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The Game Camera Game…
When I lived up on the mountain in East Tennessee, I used to enjoy mounting a game camera at various places on my property, and seeing what wandered by. I lived on 56 acres, surrounded by National Forest, and my driveway was over a mile long, mostly straight up. So the wildlife used the driveway as a sort of interstate – easy to get lots of good pictures:
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You’ll notice that these pictures are taken at lots of different locations. I was moving the camera around a lot. You might think that would be because I was afraid the wildlife would find the camera. You would be wrong.
My kids grew up wandering all over the mountains, looking for stuff to get into. And once they found my game camera, I would start getting lots and lots of pictures like this:
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So I’d get 2 pictures of bobcats, and 50 pictures of goofballs goofing off.
So I’d move the camera.
And the search would be on – they were relentless.
It seems juvenile. But we had a great time, trying to outsmart one another. We could have been doing something productive. But no, we were playing hide and go seek all over the mountainsides.
BearFotos (Shutterstock. Photo ID: 1913595454)
A bit silly, perhaps. But it beats video games, right?
We had a great time.
I wish more kids could have more time to just wander around the woods. Throwing rocks at trees. Catching crawdads in the stream. Trying to annoy their Dad by messing with his game camera.
Most of our kids today grow up in a virtual world. Keeps them occupied, I guess. And they’re not annoying their Dad as much, I suppose. But geez.
We’re only just now beginning to understand how that turns out…
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It was probably in the late 1980s that Mr. She woke up very early and put the dogs out. They ran down the hill and started barking like crazy. Mr. She put his boots and jacket on and went down the hill towards the woods. Sure enough, there was a little bear (probably about as old and as big as the one in the photo) at the edge of the woods. Mr. She’s first thought (not his first rodeo) was, “Where’s Mom?” He gathered up the dogs (the Old English Sheepdog was most interested in the vistor, who was not that much bigger than he was; the other dog (St. Bernard/Golden cross) wasn’t so keen), and beat a hasty retreat up the hill.
That’s where they compare discretion to valor. Your husband made the correct choice.
Thanks Randy and Kedavis. I already had a google account but it wouldn’t let me create a page without a name. Here are my three 10 second clips…
My father sometimes went deer hunting with a couple of guys, one of whom was quite an active outdoor person. Those two came on a couple of bear cubs in a tree, and though they weren’t sure when bear season opened, they decided to open it. Mama bear heard the cubs squealing and came out of the woods, not in a happy mood. The two reloaded on the run and turned and shot the mama bear. Now they had three dead bear, one over their limit, so they gave the mama bear to Dad, who butchered it an put it in the freezer.
I remember that a few years earlier, when I had first met Dad’s outdoorsman hunting buddy, that the topic of bear meat came up. My mother asked him what it tasted like and he replied, “About like dog.” I can’t vouch for that, but mama bear wasn’t anything special to eat. I was away at college then, so didn’t eat much of it myself.