(SitNews) Klawock, Alaska - I read a magazine article a few months ago that told me what I needed to have done by the time I turned 30. About the same time I read another which listed all the requirements of being a refined 30-something. I turned 33 last week which means I’m already too late, but I figured since I’m immature, I could still read it.

Not surprisingly, I discovered I’m only a mediocre man compared to their standards and have little hope. I’m not rich enough to do or have done things like sleep under a mosquito net on a boathouse in the Amazon, ride a yak across Mongolia, or take a dirt bike to Patagonia; no occasions in southeast Alaska require me to own my own tuxedo and I would rather spend money on fly-tying materials or .270 rounds than a “weekend bag.”

The lists also had recommendations about appropriate social settings for a man my age. In November my buddy Abe and I returned from a successful hunt and stopped by Don’s place to hang a buck. We socialized there for a while discussing shots, and ways to butcher deer. Close enough? Editors of magazines who compile lists of locations where men can accomplish social feats rarely travel to a place like Don’s barn. Even if they have, the recommendation is a simple visit, rather than commitment to the lifestyle in which one would consistently encounter such a place.

Speaking of simple visits, according to some I’m supposed to do things like walk into Kurt Cobain’s house to pay homage to the gods of Rock and Roll and buy my dream car. Problem is I don’t really have a dream car. Is that wrong? Am I the only dude who doesn’t have a vehicular fantasy? I wanted a truck growing up, now I have one. I like it. So does that constitute a check? Or at this point I’m so far behind or so far off on a different set of standards it doesn’t matter.

Some parts of the lists mention things like backpacking or even shooting a big game animal. None of them mention living off the land because most magazine subscribers have been conditioned to believe that way of life is gone.

In addition to a subsistence life being an almost fictional idea to most of the country, hunters, especially in the Lower 48, are commonly seen as disrespectful trespassers who track helpless animals with unfair technology just to put heads on the wall - because some hunters do just that. People who have never hunted, or see hunting as an archaic activity since we have free-range chicken or tofu at the grocery store make assumptions based on clips of cameramen following hunters as they track down massively racked animals on private hunting ranches. That’s what hunters are to many. What is missed by the reader or viewer is the authenticity of going to the source. In a world connected by social media the ability and need to provide still exists. Sure the end result might still end up documented as a post, video clip or hero shot but there is nonetheless a wildness in the corners of the United States upon which the refined man, and most of the country, has turned its back in favor of assimilation into a culture of properness, pretentiousness and political correctness.
One of the things I like most about being back in Alaska is while the state largely tells the government to leave it alone, that doesn’t mean that the state is committed to one way of life. Not everyone hunts, but people get it. People get that hunting is still largely about getting meat than a commercialized hobby.

I was so busy revisiting this thought that I forgot to light the bonfire. By the time I realized the fire pit was cold the sun was down and it was almost nine. I decided lists are a waste and went inside to read about steelhead fishing. Something more worth my time.

Jeff Lund ©2014

Jeff Lund is a Teacher, Freelance Writer, & River fishing guide (Tranquil Charters) living in Klawock, Alaska
Contact Jeff at Email – aklund21@gmail.com

http://www.jlundoutdoors.com

SitNews ©2014
Stories In The News
Ketchikan, Alaska

Articles & photographs that appear in SitNews may be protected by copyright and may not be reprinted without written permission from and payment of any required fees to the proper sources.