As somewhat a laudee-dah lady I am often asked, “How is it you love to hunt and fish so much?” The short answer is that I owe it to my two grandfathers; Reg Meaker, Sr. and Lin Blondin. My grandfather Meaker was known as the Nevada Desert Sheep Man and my grandfather Blondin was an avid fisherman. However, there is so much more to the story. But to keep this blog reasonably concise, it all started with me being 3, a very precocious 3 and my mother, Beverly and father Reg, Jr. celebrated the arrival of my brother Scott. Shortly thereafter, my mother discovered she was pregnant again with my brother, Mark. Overwhelmed with a new born and morning sickness, I was sent off to the sheep camps with my dad and grandfather. There I lived “in camp” out in the Virginia Mountains of Nevada and the Sierra Nevada’s near Bocha Dam where I learned to eat bacon and eggs out of a frying pan with heavy sheep-herder’s bread to dip in the bacon fat and wash it down with coffee-flavored canned milk. Ahh! I would laugh and play with the Basque sheep herders and the lambs during the day and we would feast on lamb chops at night. My parents claim I spoke fluent Basque which I don’t recall and when brought home to Reno, I could hardly wait to go back to camp. Many a trip to camp, my dad or grandfather Meaker would come back into camp with a buck strapped over the saddle of their horse. To this day I am not sure which is my favorite meat; lamb or venison.
As soon as I could reasonably maneuver the streams in the Sierra’s, my grandfather Blondin would whisk me away to be his companion on daily fly fishing trips to the Truckee and Feather Rivers. When with him, my diet would include fresh caught trout; pan fried with scrambled eggs and milk (regular) or orange juice. I found I loved the thrill of catching a trout as much as my time at sheep camp. But both experiences left me with a deep respect for the animals and that we only harvested what we needed for food.
Fast forward a few years, my parents divorced and we moved in with my Grandparents Blondin in Sacramento. There my love for fishing continued to grow as I would fish with my “Grandy” regularly. Sadly, I never returned to sheep camp. My mother married Bill Beale who would teach me to hunt upland game, but never with a gun. I went along to act as the bird dog while my two younger brothers, Scott and Mark were taught all the things having to do with actually hunting and guns. It was only when I married Jim Laining and he joined the group of happy hunters, that I made it a condition that it would only be if I could go along and this time as a full fledged hunter.
The rest is history. Hunting has become a part of me as well as the fishing and after Jim died, I came to realize that my next partner in life had to have the same passion for the outdoors and hunting and fishing. I wrote an article which was published in the American Hunter titled “Determined to Hunt”. I was training for the Anchorage Marathon with Leukemia, Team in Training. One of my team mates was none other than Alan Benbow who read the article and offered to teach me how to hunt big game. Our first deer hunt sent me back to my childhood and my love for sheep camp. Deer camp was my grown up version of my favorite childhood memories. Add to that venison still remained one of my favorite meats and there was no turning back. Alan had to marry me out of self defense.
Together Alan and I have carried on my wonderful heritage hunting upland game, deer and then we added wild boar and elk. Ask me which is my favorite meat and I would have to say the species on my plate that night!
Alan and I added hunting of elk in 2004. Our first hunt was a disaster. We signed on with an outfitter to hunt Eagle Cap Wilderness out of LeGrand, Oregon. We took a small bush plane into the Minim Unit. We stayed the first night in the Minim Lodge which was next to the world famous Red’s Lodge known for famous guests the likes of John Wayne. From there we set out on horseback 10 miles up the North Fork of the Minim River to our camp. A putrid tent for 9 days of truly rugged living. Our cook was top notch, but our guide, while a very experienced elk hunter had never seen the country before. Needless to say it was a challenging experience. We overheard one of the other wranglers comment that they did not cater to laudee-dahs and that our guide was the only one that would take us on. We never harvested an elk; I was thrown very badly from my horse, but all was redeemed when Alan spotted an elk ivory on the forest floor and then looked for the rest of the animal. There it was what remained of a trophy bull elk. It was definitely that year’s kill. We heard stories of an archery hunter who arrowed a magnificent animal during archery season in that area only to never find him. We tagged the antlers and transported them home and the stately 340 class bull is the full focus as you enter our living room.
Over the last 7 years we moved our hunting to Colorado with Don and Stacy Pinnt of Lodgepole Outfitters of Grand Junction, Colorado. The ranch we hunt is called the Desert Claim near Naturita, Co. Elk hunting is overall the most challenging of all hunting. Elk live at very high altitudes and not only do you have to contend with that challenge; but it is not uncommon to be hunting in blizzard conditions. The first two years, Alan took two respectable satellite bulls before we decided to book late season cow hunts. We found them to be as challenging; the meat was consistently better and a more affordable alternative. The ranch is also home to some magnificent mule deer bucks. I personally have seen bucks with a 30+” spread on more than one occasion. Unfortunately, the deer season ends before the late season cow hunts begin. But it is still a thrill to see those huge bucks!
I am writing this as we are driving back home across the Nevada desert after our most recent hunt. Late season cow hunts run the month of December. The ranch is part of this area’s herd winter grounds. We have heard stories of hunters pulling through the green gate of the ranch to witness hundreds of elk grazing in its valley. Many of the 3 day hunts in late December are over in a matter of minutes. Colorado’s Department of Wildlife manages the herd (the largest in the United States) with these cow hunts. And by virtue of the flourishing numbers does it well. However, Alan and I love the hunt, pitting ourselves against the Wapiti (Ghost of the Forest), have chosen to schedule our hunts December 1, 2, & 3. We did not want to lose the purity of hunting. However, as we head home with empty ice chests and exhausted bodies from 3+ days of hunting in challenging conditions of first shirt sleeve weather, then heavy bone chilling winds with stinging ice crystals and then a full fledged, freezing blizzard without seeing an elk up close, tempt us to consider a later date. But then again, maybe not. While we love the meat, it is not about the killing. It is about preserving that heritage; about taking us back to our youth and times where hunting was truly about putting food on the table. It is to take us away from the computers, cell phones, text messages and to put us back into “us against nature.” I have to tell you, we had an incredible time, and Don worked very hard to put us in the elk. They just had not come down from the high country before our hunt was over. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your view, nature won this time. We need to be fair by clarifying that we have been successful 5 out of 7 years which by elk hunting standards is pretty good. So, as we are driving home, yes, we are very disappointed, but are already planning next year’s hunt!
While this is what we do when we are not working, I like to think we put the same passion into our businesses. So if you are thinking about buying or selling real estate and want someone to put this kind of determination along with over 4 decades of experience to work for you, please give me a call. I would be honored to prove that in real estate as in hunting, experience is not expensive, it is priceless!
Labels: Elk, Hunting, Real Estate
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Viki Benbow @ 4:05 PM
