My wolf pack, Meet the Midtown Hunting Crew (MHC) 10.12.11

Like many other social omnivores and carnivores, humans are no different; we hunt and gather in packs.  Hunting is one of the oldest traditions, occupations, jobs, and pastimes humans partaken in.  Humans have been doing this since before we evolved into the form we take today.  A lot has changed in us since then.  We no longer hunt, fish and gather as our only forms of sustenance, and our bodies and diets have suffered for it.  Throughout the archaeological record, it is well documented that the existence of cultivation and domestication coincided with higher birth rates, higher infant mortality, shorter life expectancy, and, in general, larger population growth, albeit less healthy people.  Agricultural processes did give us more free time, and created a society that could think about things other than sustenance, but the other things just are not as much fun now are they…   

These are the reasons why I wish I could turn back the dial on time, and have my own true hunting pack. This fine specimen of the industrial-food-complex would look a lot different.  I’d be thin, fast and wouldn’t sit in front of a computer all day blogging about my fantasy wolf pack…or writing something else that I technically get paid for.

Anyway, so here it is your introduction to the Midtown Hunting Crew (MHC), my modern day wolf pack.  When I moved back to California during the summer of 2005, my house was behind a micro brew named the Rubicon Brewing Company, located in the neighborhood known as Midtown in Sacramento, California.  Midtown sits between downtown and East Sacramento and, because this is where most of us lived, the crew is named after the neighborhood.  My aunts, already living in Midtown, had scoped it out and were able to secure the house for me before I moved to Sacramento from Columbus, Ohio.  It was a sweet pad and it was located directly across an alley from a micro brew!  How lucky could a 30 something guy be, his aunts must really love him. 

Anyway, back to the MHC. I become a regular at the Rubicon, of course, and met some of the other regulars.  A guy I chat a lot with named Brad G, who at first I thought worked there because he is there so much, said I needed to meet this guy, Mike W, a fellow hunter. Mike W is a school teacher about my age, and, like me, a bow hunter.  While I had met some other bow hunters through work, I had always hunted with my aunt Sylvia (more about her later). I had yet to find anyone who was like me -- a bow hunter at heart, and in general my age.  Sure, I had met some dudes with big trucks that shop mostly at Wal-Mart, that also skin ducks, wasting all their precious fat, and vote republican because god tells them to, that also bow hunted but -- call me crazy -- I just didn’t want to hunt with them.  So, until meeting Mike W, I pretty much hunted with Aunt Sylvia or alone. So, meet the MHC in the order I think I met them: 

Mike W, AKA “the hippy” or Jesus or “Hippy Jesus,” at my aunt and uncle’s farm in Manville, Indiana with his first archery killed buck November 2008.

Mike is a good dude who teaches kids in continuation school.  Continuation school is high school for the kids who have failed out of other schools, were not able to complete the necessary regular school, or are in spots in their lives where this is their last chance at a high school diploma.  Any way you slice it, his classroom is full of misfits, delinquents, and misanthropes.   You know that saying, “it takes one to know one”? Well, Mike is not only their teacher but also kind of one of them that has made good and is trying to pass along a can-do attitude in the face of adversity.  Mike is a Sacramento native who has been around for a long time and has made Sacramento his home.

Clark B. AKA “level-headed Clark” or “the Natural Ass-leet” with a 38lb black drum caught on the fly near New Orleans, Louisiana during my bachelor party trip April 2010.

So, Clark is the MHC diplomat, the treasurer, and in general the voice of reason.  I first met Clark at the Rubicon with Mike W.  Mike and Clark are friends because their wives/ girlfriends were friends and they both lived in Midtown.  Clark somehow made his way into politics, as did his wife.  Clark worked for then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, all the time keeping his liberal political agenda to himself.  Clark grew up in Utah and Sacramento and was raised a Mormon, but figured the weirdo underwear and giving all your money to some cult really wasn’t his thing. Clark did some hunting while he was in Utah, when the occult was trying to get him for keeps.  He hunted with a rifle as a kid, until Mike converted him to a bow hunter.  Clark is also an excellent fly-fisherman and can double haul with the best of them.

Ray A.  AKA Ray-Ray at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge with Stella and her speck January, 2009.

Ray-Ray and Michael W. have years of hunting history.  Ducks, deer, and pheasant are just a few of the species they have hunted together.   They mostly hunted in California until the MHC formed.  Ray is a good duck hunter and hunts mostly refuges.  He has probably in the neighborhood of 20 years of experience hunting Northern California public lands, and now a few hunting the squirrels that terrorize his backyard.  He knows the ins-and-outs of public hunting in California for waterfowl.  He showed me a lot about public waterfowl hunting areas when I first moved to California.  He also owns a particularly crazy lab, which makes refuge hunting easier and more enjoyable.  Mike, Clark and me got Ray excited about bow hunting a few years ago and he has never looked back.  Ray has been on a mission to kill a California buck with his bow, no easy task to master.

Chester O.  AKA “The Chet” or “the little Ingin that could” with his first big game animal a doe Wyoming antelope October, 2011.

