(SitNews) Klawock, Alaska - In the eyes of the state of Alaska, I am still 1/6th Californian. I’ve been in the state for ten months so I exist, but I don’t yet belong.

Since I’m not patient enough to wait until the one year mark of my return to get the benefits of being a resident, I went ahead and bought my out-of-state hunting license and a $150 deer tag.

While I’ve definitely got the hunting bug, it’s not because I’m a skilled deer hunter. That’s what happens when you draw a section of California with an 8-percent success rate for the three week season. You get good at walking around with a gun, which is decidedly different than hunting.

I’m also not one of those dudes who craves stories about out-crafting the craftiest deer in the woods - probably because I’m inexperienced. I’m looking for the meatiest, dumbest deer with a general apathy toward self-preservation. I don’t have a garage filled with massive racks. I’ve never shot a 4-point which is probably a good thing. It gives me something to (ahem) shoot for, while I get more aquatinted with my inner hunter. Had my first ever buck been something massive I would have had no where to go but down.

Growing up I was all about high school sports and fishing. Again, it’s the patience thing I guess. But with age has come just enough patience to stay focused in a hunt that isn’t all about action.

Hunts really don’t have much action at all when you look at the action to anticipation ratio. It’s a drive, a hike in camouflage, then all of a sudden there’s an animal in a scope a shot or two, then a ton of work. The high is much higher than catching a bunch of fish, but there is so much more waiting.

You don’t stand in the woods and shoot bullets up forest and down forest from you until you deduce a deer is down or that none were there. You don’t look at a rising deer, make a poetic roll shot and say, “That was perfect, I hope it takes the bullet.” You don’t hope for a good fight once you pull the trigger and you sure don’t catch and release three deer before you find one big enough for dinner.

You just walk, crawl, hike or stand and wait. It’s awesome.

All the chatter happens within your own head, or in the two foot whisper to your hunting buddy, but for the most part it’s quiet.

At any moment it could happen. The next turn, the next ridge, the next muskeg. To say it’s like it’s sight fishing for a specific steelhead in thin water is only somewhat accurate. The need to be stealthy and precise is present, but it’s different enough that neither gets old, and it’s almost impossible to choose a favorite. Some do, but the deciding margin is miniscule.

Anyway, when the time comes, and I’m face to face (through a scope) with a buck, I hope it’s a good one, or that I have the patience to hold off until it’s one worth $150.

I guess they all are because you can’t put a price on an experience, and some people pay $150 to play a round of golf and you don’t even come home with anything to eat.

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

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