Laura and I transferred guns, ammo and gear to the truck and camper and left the mini behind. We were off stopping in Chilliwack to gas up,filling truck, Honda Rancher and 4 5 gallon Jerry cans for quad and generator as well as the 44 gal camper water tank and a couple of 5 gal water tanks.
We stopped in Hope at the grocer to buy $600 worth of good and such which only a year ago cost $300. Buying food always reminds me of the grossest incompetence and mismanagement of the Canadian economy by the inflationary liberal government under silly boy Trudeau and now Climate Carmie all involved in the communist UN /WEF rich man scandal. However I then remember I’m blessed as Gates says to be in the Pacific North West and here I am able to work virtual from the wilderness with my Starlink WiFi and extended cellular. The cellular was iffy but we got to Picard Creek and I was able to see a few patients a day not disrupting the clinic care while being up at dawn and hunting then and at night. Normally I’d nap mid afternoon when game is most scarce . Laura loves being in the camper reading and using the internet.
Madigan loved riding on the Honda Rancher with me up Stemwinder to our target practice place. Scott, the great guy at International Shooting Supply Surrey had replaced my Browning scope which fogged a few weeks back from seal leak after 30 or more years of tremendous use. Scott sold me a scope and mounted it. It was great and I had fun shooting the target and then shooting cans with the Ruger 30:06. I also had the Black Creek Labs “Siberian’ semi auto 223 which I bought from International last year when the sissy Karen’s of Toronto outlawed my Ruger mini to give their criminal and terrorist buddies and advantage over the citizens. Without further digression the Siberian turned out to be a lot of fun target practicing as I had weeks before.
Off we went ready to find a deer but just as happy to shoot grouse Madigan was in heaven finding the grouse after I shot them. He must have run a hundred miles or shot full speed ahead after I shot looking for the downed bird and any other that might be out there. What excitement and enthusiasm! What a great hunting buddy. I missed more than half the grouse before I found out I was shooting 8 instead of 6 20 guage load which must have felt like rain to the grouse at the distance i was shooting from stopping the quad. I couldn’t walk closer before they scurried away. 6 load or 5 is best for the distance I shoot from when I surprise them with the quad. 4 load which is good for ducks gets into the meat where as 8 , the target load doesn’t do anything but frighten the birds.
We got a bird each day and returned to Picard Creek camp. Unfortunately a few days there a guy came round and said we were using the generator too much. It’s only allow 9 to 11 and 8 to 10 in BC parks. That didn’t work with virtual psychiatrist consulting mid day.
So we moved. Which was okay because I wasn’t seeing any deer sign and I like to shower if not daily every other day and we had water rationing. If I’m close enough to a lake or river I can pump or carry water to refill the tanks .I did that later with the two five gallons of potable water having enough for a shower a few days out. Laura likes washing each day and together we had water without much rationing for 5 days.
On the way back through Princeton we stopped at the RV Sani Dump across from the RCMP, emptied our black water and grey water tank, filled up with fresh water and replaced one of three propane tanks we used over night for heating and all round for refridgeration. We filled up the truck and a couple of five gallon gas Jerry cans. And yes I bought another dozen chocolate bars.
We drove way out on Jura one of the places I’ve hunted. Driving into the area a herd of 8 or more deer were standing on the road. I naturally didn’t have a rifle ready so stopping the car got the rifle out of the case and the trigger guard off and the ammunition off following the long gone deer up the hill into the forest. How exciting and evidence to my mind the deer were still in the valley and not up the mountains where I’d not found sign. Other hunters were out and the area was crawling as TG is the rut time if the weather turns cold.
Since we are principally grouse hunters we’re not as dedicate to the deer or elk hunting in the area.
