Running Bear the Wisconsin Way: Send In the Hounds

August 2021

 It is 4 a.m. on the first Sunday morning in August in the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic, 2021.  It has been a long, hot summer in Minneapolis with very little rain and I need to get the Fuck out of Dodge.  I finish loading my car with the provisions I require for a daytrip, (black licorice, sesame covered cashews, dark chocolate and a six pack of Castle Danger Cream Ale), throw my 4 year old Anatolian Shepherd a couple of doggie treats to distract her and make my escape out the door.  

Finally freed from the confines of my residential prison and its daily grind of re-employment search activity, internet surfing and Netflix, I am greatly looking forward to running bear with hounds over in Wisconsin and reconnecting with my old friend Joe Trumble.  Up until a phone call I made to him about a week earlier, I had not seen or talked to Joe in nearly 20 years.  Why now was it "Trumble time"?  My inner voice spoke to me out of the blue and said to call Joe Trumble and I try and follow my inner voice.  As usual it was right.

I always admired Trumble, and for many reasons.  Not just because he is an avid outdoorsman, expert hunter and widely regarded as the best shot in Western Wisconsin, rifle or shotgun (and that was even before he had all the plaques and trophies to prove it).  I know this would greatly embarrass him  for me to say, (which in itself is another reason I admire him), but Joe always struck me as a guy who had it pretty much figured out.   By "it", of course, I mean life.  No, Joe is not some kind of life coach, a guru or whatever new age moniker you want to put on such nonsense. Trumble isn't the kind of guy to ever tell you how smart he is or to presume to tell others how to live their lives.  But if you are ever lucky enough to spend some time around him and just observe, you'll know exactly what I am talking about.  Low key, self-deprecating to a fault but with a wry sense of humor.  A raconteur of the woodlands.

I also admire Joe for being a patriot in the truest meaning of the word.  Joe knows that we are all incredibly blessed to be American citizens.  But with citizenship comes responsibility.  I am of the personal belief that with all the benefits that come with American citizenship is the duty to answer your nation's call to service.  I am also proud to live in a country where people have the right to disagree with our nation's foreign policy.  Joe, like my good friend Al Avelsgard, my cousin Phil and hundreds of thousands young Americans answered the nation's call to serve in Viet Nam.  We owed them our respect and support whether or not we agreed with the war or the foreign policy du jour.  Unfortunately, we as a nation failed them miserably.   To Joe and all the Viet Nam vets out there our country owes you an apology, should beg your forgiveness and give a heartfelt "Thank you for your service".

A wonderful father and grandfather and one of the few people I know still married after 50 years.  (In truth,  I suppose that speaks more of the virtues of his wife, Sylvia, than anything Trumble could, or would, take credit for.)  Joe not only understands the importance of family to one's happiness in life, but is one of the few men I know that  acts on his understanding.  

After a successful morning of running the hounds culminating in treeing a cub up a large ash tree approximately 650 yards into boggy wetlands in the Crex Meadows public hunting grounds, Joe informed his A-team of bear hunting compatriots that he would not be joining them on their afternoon hunt.  You see Sundays were for gathering the children and grandchildren for dinner.  A tradition he inherited from his parents and grandparents and I have no doubt will be continued by his daughters and grandchildren.  Like I said, Trumble's got it figured out.  

Eat your heart out Jerry Burton!