Fiction

It was a crisp, cool morning as the breeze came whispering through the clearing causing some of the fallen leaves to dance their way into the bushes. You could hear the first signs of life coming from the babbling brook behind me as the fish started to jump, the frogs started to croak, and the occasional larger animal would stroll into the stream for a drink. The sun was not quite up yet but you could tell that the daily routine of most of the forest denizens was getting started. The squirrels were chittering as they scampered through the underbrush, the deer would occasionally snort as they made their way to the stream behind me. The dying hoots of the owls were picked up by the chirping of the crickets and the tweets of the robins and sparrows.

I had gotten out here early enough that none of the creatures would be able to notice me while I tried to decide which one was going to be breakfast. I knew I didn’t want deer because it would be too big to carry home and I didn’t feel like chasing it down if I didn’t get it down the first time. The squirrels were too difficult to hit, as they scampered here and there and would never sit still for longer then a couple of seconds. Something about the size of a raccoon would do, but they would all be going to sleep as the sun started to rise. I suppose I could get lucky and have a mountain sheep or a wild boar come traipsing through, but not sure I wanted to take a chance with them either.

Something big and started moving through the thicket on the other side of the clearing and a grizzly bear came lumbering out on his way to the stream. Safely hidden in the tree I had picked out for myself I didn’t flinch a muscle just in case the griz felt threatened by my presence. As he made his way across the clearing towards me, he paused and raised his head in the air. He had caught a scent, the wind whipping around so much I couldn’t tell if he knew I was near or if it was something else. He peered toward the tree I was comfortably sitting in and stared for a few minutes. I knew I was done if he felt threatened because there was no where for me to go. What was I thinking backing myself into such a corner by climbing a tree with no other way out. The grizzly shook his head and started tromping his way across the clearing and headed towards the stream. It wasn’t long before I could hear him splashing his way through the stream, undoubtedly to get his breakfast.

It was getting harder to pick animals out as the leaves and started changing colors and the grass was slowly dying in the clearing. I was having to rely more on sound then movement, even if I hear them it was hard to pick them up from up here. Patiently I waited for the right moment to nab my breakfast. I watched as a covey of quail quickly scurried through the clearing, then a couple of turkeys made their way through. Everyone was going about their daily business not noticing me, with the exception of the bear possibly but he didn’t seem to have seen me just maybe caught a whiff. Pretty soon I could hear the grizzly lumbering back my way from the stream. I was afraid he might get a better smell this time coming from a different direction, but his mouth was full of salmon. He had something else on his mind as he made his way back across the clearing and disappeared through the thicket on the other side.

I continued to watching the morning unfold as the squirrels kept scavenging nuts off the ground, buried under the fallen leaves. I became quite intrigued by the family of mice that had decided to come out and play, well a couple of them were playing while the other two were looking for smaller nuts or berries to take with them. They appeared to find a few berries and the two that found the food started snacking on the berries while the watched the other two chase each other in and out of the dead trees on the ground. After what seemed like a long time; which in fact was only a few minutes, the playful duo finally seemed to have ran out of steam. They scavenged around until they had found their own berries and nuts to chow down on, and that was probably their downfall. As they made their way back towards where they had come from, more slowly this time I might add, a deafening shriek filled the forest. Everything in that clearing heard it and knew it was trouble; the squirrels quickly ducked back into their tree, the covey sprang to life as they were startled by the sound, and the mice tried to run but it was too late. SWOOSH!! I felt a slight breeze as the hawk flew right by where I was sitting in the tree. He reached towards the forest floor, snatched a mouse in each talon and was up again before they knew what had happened. You could see them struggling mightily as the hawk flew the forest. It appeared as though one of them won the struggle as it dropped from his talons to the unseen foliage below. The remaining two scurried that way to check on their fallen comrade and to mourn the unlucky one of the bunch.

I was pretty sure I had seen enough, I had been the first one out here this morning and I was becoming the last one to find my breakfast. That settled it, I would just get the next animal that wondered into the clearing and call it a morning and go home. The hawk and spooked everything pretty good so I knew it would probably be a little bit longer now for something to come wandering through. The sun was starting to rise ever higher, erasing the little dew that their was from the ground. A cool breeze made its way through the clearing, and I having sat their waiting was almost asleep when I heard the leaves rustle on the ground underneath me. I thought ok heres my chance and I am gonna miss it because I was dozing. I tensed up as whatever was was just about through the leaves and I was getting ready to….stop. I caught just enough of the black and white to know that I wanted nothing to do with a skunk this early in the morning. I relaxed and tried not to move too much because as much as I didn’t want to spook the grizzly earlier, I definitely didn’t want to spook this thing. He slowly ambled his way across and out of site, then it was back on the watch. No dozing this time, had to keep my senses about me or I would be looking for lunch before too much longer. That was when it happened. A nice plump rabbit popped out of the thicket on the other side of the clearing. It wasn’t much, but it would definitely do. I watched as it cautiously hopped its way across the clearing towards the tree I was in, apparently the wind was still in my favor. I was poised ready to get it when it got close enough because I did not want to miss it. Just a little closer would be perfect, and as if reading my mind it hopped to the exact spot I had been looking at. He stopped, trembling in place; I tensed and that was when I went for it….BANG!!