Laura and I just like the off grid experience. Laura work all week with sick people and phones and demands and loves being alone and away from people. I make her coffee and cook for her and she loves Madigan who adores her, I set up the camp again with Starlink and Honda Generator and the Honda Rancher off the trailer. With the Ruger 30:06 , Siberian 223 and Argentinian 20 guage on the gun racks on the front of the quad and back packs on the back for Madigan to sit on we were set.Again each day I shot a grouse though missed a half dozen, I saw 3 deer a couple of times and maybe one spike but got lost and came out near the beginning of the area in the east when I thought I’d be far out in the west. I spend a lot of time talking to God hunting, discussing our relationship and understanding not seeing a deer but truly thankful Madigan and I and the Honda stay safe despite being far off grid. Sometimes hunting I’ve never met another soul for days but this time it was busy and I came across a half dozen other hunters on quads. I met 2 older guys who looked military CEO efficient and a couple of fun good old boys as well as some young guys. I liked seeing the young guys, the future of hunting but was annoyed when I saw them out at dawn when they should be sitting in ambush or stalking about the bush on two legs.I was highly successful big game hunter till 5 years ago when I was in Edinburgh climbing Arthurs seat in the rain and slipped hurting my back yet again. Obviously there is some cumulation from the plane crash, motorcycle crash, getting hit in my car on the highway and doing a 360 and 180 flips, then the rolls in the truck off the highway towing the camper and being hit bicycling and flying over the roof the the offending car as well as other less remarkable back events had left me with chronic pain and occasions fear of sneezing but mostly a love for hot springs and amazement that exercises like tai chi and yoga do so much good, Covid I got fat with sciatica and pain and one year couldn’t walk mor than 3000 steps at most. I love ibuprofen. The fall in Edinburgh had me see a doctor who thought surgery might be a consideration while my favourite friend and sports medicine specialist recommend Eric Goodman’s Foundation Training. I was able to walk relatively well year later with pain mostly getting out of bed and pain in bed but it was all getting better so that last year when I crashed and flipped my quad I was walking pretty good but still afraid to walk in the woods because my strength and balance was offer. I used to be called a billygoat and run and jump in the woods and mountains. Now I have this inordinate fear of breaking a hip though my hips are fine. I just can’t rely on my back not to give in a fall. Yet praise God and exercise and good medical care this year I’m walking fine and was so thankful that I could walk on uneven deer trails in the woods. Thankfully riding the quad wasn’t painful just tiring. The other old guys talked about knees. My fear is shooting a deer too far from a trail and getting it out without injurying myself. A bear I shot took all days to get back to the road just as an elk I shot at dawn took all day despite being quartered to get to the trail and quad, By contrast grouse like to come out by the side of the road and are what I hunted with my brother and father. Madigan thinks this is our prime target and we do have fun exploring and missing grouse which are smarter than libera politicians and fly away at the sound of a rifle being loaded.Monday to Thursday I saw patients in the afternoon on the medical legal zoom Doxy.me using the Oscar EMR all thanks to Starlink. At night with my iPad we watched a series of great movies after the barbecued steak , hot potatoes and corn or peas meals with butter and sour cream. Great feasts. The dog shared the steaks and pork chops and chicken and after dinner Hagan daz ice cream bars.The movies on prime and Netflix were incredible. Naked Gun with Pamela Anderson and Liam Nielsen was the best with us laughing through out. Guns up was great. The Lost Bus with Mathew MacConachy was the best thriller and action movie off all. We watched a couple of the Cold Case episodes .Tired after long days and fresh air and physical activity I’m not used too we were in bed before 10 and up at 6 am.The weather was spectacular with sunny, blue sky and cool. I loved the hunter and harvest moon. I’d get up at night and check whatever had Madigan bark in the night and enjoy looking up at he Milky Way and moon, Spectaculr. I’d have ny gun and expect the disturbance was some raccoon or coyote, If it has been a bear I’d have shot it but whatever woke Madigan was gone when I got out with flashlight and rifle. I was grateful the day I got turned around and thankful that a couple of young guys pointed me in the right direction to the main when I’d been off in the other direction and had fears of running low on gas, catastrophising when I had a new garmin I was having trouble reading and yet had been sending my position to Laura a couple of times a day. The fact is that sometimes God’s grace is helping me find my way home. I’ve been “lost’ main times in the woods but only had to spend the night out decades ago when I lost my car on the side of the mountain not realizes how many roads come down from the top having come from the prairies. Lots of times I’ve been uncertain and in the past relied on tagging with pieces of Kleenex the bread crumbs as it were to find my way back. Bill Mewhort my older hunting guide had taught me that before I had a Garmin GPS. The main reason I like the garmin in the SOS feature since I didn’t bring my sat phone I’d used this last decades to stay in tough which clinics and pharamacists. This time I just have the Garmin Inreach II gps and messenger I’m not well versed in. But after the difficulty walking a couple of years I had this irrational fear of injury in the woods and waiting in pain to be rescued. Now I love the SOS feature and of