Not Winnie the Pooh
7:50 AM |

“Do you guys want to come over some night for bear nachos?”
I thought this was a cute saying, like bear claw doughnuts that aren’t really bear claws, but pastries. Until she followed up her invitation with a clarifying sentence.
“Yeah, we caught a bear last weekend.”
Indeed, she was asking if we wanted to go over to her cabin on the lake to eat actual bits of bear meat on nachos! Only in Ross River…
I’m very curious right now about hunting. It fascinates me and definitely impresses me. Coming from Ontario, the concept of subsistence hunting is still a little lost on me. I mean, who would need to hunt for food in this day and age? Well, people in Ross River, is the answer.
The bears have just started coming out of hibernation, and are looking for food and rearing their young. They aren’t big and fat like they are before winter, but apparently their coats continue to grow in winter and many of the black and grizzly bears have pretty yummy meat on them.
This couple caught a bear with one shot, dragged all 200 pounds of it to their cabin and dressed it that night. That means cutting it open and taking out all the bits and pieces. I imagine this to be kind of like a real-life version of the board game “Operation.” They plan on having the hide tanned by a local tanner to make a bearskin rug. All the meat will be eaten, they say, lasting them until their next hunt, likely a moose later this fall.
I’m not sure how fascinated I’d be if I were a vegetarian or a big-time PETA proponent or whatever. But this is the culture, the tradition around here. And I’ll be darned if I leave here without having gone on a hunting trip.

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