Politics make wild North Fork that much sweeter

I don’t know if our premature blast of arctic air helped the hunters or not. I talked to neighbors who, among them, shot three whitetail deer. Two does and one three point buck. I could have shot a couple of does but prefer to stay with my normal goal. Only four point bucks or bigger and if I get a bull elk before I see a suitable buck I will let the deer live for another year.

That sounds like I am a serious hunter but the fact is since I turned eighty I don’t spend much time tramping the woods. Most of my hunting these days is spent in my recliner watching the meadow. It is comfortable and warm and son Dave is close enough to help prepare it for the butcher.

The warming weather suits me just fine. I love fall weather with sunny days even if it freezes at night. There is a lot of comfort in the crackling of a wood fire at night and a friendly dog lying in front of it. Plus, this time of year I will sometimes cook breakfast on the old wood cookstove and give the propane stove a rest. It looks like that will be our weather for the next week or so. After that who knows. If and when the snow gets deep I will follow my recent practice of becoming a snowbird. That means moving to Columbia Falls where I burn wood with a natural gas backup and a teenager to keep the wood box full.

By the time this appears in print the election will finally be over — at least voting will be over. Maybe legal battles will go on for weeks or months. A lot of people are saying this has been the nastiest campaign they have ever seen. I don’t know about that but I do think there has been a ton of lies on both sides. Instead of campaigning on what they will do they spread lies about what their opponent will do.

I am disgusted by the actions of both political parties and try to vote for the person I think will serve us best. The political ads I liked best were done by the Daines and Bullock children. Biased fear tactics just make me mad.

Maybe politics is why we love the North Fork. Up here the air is clean, the mountains are beautiful as is the forest and the clear-as-crystal streams and river. Not to mention the wildlife, from the scampering chipmunk to the majestic bull elk, moose, or grizzly bear.

I can sit just about anywhere —by the river or out in the woods and it renews me and I even have faith that we humans won’t destroy all that we love, either by over-loving it or deliberately destroying it.

What do you think?

Larry Wilson's North Fork Views appears weekly in the Hungry Horse News.