Somewhere in the middle of Oregon.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Being Prepared

Hunting is truly an unrivaled passion that I have. (There are times when I think I may even be pushing psychotic infatuation). It's a passion that grows stronger with every venture I make. When I can't BE in the outdoors, I'm usually reading about it, and if I can't do that, I'm mentally planning my next outing. It's safe to say that there are times when I may take this focus to an unhealthy level. The enjoyment I personally get from being in the outdoors can not be fully explained, other than the mountains and all they have to offer are part of me, part of my soul, a large part of who I am, and a part of my life I can not live without.

I have hunted with my dad since I was about 10, and I have spent time in the mountains picnicking, fishing, camping, hiking and riding horses for as far back as I can remember. Every weekend he would drag me through the hills. As I trudged on foot behind him, I remember wondering why we were there. Over the years.....40 of them.....I have learned a great deal more about the outdoors, and have taken up many more sports that allow me more time outdoors. Things like boating, wakeboarding, snowboarding, photography, and a broad range of hunting are just a few of my favorites. I have a huge respect for Mother Nature, not only because of the beauty she offers, but the fact that she is the ultimate lesson in responsibility as far as learning how to prepare for the elements in the outdoors and care for yourself. How you prepare for a trip will, without a doubt, be the deciding factor in how much fun you have. Trust me when I say that a snowmobile trip in a pair of sneakers or accidentally leaving your gloves at home, will be time spent full of regrets rather than a fun filled excursion. The experience you have on any particular trip is directly related to how well you are prepared.

When I was 18, I attended a hunter education class with a friend of mine. I had taken the class years before when I was 12, but she spent time with me hunting and hiking and thought it would be fun to take the class, even though she had no intentions of actually hunting. Since she didn't want to attend alone, I decided to tag along.

The instructors were the same men that had instructed me years before, but I quickly found that at age 18, It was much more interesting than it had been at age 12. These men made such an impression on me in the way they presented the material, and the knowledge they had, not only of hunting, but of general outdoor survival, that I wanted to become an instructor. I enrolled in a course the following summer where I earned my credentials to become an instructor's assistant until I turned 21 and would be old enough to be a real instructor. I was the first woman instructor's assistant in the state of Utah.

I was extremely excited to be 'one of them'.(my life at that point was pretty uneventful so I was easily entertained) From these men, I learned a great deal of how to handle myself in the outdoors. One of the strongest points that they bring across in each class, even today, is being prepared. They teach that if you're put in a bad situation, being prepared can be essential to your survival, or at least make a bad situation, not so bad. Being stranded in the desert in mid summer with no water, or stuck in a foot of snow with no cell service has proven fatal for those who didn't bother to tell anyone where they were going and when they would be back, and didn't worry about packing a few basic items 'just in case'. Simple survival skills and the knowledge to use them are truly priceless.

Over the years I have had many experiences in the mountains that, had I not been prepared, could have turned out much differently, or had I been better prepared, might not have been so bad. The mountains are ever changing. The weather within them is completely unpredictable, and I'm a big fan of the saying, "better to be safe than sorry".

I remember an outing with a friend and our children one afternoon. We left our vehicles on ATVs at about 2:00pm and it was 95 degrees in the middle of July, sunny, and not a cloud in the sky. As we were leaving the trucks, I strapped a couple of jackets that I had behind the seat of the truck, on the rack of the 4-wheeler, and asked if she was going to take a jacket. She replied no, and gave me a look like....'why would we need jackets in this weather'. We road about 3 miles into the back country and had stopped to glass the area for wildlife when I looked over my shoulder and noticed some huge black clouds coming over the ridge behind us. At that point we headed back as fast as we could. We made it about a mile and the hail was coming down so hard that we had to take shelter under a large tree....not where you want to be in a thunder storm, but with 4 small children tagging along and not enough jackets to go around....we felt it was our only choice. By the time we got back to the trucks, it was pouring down rain, the temperature had dropped 20 degrees, and we were all completely soggy, cold, and had lots of little unhappy faces with cold hands.

Since that trip, I have had many occasions when I ended up soggy, or cold, or even slightly frozen, but the change in weather no longer surprises me, and....It's safe to say that it's always my own fault.  That day was a good lesson learned in not being prepared. I rarely travel without some sort of raingear, and jacket, and usually have a knife, some rope, and matches in my vehicle....just in case. For the extra minute or two that it takes to pack extra luggage, I must say, I have never been sorry when I had thrown something in 'just in case' and ended up needing it.