Last day of deer season…beeyo-bope!

When I was a kid growing up in Alaska my Mom had a morbid fear that one of her kids (there were six of us) would get eaten by a grizzly.

She insisted that we yodel when we were out playing in the woods, so that we wouldn’t stumble across an angry and startled bear.

The cry she taught us sounded something like this: “Beeyo-bope!”

I know, I know. Kids generally love it. Grown-ups think it’s pretty irritating.

There are no grizzlies in the Adirondacks, thank God, but there are plenty of deer hunters. So I’ve adapted Mom’s yodel for the North Country.

(A friend who hunts near North Creek provided our Thanksgiving dinner this year: venison tenderloin served with cabbage and mashed rutabagas. )

Snow-shoeing in the Giant Mountain Wilderness this weekend, I could hear the rifle cracks echoing down below in the valleys.

Last day of the season, I thought. Bet those folks are pretty eager to get their deer.

Beeyo-bope!