Livin’ a rez life

Life on the rez has kept me busy this past month.
I grew up in Toronto, so I never realized what people in First Nations do to prepare for a cold winter.
But now I understand.
First, we had to ensure we have enough firewood. So we have cut, loaded, hauled, unloaded, chopped and stacked cedar, birch and pine.
Any chance we could, my partner and I would head to the bush to find ‘chicos’ where forest fires had swept through. My daughter accompanied us evenings and weekends.
Normally, my partner would have had this task crossed off the to-do list by spring.
As a reporter, I had clean, soft hands, but now my hands are callused and ragged from being exposed to the outside elements.
And my jeans have become baggy. Soon I’ll be able to buy a new pair of smaller jeans or at least dig out my skinny jeans. My arms are more toned from chopping wood every day.
Who needs a gym membership when I can get a free workout thanks to Mother Nature.
There are some essentials we take whenever we head to the bush: food, water, a couple of thermoses of tea, an axe and a rifle on the off chance we happen across a moose. Of course, we don’t forget the toilet paper either.
Every two weeks, my partner comes home from his job. And as a member of Treaty 9, he can hunt for moose in our neck of the woods. This is the other activity that has been a priority for us.
On his most recent visit home, he got a moose within a couple of days. His son joined him along with another young hunter. It was a relief knowing we had moose meat to sustain our families for a while. We shared the moose with three other families.
I joined my partner during one such hunting trip. I was hoping my keen eyes would help keep him well fed. In hindsight, maybe he’s been too well fed.
We borrowed a truck and arranged for childcare.
We ventured out on a Friday evening around dusk and since it was mid-October, the nights were quite chilly. I was used to the warmth of our log home with its wood stove heating.
We arrived at our destination and the homemade chicken soup that I brought in a thermos never tasted so good.
The stars shone brightly and the stillness of the forest was peaceful.
We slept in the truck that night. We shared a down-filled blanket, which we seemed to have a tug of war with throughout the night.
The night seemed remarkably long, but maybe that’s because I had cold feet.
At the daybreak, my partner went out moose hunting while I enjoyed the luxury of lying down in the cab of the truck with the down-filled blanket all to myself.
Sometime later, my partner checked in and told me he was going to another location. I mumbled a few words and went back to sleep. I slept soundly.
Eventually, when I’d had enough sleep, I got up.
Off in the distance, I could hear the sound of an all-terrain-vehicle approaching. It was my partner. I asked him for the time and he told me it was 10:30 a.m. I couldn’t believe my ears. He laughed and called me his “sleeping hunter.”
I also learned to make a new special tea out in the bush. It was dark by then, so when I used my woolly mitt to grab the pot lid, my mitt ended going for a swim in the tea.
And since we had limited butane, water and tea bags, I served the tea anyway thinking my partner wouldn’t mind. Little did I know that we would have a visitor.
My partner offered our visitor some tea, but I didn’t say anything about the added ingredient. The next day, I confessed to my partner. He was amused and we had a good chuckle.
After three days of scouting for moose, we still hadn’t had any luck. And as the time to head home got closer, I sat there on the quad-vehicle reflecting on what I had learned.
I learned that hunting moose requires either a lot of patience to sit in a blind and great timing. I watched my partner track a moose, do moose calls, visit moose habitats and live life according to the daily patterns of the moose. And then there was the silence. For those that know me, I am quite chatty.
So as soon as I could get a mobile phone signal, I called my girl to tell her I was coming home. I arrived home a bit tired, hungry and in need of a good hot shower.
The time went fast. My partner had to go back to work and we still had a moose to butcher. Initially, I thought I would be squeamish, instead I found I was a natural guided by the expertise of my partner.
Christmas came early this year for our families. I will make my way through northern Ontario sharing the bounty of one Cree man’s successful moose hunt.