ADVENT OF THE HUNT (PDF-1048)

A quick check of the weather forecast shows that we are going to hit 70-degrees today, with a lot of wind, and maybe a 20% chance of rain. That is pretty warm for mid-November. And we are only a couple of days away from the start of hunting season here in Michigan. As it turns out, the town I live in (Big Rapids, Michigan) sits on the edge of almost a million acres of national forest, the great Manistee National Forest. We are on the very verge, so to speak. Normally that is all for the good, but right now it means that our town will suddenly be the vortex of a hurricane of hunters who descend each year like locusts. All dressed in red and orange, the grocery stores will be filled with them in the act of provisioning. Beards are big, so are boots and hats. The local Big Boy and other restaurants will be filled. More women hunt all the time, but mostly it’s a boy’s game, two weeks of bachelor parties, and too many drunks on the road.