course Laura misses me when I’m late getting back. Madigan thinks its all apart of the adventure.One night I got to use the Siberia and shot a rabbit. I’d really been hankering for rabbit stew. So that was a big event. The first kill with the new rifle and really my thinking that as I’m headed south in a month a deer might to be too much meat. I’d have to get Laura little freezer like I did when I shot the elk that we ate for 2 years. This fall has been really busy with the Royal Columbia Clinic closing and the transfer of patients to Docside Clinic with the maintenance on the motorhome to be done for going south for January. I’m anxious about my lungs after having had TB working as a flyin in doctor in the far north with so much TB and then the tough year long treatment with anti TB drugs and the fear during Covid , the pneumonia, and flashes of death in Mumbai so sick after thee smoke air of Dehli. I ‘ve had too many close friends and family and a brother die so I’m a bit frail in my victim prone thinking. The fact is after so many beaurocratic fights with corrupt woke and being falsely accused and victimized and divorce I can so easily slip into self pity despite 28 years of sobriety and the wonderful uplifting recovery program of AA and the hilarious fellowship. I am so thankful to IDAA and Cyberdocs and my Christian Church for keeping me out of that seductive egomania with inferiority complex I’d known the last year of drinking strugglign with a marriage of addiction and all the gas lighting and lies and dangers of that time but also the angels and godsends. I am so thankful for Ray and Willie and Graham and Bernie, Hank, Art, and Phillip. I was so blessed to have George as a friend. The women have all been incredible. But so many have died these last years that I have difficulty at times maintaining my own illusion of immortality. I did enjoy reading Atia’s Outlive and considering that yes I’ll live to be a hundred thanks to God and genes and medicine and parents and teachers. That’s if I don’t drive off a cliff lost in the wilderness riding a quad with a terrific buddy dog who’d lick my face if I was down. The rains came. I was at dawn watching the weekend crowd careening about on quads losing faith when I’d watched the sun come up and been passed by three quads and watched this one circle the area while another couple guys walked along the road like they were out for an afternoon stroll only it was before 8 am. I had made my coffe with lots of cream and honey. I was sipping that and still feeling cold and having unchristian thoughts about the yahoos while I was doing the ‘right thing’ siting silently unmoving in my foredt’ hunting ‘office’ watching the grand central station with the rains coming. I have a great poncho but it was my spirit that began to trouble me. In the unlikely event I now shot a deer, it would be a few hundred yards getting to in and back in the west and slippery. Was it worth having a deer and hurting my back and hip again and all in the miserable. The joy to successful hunting over rode everything but I had a rabbit and grouse. With all the quaffing I was dirty with dust and the night before had got back to camp in a storm of thunder and lighting and downpour. This morning it had begun to drizzle . I’m just a sissy. I want to blame it on age but I’m surprisingly developing caution and am no longer the guy who carried an island deer on his back down a mountain wading streams and getting back to my truck bours later. Neither am I the fool that road Honda 250 enduro down a mountain sitting a deer carcass laid over the seat. I’m not the guy hunting with my native friend Wayne Andrew’s did Man from Snowy River On horseback down the mountain. I’ve actually had moments when i treat my body now like a vintage vehicle. This was one of them. I surprised Laura coming back at 10 rather than noon and said how do you feel about packing up and going to Sunshine Valley RV resort for a last few days of glamping. “I’d be glad to,” she said. She’s easy. She just likes dogs.So I loaded up and we stopped at A&W in Chilliwack for take out burgers, onions rings and fried and drove down to Sunshine Valley, They said they pretty full but could accommodate the truck and trailer but I couldn’t use the quad as their quad sites were all taken.“No problem I’ve been riding quad all week and my butt is sore and I just want to use your hot tubs.” “We can accommodate you there.”She was as lovely in person as she’d been on the phone. We checked in and soon had electricity and city water and the Starlink was up. I walked Madigan. Laura microwaved the potato’s and peas to go with butter and sour cream. I barbecued the chicken breasts and we had a feast. I’d finally figured hour how to get the Amazon Fire Tv working by down loading an app to my phone as I’ve not been able to find the remote since spring. I spent 20 minutes in the hot tub loving the jet I called my own. Later my back emailed me a simple thank you..Laura and I watched House of Guinness series enjoying the Irish history we both share in our genes. Prods and Finians and dastardly English. Then bed, glorious bed after a walk about the park for Madigan. This morning we both shared over coffee how well we slept and how much we appreciate civilization again. We’re easing our way back to the city. Thank you Jesus for friends and love ones, Help those we know who are sick or in distress’s Thank you God for Laura and Madigan and for keeping us safe. Thank you for the grouse and rabbit and all the adventure the last few weeks. Thank you for all the technology, Honda, Starlink, Ford, Adventurer, Garmin, Apple, Ruger, Black Creek Labs etc. Thank you Creator for nature and wonder and grace, Thank you ancestors and those who have gone before. Thank you for my skills and work and the blessings I have known, Thank you for sobriety and AA and the Christian church and truth and myth and gratitude. Thank you God.
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