It was a funny thing, I thought I had had a pretty good hiding place all morning, good enough that none of the animals that came through saw or smelled me. I watched as the deer came through before sun up. Then I watched the grizzly come through, and he even stopped, that’s when I thought I was in big trouble for fear he had caught my scent, but he went on his merry way. I thought for sure he would find me on his way back through but he was too busy with his salmon. I watched the hawk swoop down and grab those two mice even. I held my breath as the skunk passed within mere feet of where I was sitting. Then I decided I had been here long enough and that’s when that rabbit came be-bopping through. I was waiting for it to get in a better spot so I would have a chance at it, and just when I thought it was in the spot I wanted, that’s when I saw it. Slight movement coming from the tree above it, I glanced up quickly, it was a bobcat. It appeared to have tensed to get ready to pounce on the rabbit. That’s when I decided that I no longer wanted the rabbit but I wanted the bobcat, a little harder to take down then the rabbit but a little more worth it. I waited for it to pounce, so it would be on the ground and when it did that’s when I went for it…..BANG!!!

I was walking down the trail to get back to our cabin when I spotted the missus outside putting the wash on the line. She had gotten up as early as I had, and probably hadn’t stopped working since whether it was doing the wash, or washing the dishes, taking some firewood in or just cleaning up a bit. She looked like she was wearing down from what I could see(you could always tell when she was wearing down because she wasn’t smiling and if she caught ya looking she would force one on her pretty face for ya) I whistled at her from down the trail, she turned, forced a smile for me and I yelled up to her to go ahead and take a break so I could tell her about my morning. She happily sat on the stump where we chop the firewood and asked if I hadn’t gotten anything worth anything sitting out in the woods this morning.

I started from the beginning and told her how the morning had gone. The deer coming through, then the grizzly pausing in the clearing on his way to the stream, then coming back content with his breakfast in his mouth. Then the hawk swooping down and carrying away the two little mice. The skunk passing through right by where I was at, and lucky not to get sprayed. Then I told her about the rabbit and how I had decided that it was gonna wind up being breakfast. She looked over at my gamesack and informed me either I killed the grandpappy of all rabbits or there was more to my story. I just grinned at her and told her to stop interrupting and I would get to it. She just gave me a look, like well go ahead and finish the story then. I went ahead and told her about just as I was getting ready to shoot the rabbit that I saw the bobcat in the tree above it, so I decided to go for it too. She just looked at me bewildered, then she somewhat came to her sense and asked if you could even eat bobcat. I told her sure, but we would get more out of selling the pelt down at the general store then we would out of trying to eat the meat. It wasn’t long then before her eyes watered up a little bit. She had been wanting to go down to the store and get a few items to stock up for the winter, but our crops hadn’t done so good this year so we were short of trading materials. She said she would have to think about what we needed and prioritize the list to ensure we didn’t get more then we could afford. I reached over and wiped away the tears and told her my story was not quite done. She looked at me curiously and sat back down and asked if I had more then the bobcat in my gamesack. I just grinned and told her to let me finish.

I had let the bobcat get to the rabbit first, so I wouldn’t be trying to shoot it out of the tree, and with any luck I could get the rabbit too. The bobcat had pounced, the rabbit was pinned and not moving, I had him in my sights just as he had hit the ground and that’s when I had seen the flick of the tail from the brush behind it. The bobcat getting ready to enjoy his breakfast and before I could get the first shot off, the mountain lion was all over him. That was when I decided it was all or nothing. The cougar wounded the bobcat enough that I shot the cougar first. As the bobcat tried to hobble his way out of the clearing I got a clear shot on him and took it. As a small consolation prize I picked up the rabbit, no sense leaving it out here in the clearing where it would suffer an agonizing demise anyways.

The missus was awestruck and didn’t know if I was telling the truth or making it up, well at least until I pulled all three of the critters out of my gamesack for her. I told her that I figured the mountain lion pelt would be enough for her to get everything that we needed at the general store, and the bobcat pelt would be enough for her to get something nice for herself. She started welling up again, and started towards me as if to hug me, and WHACK! She slapped me right across the face. It caught me off-guard I just stared at her stunned and told her she didn’t have to get anything for herself if she didn’t want to. She just looked at me, then told me what a damned fool I was. I was shocked, I thought I was doing a good thing here by bringing the rabbit, the bobcat, and the mountain lion home. She glared at me like she does when I have done something wrong, then she just started shaking her head and told me I didn’t know no better.

“Okay! So the bobcat was hunting the rabbit for breakfast, the mountain lion was hunting the bobcat for breakfast, and you wound up hunting all three for breakfast. What do you think was slinking in the bushes waiting to make YOU its breakfast??”