My family and I hunt Elk in Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest (Colorado/Wyoming)... Hunting season is our holiday... All of us get together and share gifts, wine and party... We are a close family and love each other a lot... Myself included there is 14-18 of us camp every year... At night my cousins and I smoke oil pens while the older dudes drink and play blackjack... We sleep in giant canvas tents that hold 6 people... At 4AM every morning we wake up and hike 4-5 miles to cover a ridge... Each of spaced a mile away...

The forest in beautiful... Untouched land covered in deep valleys and ravines layered in miles of dark pine... Elk travel in herds... If a herd passes through a valley and a shooter drops bullets the herd runs to the next shooter down the ridge... Camp is full... 6 days into season there is 5 carcasses hanging from trees in camp... It's 6AM and 5°F outside and the snow is melting beneath me... My nephew is with me... The sun is peaking over the mountains and I hear gunshots a mile or two away... A few minutes later wood snaps in the pines across the valley... I unwrap my fingers from my wool mittens and flip my safety... Sure enough 8 Elk emerge from the trees... They aren't running but moving very fast... I prop my rifle against the tree we're under and put a round in a cows back (female)... Her legs cripple and she slides down a muddy embankment... My nephew is sitting next to me and immediately runs into the field... I grab and hold him until the Elk pass... A few minutes later we get up and make our way...

The elk is dead... Field dressing an Elk takes a few hours so we get started... The skin in very thick (1/2 inch?)... Using buck knives and bone-saw we get 4 legs into body bags as well as back-straps and tenderloins... The cow was old so the meat was dark and rich... Winter kills 95% of Elk and I'm certain she only had a year of life left in her... Given her age she was very large (700lbs+)... To carry the meat back my nephew brought a small sled... He is not old enough to hunt big game so he carries a small ax in his backpack and pulls it out... We are about leave and he starts bashing her skull in... Her eye pops from her socket and fragments of bone get stuck on our faces and clothing... I'm strictly a meat hunter and never taxidermy so I'm not mad but kinda shook... I'm like WTF you doing? He says he wants to eat brain like Hannibal Lecter... OK......

With his small hands he rips the brain from her skull... Producing 2 handfuls of dark pink brain... He pulls a ziplock bag from his backpack and places half the brain inside... He stretches his arm out with brain in hand and gives me the look... I've been doing this my whole life... Never eaten raw Elk brain but at this point it isn't off the menu... I grab the brain and devour the thing in 2 bites... There was a bone fragment that I spit out but it was good... It was grainy and tasted of Sage and Pine (Elk Food)... We pack the sled and hike back to camp...

About 15 minutes into our hike I feel high... Like a crazy Mushrooms/LSD dose... My mind is floating, my body is numb and colors are blinding... I feel overwhelmed and lay down in the snow... 20 minutes later I awake to my nephew shooting Blue Grouse with his 22 rifle... I'm sweaty and incredibly fucked up... However I manage to hold conversation and walk forward... Everything felt like a dream... Time moved so slow our 2 hour hike felt like centuries... Everything was peaceful... The trees breathed and radiated energy and colors... My nephew trotted with me and smiled... I never felt this good in my life... Nothing could touch me... 300lbs of meat was on my back but it felt weightless... The sound of snow crunching under our feet echoed in the forest... Everything turned white...

We make it back to camp... My mother and uncle greet us and take the meat off the sled... I'm so glad to see them... Hugging mother felt like we haven't been together in a million years... I relished every moment and felt her love and warmth... I'm typically a flat dude but seeing my lovely family made me feel so warm...

Everybody played cards that night... My aunt killed a cow 10 miles away from us... I stayed outside... The fire glowed so bright... Wrapped in a fur coat and watching the stars... Glowing spirits danced and fell from the sky... I could feel elk in my soul... They are truly royal creatures... They live in a fur coat, grow antlers on bone and run wild through the snow... They'll go extinct one day but roam the stars forever...

Anyway I was insanely high all week... Slept a lot and hung out at camp... Everything was clear... We killed that 9 Elk that year... For dinner we ate Pronghorn and nephew's Blue Grouse... My guess is natural drugs from the Elk brain... Neuroscience??? Maybe a pineal gland... Brain is my favorite drug to this day...