Click, Click, Boom

I may have mentioned that I live in a very remote section of the country in the past.  Part of that means that I get to do things that most folks don’t have easy access to do.  One of these is to go hunting.  Let me just say that I have never really hunted.  As a suburbanite raised gringo the closet I ever came to seeing wild life was at a zoo or cows along the side of the road.  It certainly means that I’ve never seen the taking of an animals life up close and personal.  That’s all about to change.

In an attempt to eat healthier and save some money my wife and I have been trying to stick to fish caught during the summer and occasionally eating of venison or buffalo for a red meat fix. 

Where we live fish is given almost all the time as way to share the bounty and spread the luck, but venison is a prized possession because of the effort to get to it and get it back. 

Short story long – my friend invited me on a hunt.  The season starts on Sunday and I’ve got to hike into the mountains and bring something out.  Unless the weather is bad.  I guess deer hide very efficiently in bad weather.

This leads up to how I’ve been changing my work out routine as of late.  Normally, I try to work out three times a week and go to beatings twice.  The irony is that with that schedule I would presume that I would be reasonably fit for a hike in the mountains, but the truth is that I’m huffing and puffing within the first few minutes uphill. 

Too be a good hunting partner I’ve been hiking instead of going to the gym.  My wife and I head up the mountain behind town every other day for a couple of hours in hopes that I’m not an entire embarrassment to our friend.  

This radical change in exercise pattern has been nice for a bit of weight loss, but my legs are completely shot.  This makes beatings nearly hilarious.  Last night Teacher had us focus on kicking in close range.  In order for us to kick at any height the knee must be very high.  After a few minutes my tell-tale wheezing and sweating had already made an appearance, but I noticed that I was able to do the kicks whereas in the past that might not have occurred.  Also, my level of soreness this morning is the same as any other day so maybe I’m making some progress after all.