A geologist leans against Lake George Granite
When a geologist goes hunting, they know the age and name of the granite they’re walking on. They notice the degree of exfoliation and imagine the regional stress regime in their mind’s eye. They walk into and out of planes of fracture sets. When a geologist goes hunting they wear steel-toed company boots paid for by some field mapping or core-logging job they had a long time ago.
A geologist hunter walks flat-footed so as to avoid the rhythmic pattern of heel-to-toe humans make when walking. Predators cover ground in rhythmic succession. Grazers — the prey — step gingerly moving slowly and erratically from one ball of wild grass to the next, grazing intermittently then moving on.
The prey can both hear and feel the rhythm of a hunter walking through the woods. Predators move step after step, eyes forward, looking, smelling, and listening for the prey. The prey knows this so they don’t move. A frozen pose obscures its outline against the background of leaves, twigs, tree trunks, shadows, bushery. A twitch of the ear can give the a rabbit away sitting next to a log, a deer standing across the path, an elk looking down from on the ridge. Frozen, the prey is inanimate, standing like a shadow as the predator walks past.
The hunter has to take a couple steps, then stand waiting. One-two……wait…..one-two-three…….wait………one-two…and so on moving from tree to tree. They need to stand still next to an object and move only their eyes so as not to draw attention. Waiting is the name of the hunting game.
This is the way of the hunter and in these moments, the geologist notices the bull quartz pieces in the talus and pegmatite outcropping through the grass. The geologist looks to see if any large crystals are visible with minerals like tourmaline, smoky quartz, huge books of biotite, or maybe even something much more precious like beryl, Amazonite, etc. A hunting geologist sees these things.
That is why so many geologists come home with rocks in their pockets rather than a deer in their cooler.
{ 4 } Comments
If you only sit and wait (’chair’/stand hunting) you’d start thinking of everything that you like (geology included) or you dislike. Nature’s great anyways and the silence would eventually engulf you inducing a tranquil state of mind (no geology thoughts anymore, thank god). But if you stalk or you’re doing that steep geological traverse through dense brush then you won’t be thinking that much about ‘porphiries’ - you’re just sweating and panting… and swearing sometimes (depending on how much weight you put on over the winter). This is when some of us middle age geologists move like you said: one, two and then stop… for a break grasping for air.
Great blog Michele.
Good luck hunting - birds, deer and jobs. And keep us informed.
Cheers.
Dean — you have a gun? You have bullets? That is a scary thought. Keep to rocks (and guitars).
That’s why I don’t even bring a rifle.
Hi Dan:
Hiking, even if you are hiking up to an overview, is really what hunting is about and the main reason I do it. I changed to upland bird hunting because my dogs can come. In their errant runs back and forth birds get confused and flush up. Sometimes they chase a deer so I shoot over their head. That usually makes them stop. I am in it for the beauty as much as for the “hunt” predator to prey, which is an animal instinct still intact in us. Women hunt when they find a good buy at the store. They feel like they just wrestled a gazelle when they come home with a bargain. They are proud of their skill. The hunting instinct is in us all but maybe at a subconscious level.
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