Sepia Saturday; Hunt;

The man on the right standing against the tree is my father.

He always liked to be out in nature. He worked for a few municipalities as a forester; he had to check the woods what to plant and which trees to harvest for the sawmills. He liked this job very much. He had learned a different profession because his uncle owned a shop and he was supposed to work there. He hated it and went a different way. I guess this was probably in the 1930's.

Hunting with some friends. My father is the one smiling behind the sitting man's head. It was not free just to shoot anything. One needed a licence. It was not allowed to kill a female animal. It was also regulated how many animals were to be culled. It provided much needed protein for many families through the cold winters.

At least the animals led a decent and free life in the mountains; not like the farmed cattle in those terrible feedlots like they exist today; where they are injected with hormones, antibiotics and other nasties and lead a pitiful life until they are killed.

As long as I can remember my father had his 10 days of hunting. As older he got as less he wanted to shoot the animals, mostly he came home without shooting anything. He just wanted to be in the mountains and watch the animals. He did not join his friends anymore for the hunt he wanted to be alone.

This was my godmother's husband; he had many children and they all had very fancy names.

His eldest daughter was named Shirlee, after the baby film star Shirlee Temple. Anyway at the baptism the catholic priest said, Shirlee was not a "Christian" name and she had to be renamed "Sirna". We always called her Shirlee!

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