Chet is a Sacramento native; literally, he has Native American blood.  Being part Irish and part American Indian, if it’s wet he’ll drink it… beer, whiskey, vodka, tequila? You bet The Chet loved it. Chet was never a hunter, but did fish a lot as a kid.  I think the MHC gave him the excuse and opportunity to start hunting, and thus far, the learning curve has been steep.  Chet is good natured and has endured a lot of humor at his expense, due to rookie moves and general drunken Indianness.    Chet works hard and not too long ago, married a girl with a 7 year old boy.  So, now Chet has been reformed some… he is a dad and now a husband.  While we all miss the ol’ drunken Chet, the new Chet is still a great guy.  Chet is a union electrician and pulls cable in hospitals, schools and other large institutions.

Mike O. AKA “Oggie” or “lunatic fringe” in my rice blind November 2009.  He looks ready to kill. 

Oggie has been a friend of Mike W’s family for a long time and married Mike’s mom’s best friend.  Oggie is originally from Wisconsin and continues to hunt whitetail each fall in Wisconsin.  Oggie went to Sacramento State University and studied psychology to figure out why he is the way he is, but when that didn’t work he became a painter.  Mike has painted everything from houses to waterslides.  Oggie is also the oldest guy in our crew, but probably also the guy in the best shape.  Oggie is the only dude I know who is almost 50 years old and has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).  He really should be medicated with a substance other than beer.  Speaking of beer, Oggie also makes his own beers and some pretty good ones at that.  Some of my favorites include the Thunder Chicken, Donald Fagan Cascadian, and the MHC Pale Ale.  Oggie’s beer making is a direct result of his controlling his ADHD and channeling it into something productive. 

Marshall C. AKA “Marsh” on the left and me on the right opening day of spring turkey season March, 2010.

I met Marshall through work one day when he called me up asking to volunteer for Ducks Unlimited (my employer).  DU usually does not have very many volunteers outside of the fundraising system, and Marshall wanted to know how he could help out doing actual conservation work.  At first I thought he wanted to do hands-on stuff like hang wood duck boxes, or gather biological information, or dig drainage ditches.   Then he told me he was a lawyer and was not very athletic.  This was perfect, as I work as the real estate specialist for DU and at the time the State of California had a budget freeze, so I couldn’t pay my normal attorneys.  Now I had an attorney working for free.  Marshall and I hit it off pretty well and I knew he would be a good addition to the MHC.  Marshall is also always quoting movies or making some kind of obscure reference to movie he saw in the 80’s like Top Gun or the Goonies.  Marshall recently got married and they had a boy so he has changed some since we first met, but he still loves to hunt and get out of the house.  Now if that rug-rat would just grow faster we could take him with us.

Suntino S AKA “Sunny” or “the Dego” with his first big game kill, a forky bench-leg near Bullard’s Bar. Sunny killed with a circa 1930’s Mouser 8mm with open sights October 2010 .

Suntino S., he rides a Vespa and a Moto Guzzi, he is an Alfa Romeo/Fiat mechanic as his profession, and he pulls his own fresh mozzarella.  He is as dego as anyone I know.  One time when he picked me up to go hunting he was wearing his camo pants, his Italian Gucci loafers, and a “mad bomber” style hat… it was a great look.  Until meeting the MHC, Sunny had mostly hunted public lands in California for deer every year for many years and had never killed a buck.  Since he joined the MHC, he has killed 2 deer and 2 antelope.  Until recently he hunted with a WWII era Mouser Rifle with open sights.  The gun is known to Yuba County meth heads as “the musket”.  He does get out and hunt hard which is why he does well.  Sunny also hunts ducks and, like Ray-Ray, knows the public refuges well.  Sunny is, like me, obsessed with good food and drink.  He has lived in Sacramento all his life and knows the city well.  If you want Vietnamese bon mi he knows the place, if you want the finest dining in the city, he knows that place too.   

Honorary Member Sylvia N., “Aunt Sylvia,” aboard the Tracer 2 day trip out of San Diego, July 2008

Aunt Sylvia is the only honorary member of the MHC.  Sylvia is my paternal aunt; she was the youngest of four children born to a Greek American mother and an Italian father (my grandparents).  She is kind of like our den mother and likes some of the same things we do, such as hunting, fishing, cooking and homemade goodness.  She has been hunting since the 70’s, and is one of my duck blind partners.  We lease a duck blind near Sutter National Wildlife Refuge.  She is one of the people that took me hunting at an early age.  Today, Sylvia mostly hunts ducks, pheasants, dove, quail, and turkeys, but in the past she has hunted deer and pigs as well.  She also lives in Midtown and was responsible for me moving into a house directly behind the Rubicon, so I blame all this on her.  Many of your fellow Sacramentoans have probably seen or met her walking around Midtown with a black lab named Beau and a huge poof of white hair.  Sylvia is a retired Sacramento State professor and now hunts, fishes, volunteers at the Crocker Art Museum, and gambles like it’s her job.

So, that is my basic wolf pack, the Midtown Hunting Crew.  They are all good folks that work hard and party hard.  They come from different backgrounds, but for the most part all live to be outside and find solace in the company of deer, ducks, friends, food, and good drink.  I wanted to introduce to you this cast of characters before I start blogging about individual hunts with the MHC, just so you have some background to put names with faces and whatnot.  Stay tuned for blog entries about our first MHC Wyoming antelope hunt, which just occurred a few weeks ago, and my upcoming trip to Manville, Indiana, for whitetail deer hunting next month.  After that who knows.  I’m planning on hunting in Wisconsin with my in-laws during Thanksgiving for the first time, and my duck blind should have water about the first week of November.  I might even give you a story about Sunny’s 2011 deer (lucky little shit), the one located below this blog.