Hunting for nature
When Travis Tourjee spotted a Canadian black bear from his treestand he pulled back on his bow and arrow and let it go. Later, when Tourjee cleaned the bear and took the heart from the bear’s chest, he said he found incisions the arrow made.
Tourjee, a USU senior and biology major, said he first went hunting as a 9-year-old in Ohio, following his grandpa and father as they hunted deer. Now, he said he finds time between classes, or during classes, to drive to quiet Tremonton in the mornings and sit in his secret spot, waiting for ducks to fly within shooting range.
For a lot of USU students who are hunting enthusiasts, it isn’t about killing the animal, it’s about becoming a part of nature, he said.
“A lot of people think of hunters as sadistic,” Tourjee said, “but a lot of hunters are conservationists. We are out there seeing how the animals interact. In harvesting animals, we also want to preserve their future. We want to come back next year and have a good stock of animals to chase.”
The chase started for Spencer Pugmire long before his car ride to the woods on Oct. 8, he said. Pugmire, a senior majoring in biology, said he feels about hunting now the way he felt about Christmas morning as a child. He wakes up before the sun and eats better than he does the rest of the year, with a heaping plate of bacon, eggs and hashbrowns to start.
“This is what I like to call ‘the good life,'” Pugmire said, “and I want nature to respect me, so I have to grow my beard out. I didn’t shower for nine days or wear deodorant; I was the epitome of a man.”
While following buck or bull elk tracks, Pugmire said he sees snapshots of nature he feels no one else sees, like a clearing where sun is streaming through the pine needles onto packed snow. One of the most appealing things about it, he said, is the opportunity to simply get away.
ASUSU student body President Erik Mikkelsen’s time-intensive duties had him craving hunting season one week before fall break came around, he said. He and his younger brother drove to Pioche, in southern Nevada, to hunt deer and elk. There are a few different hunting seasons in the fall, Mikkelsen said, archery season begins in August, and rifle season begins in October. The opening day and closing day varies from year to year.
“I didn’t want to be in school all week, because I knew I was going hunting,” Mikkelsen said. “Killing the animal is really exciting — it’s the adrenaline of sneaking up on the animal. I like hunting in Nevada, because in Utah you have to wear orange, but in Nevada I can wear camo and hide.”
To attain a hunting license, not too much is required, Pugmire said. He received his hunting license from a Boy Scout merit-badge requirement, as a young teen, and it has remained valid since.
Educators like Earl Duncombe, at the Cache Valley Shooting Range, teach hunter education courses throughout the year, which is the first step toward receiving a hunting license, he said. There are a handful of USU students who volunteer at the shooting range with various tasks, such as education, which includes weapon safety, Duncombe said.
With certificate in hand, the next step is to show the certificate and driver license to get an actual hunting license, said Aaron Williams, store manager at Big 5 Sporting Goods. By law, those who were born in 1960 do not have to show proof of a hunting certificate, he said. Everyone, though, must pay $26 for a fishing license and $30 for a hunting and fishing combination license.
“A lot more people in Utah come in for fishing licenses,” Williams said. “In Utah you don’t buy a license for big game or small game — it’s the same — but you have to get a tag for the animal you want to hunt. If you want to hunt for ducks, then you need a separate license for that.”
Cache Valley’s many canyons are popular for hunting, but hunters are not allowed to shoot any game within 50 yards of the road.
“Hunting is better in Utah depending on what you are pursuing,” Tourjee said. “It’s a different ball game out here. In Ohio it’s a lot of sit and wait. Out here, the animals just kind of roam the hills.”
After game is cleaned, skinned and divided, hunters can have at least a year’s worth of meat in the freezer, Pugmire said.
Tourjee said Thursday night’s supper was goose, Friday’s was duck and Saturday’s was whitetail deer.
All in all, Pugmire said catching game keeps a poor college student’s stomach full, but it’s a messy process. When Pugmire finally made it home after his nine-day hunting trip in the Uintah Mountains near Wyoming, he said he was blood-stained and smelled of elk.
But smelling like a dead animal is entirely worth the memories, he said, not to mention how amazing a long, hot shower feels after a long week in the wild.
– catherine.meidell@aggiemail.usu.edu