a life taken...

so one of the many opportunities that you get when you come to do the stone age project with lynx is to experience a killing and processing of a large animal. i thankfully was invited to help with it. now you have to first understand, the only animal i have killed is a rabbit (on a survival trip) ((made good rabbit soup)) and one fish (thanks to cj and revit lake mt) so i was not exactly sure how i would feel about the whole thing. i wanted to have some kind of ceremony for the buffalo. and that is exactly what we did.

that morning, we all gathered around, and gave thanks and appreciation for the animal the buffalo, and her life. we each honored her the best we knew how. a few things i want to say here, is first i could never find words that can describe how i truly felt, word like honored, blessed, humbled, are the best i can do. im not even really sure if i had the words that i would share them here on my blog, in a way that seems so meaningless to me. but know that this experience taught and changed me into a better person. (i kept a little of her hide which i plan on making cordage with and then wrapping my hair around it and wearing it around my neck with my lapidolite stone, to always remember the moments that i shared with this wonderful animal.) that being said (which again doesn't do it justice, i will share parts of this experience with you.

this first picture is right after her life was taken so selfishly (she was shot just behind the ear into her brain)
cutting around her neck
skinning, just enough, to make a nice working area before cutting into her to gut her.
it was amazing to see how much stuff was in her, and to think that we too have these same parts, that make us work. kidney's, stomach, gall bladder, intestines, heart. i take this experience as a very sacred learning moment.
her, scott and i cut around her neck to separate her head from her body. to prepare to pull out her lungs.
pulling out the esophagus and trachea
separating lungs
here comes the heart
it was quite amazing how big the heart was. we then passed it around and each took a bit out of it. (i again believe this was a very sacred blessed moment, and felled overwhelmed with emotion,) ((this is for sure on of those things that i can not describe to you))
lynx was blowing up the lungs, it was so amazing how big they where
and now we skinned her. ( i forgot the picture of the stone tools we used, but everything we used besides the bullet was a stone tool)
well my first large animal killing. im so thankful for the experience. i truly am a different person. it saddens me that so many people hunt for the trophy. i understand the importance of taking a life, for food and clothing. this animal will not be wasted, even the organs will be eaten and bones will be used for tools, the hide for clothing. WHAT A EXPERIENCE. (i would love to talk to each of you one on one and explain more of my thoughts, but this is good for now.