places like REI and Patagonia are usually visible from the freeway.

A couple of years ago Jonathan and Jeremy ( both true disciples of Jeremiah Johnson and among a handful of people I know who possess a genuine knowledge of the great outdoors) and I went backpacking in New Mexico where Jonathan was about to start working. This is a picture from the last night on the trail and when I think of 'Lance the Outdoorsman', this is the image that comes to mind.

Most guys have a picture like this somewhere in their house, one that shows how rugged they are. They are usually holding up a trout or kneeling next to a dead animal. Or instead of a picture, they may have the animal itself displayed on their wall as a testament to their toughness.

The story this picture tells, at least the story we want it to tell, is about how we journeyed into the woods and lived off the fat of the land, taking advantage of the great bounty God provided. But this isn’t really true. It’s not exactly false, but in the interest of complete disclosure, and to help illustrate my previous point, I think it’s important to know the background of this picture.

This was the fourth (I think) and final night of our trip and earlier that afternoon we had emerged from the national forest (can’t remember which one, Santa Fe maybe?) and set up camp in a clearing overlooking part of the Pecos River. On a side note, the house Jonathan and his family will soon occupy is being built in that same clearing.

Anyway, after we set up camp for the final night, we started thinking about what we would do for dinner. Four days of dehydrated and freeze dried food had taken its toll and we were all looking forward to something different. The only wildlife we saw over the course of the previous three days was a rattlesnake and we were hopeful that being up on the prairie would yield a rabbit or two for the spit.

But our patience got the better of us and instead of rabbit we opted for the friendlier fare of a nearby restaurant. We ate heartily and headed back to camp for one more night in the high desert before heading home. It was dusk when we got back to the ranch and there were rabbits everywhere. So we did what every guy in that situation would do, we killed a couple of them. And despite our full stomachs, we cleaned and cooked them.

We didn’t do this because we were hungry and nobody wore a rabbit skin hat out of the woods the next day. Mostly, I think, we did it in order to live up to the image we had of ourselves. And I like how this picture captures that image, however real or imagined it might be.

Watch your top knot, pilgrim.