Back in 1986

He Dog · January 02, 2021 06:52

I met a Fellow named Paul. Paul was dinee, what most here would call Navajo. He grew up in Nakaibito which translates as Mexican Springs on the big Rez in Western New Mexico, north of Gallup and just at the foot hills of the southern end of the Chuska mountains which run along the boarder with Arizona. He and I kind of meshed and became acquaintances and then friends. We discovered we shared an interest in hunting and talked about hunting as kids and growing up. I grew up in Missouri where in the 50's and 60's deer were scarce, and it was rare someone reported seeing one cross a road. We hunted cottentails and squirrels, and rarely doves and quail. My dad was not much of a shotgunner, so a .410 was my first and then I got a .22 for my 14th birthday Paul grew up hunting prairie dogs with a .22 for food as well as deer and antelope with his father. I had read Sports Afield, Outdoor Live and Field and Stream (and True, which I only mention when I am not in polite company) and dreamed of hunting deer and elk like the guys with enough money to hunt in fabled places like Colorado and Wyoming and Montana. We agreed to hunt together in 1987 and I bought a rifle, a Remington 700 in 7mm mag, good enough for deer and elk. Big game hunts here are by draw, so we put in together for hunts after scouting around and looking at maps. We got drawn for an early November deer hunt. Our chosen area was around Big Rosa Canyon in the San Mateo Mountains. We planned on a cold camp, and took my tent and Coleman stove for cooking. When left after work and when we got there we found a decent tent site and got set up. By that time it was still fairly early, but cold, windy and dark, so we decided to build a fire to warm up and make something warm to drink. We hustled around and found some pinon and a little juniper with some bark shreds and grasses for tender. I got us a fire ring set up and built up the tender and some small stuff under the larger wood. I grew up as a boy scout and was kinda hyper aware I was now camping with a genuwine Indan, who could probably build a fire with strong thought and good medicine, so I concentrated on getting it going with one match. About 8 matches later Paul said, I will show you an old Indan trick. He got out the white gas for the Coleman, poured some on the wood and dropped a match.

We hunted together almost every year for over 30 years, sometimes two or three hunts a year. State hunts, Rez hunts, we shared meat and we shared our lives. We last hunted together in late October, 2020. We got no meat, but we had a great time together, and made plans for hunts in 2021.

Paul died New Years eve of pulmonary complications from Covid. I am bereft.

Back in 1986

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