Writing Scenes of Nature Verses Humans

Before I begin, I wanted to let you know I’ll be posting on Saturdays as my Fridays are busy. I hope this is a better time for you to receive the newsletter.

I enjoy the woods. I like to big game hunt, although in the 12 years I’ve hunted I’ve bagged one deer. This does not stop me because most of all I enjoy the forest.

I have walked the old logger roads for years and have had several breathtaking encounters. One time, I passed a boulder on an incline, and a cougar hissed a warning at me from its perch. Another time, a bear 300 yards away hurried along a path as I sat on a small hill. In the same area as the bear, I used my elk cow caller as I was bowhunting, and two huge bull elks stomped to stare at me from 300 yards.

Their hooves and their sudden appearance made me shake with awe.

I am thrilled with God’s forest creation.

I hope that I write captivating and thrilling adventure scenes. I think this can happen if one has a passion for living out the adventure.

Because you take this newsletter, here is a scene from my upcoming book “Season of the Fawns” to release Summer 2021:

Ever so sneaky, Vale peered in every direction at the woods. Soon, her eyes focused on a large, furry backside. Vale stilled. Taking a deep breath and releasing, she waited at the humongous fir tree. Mama bear whirled.

Beady-black eyes glared at Vale. She smelled me but I smelled her first.

When the mama lifted her front paws and stood, Vale’s chin followed her height. Seven foot, eight foot tall? The bear roared, making the sides of her lips flap. Vale’s scalp prickled. Slow and with an ease she didn’t feel, she brought her rifle to her right shoulder. She pinned the crosshairs on the mama’s heart area, clicked off the safety, and kept her index finger at the side of the trigger area. She took a shallow breath.

If this bear took one step toward Vale. Even with a cub needing her, she’d pull the trigger. Because she’d heard the stories. The ones told from her Native American ancestors from generation to generation. The stories Papa related to them. How bears can outrun a human. How hard he said it was to stop a bear even after more than one shot. He also told Caleb and her when they took up archery, “Always carry your pistol when you bow hunt. It takes a mighty accurate hit to bring down a bear with an arrow. You need a pistol for backup.”

Mama bear flapped her jaws at Vale.

With a fear she had never known before, she broke into a sickening sweat, willing her hands holding the rifle not to tremble. The mama did not move.

The cub, though, looked down. He wagged its head from side to side and seemed to understand he was no longer in danger of Kippy dog. The little guy scrambled backward along the tree. When the cub jumped to the ground, the mama twisted from Vale’s direction. She nosed her baby and swung with her paw. Slap! The youngster fell hard on his furry rear, making leaves around him puff and scatter. The cub shook his head from the discipline. Mama bear reversed her position and sauntered into the trees. The baby cub ran close behind.

Vale stared at the place where the mama stood only moments before. She steadied herself with a shaky sigh and on noodle legs walked toward Caleb and Cherry.

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