Elk Meat

I wake up to a duck calling, why a duck is in the campsite I have no idea. I notice that my neck is killing me from the ground we've been sleeping on. We have breakfast and I spend the morning recovering by the fire from YorkFest.

At about one in the afternoon we run out of cigarettes and I remember that I need to call my family. We get in the car and drive out to Lakeshore, the closest town with a grocery store. There we meet a guy from Merced, CA whose been in Montana for about 19 years. I tell him that my dad's from Avenal and he knows the town; crazy to find someone in Montana who knows Avenal!

On the way back to camp, Alex and I decide to drop by the bar and get a beer cuz it's Sunday and football's on. When we get in the 49ers are playing and they actually win! As we're about to leave a guy with long hair who lives in York comes to our end of the bar. After a little chit-chat he says, "You guys should come over."

Thinking he meant later I ask him where his house is. "Oh, just come by now. You were the tarot lady right?" Yeah. "I know my wife'll like having you, come back and see our kill room."

We say sure and follow him out of the bar and down the road to their house all the while thinking what is this kill room gonna look like.

When we get there, Loraine comes out of the house and I recognize her from yesterday. We go inside and they take us to the main room in their house and all of the walls are covered in mounted antlers. There are two bear rugs on the ground and one bobcat one. There are also some wreaths made from bird feathers and a few pelts hanging on the walls. They'd killed everything in the room: probably about 30 animals. On a shelf they have a collection of the skulls from some of the animals.

Loraine and Steve tell us some of the stories of the animals. One of the bears is Steve's and one of them is hers. He shot his when he was 29 years old and when they dated the teeth they found out the the bear was 29 years old too. Her bear was 4 years old. The bobcat Steve'd just trapped and they decided to get it rugged. There is a mink hanging because Loraine told Steve she always wanted one so he trapped one for her. Then Steve goes around the back of the house and pulls out the head of a buck that he'd shot earlier this year: it was huge to my eyes but I'm not really trained in these things. They explain that they shoot everything with bows and arrows, some with rifles. The buck he shot straight in the heart from 15 feet away.

Loraine and I have a good talk. She and Steve dated for about 5 years in Pennsylvania before they got married. The day after they got married they moved out to Montana with $32,000. After two years in York, they bought the house that they're living in now. We talk about her work; she used to do the measurements of antlers and gave hunters scores for them for the Fish and Wildlife Department. Those scores go in a national book if they're high enough. She's been looking for work since she left her job of 16 years last October. Steve does dog training, "He's like the dog whisperer, but much better." He also carves things out of wood.

Before we leave Loraine invites us back and Steve gives us some elk steaks from the bull he'd killed. He shows me how to butterfly meat so that you can make steaks out of it. When I ask him how to cook it he tells me, "Just a little salt, pepper and seasoned salt. And be sure you don't overcook it. Just before you think it's done pull it off and let it rest for about 5 minutes in aluminum foil. You gotta let it rest!" We put the meat in a freezer bag and Alex and I go off back to camp to make elk steaks for dinner.