Jed sent Lizzie back to the lodge with a basket of beechnuts while he started field dressing the old bear. He was glad for the meat. The fat would be good for them, but right now was an inopportune time if they were going to collect nuts and acorns for winter. One took what was available, though, and gave thanks. He would have to help Lizzie a lot over the next couple of days if they were going to preserve so much meat.
Jed started planning even as he removed the entrails from the carcass. Finding enough containers for all the meat was going to be challenging, as well as cooking the meat and saving enough grease to smother and preserve it after it cooked. It wasn’t as good as freezing meat, but the weather was not yet cold enough to keep the meat from spoiling. He wished he could have waited another month or two so he could count on the weather being cold enough.
Lizzie hurried back down the trail carrying nylon straps. Jed was in process of cutting down a sapling to go with another he had already cut to make a travois. After he trimmed the small branches, Lizzie helped him weave the straps loosely between the poles to create a platform on which to place the bear. Jed laid the travois next to the bear, and with quite some difficulty they were able to roll her onto it.
There was no way to know for certain, but Jed guessed the carcass weighed close to three hundred pounds. Even with the hide still on the carcass and all of the fat, there was a lot of meat they could count on for the winter.
Jed contrived a harness of sorts so he could use his shoulders to bear some of the weight; then, bending to the task, he began to trudge slowly, dragging the bear behind him. He had considered cutting out some of the better cuts of meat and leaving part of the carcass behind, but he decided wasting it would be wrong.
Lizzie picked up one of the other baskets of nuts and started back ahead of him, hoping to be able to get the other basket before some of the animals took advantage of their work. She was able to walk the two miles to the lodge and back again before Jed managed to go a quarter of a mile. He was obviously tired but determined to make it. Jed was grateful for the bottle of water she brought back to him and drank it down greedily while rubbing his shoulders, which were sore from the straps cutting into them.
Lizzie rushed to gather the spilled nuts from where she had dropped her basket, and back to the lodge she trudged. This much walking was more than she was accustomed to, but she was determined to return right away and help Jed with the bear.
Lizzie hurried back as quickly as she could walk, which was noticeably slower than it had been, but a look of determination was on her face. She carried more strapping, with which she hoped to help pull the bear.
Jed fastened the end of the strap to the travois, in front of the webbing on which the bear lay. Then he fashioned a harness of sorts, fitting it over Lizzie’s shoulders and around her waist. She had noticed Jed rubbing his shoulders where the strapping chafed at them, so she had also brought back some padding. Jed divided it between the two of them, and they started the long trek pulling the bear. By the time they reached the halfway point, the sun was setting and it was obvious they would not make it before dark.
Jed directed Lizzie into a glade where he cleared grass and leaves from a large circle while Lizzie gathered small branches. Once Jed was satisfied the ground was bare enough, he laid down some crushed bark and dry grass and built a small teepee of small twigs over the tinder. Striking a match, he lit the tinder and blew gently to get a small fire started. As it caught he added more twigs and then progressively larger pieces. It was not yet cold, but he knew it would be quite chilly before the night was over. He tried to get Lizzie to go on to the lodge, but she insisted—if he stayed out with the bear, she would also. Jed knew he could not leave the bear out alone, or the coyotes and other animals would eat it.
There was jerky in his pocket. He never left the lodge without some. When out in the woods, one never knows if something will happen to prevent a return when one expects to return, so he always made sure to have something to tide him over. He pulled out two pieces and gave one to Lizzie, and together they chewed in silence. Jed could see Lizzie was exhausted, so when she had eaten he cleared another spot three feet from the fire and laid wood for a new fire. He moved the fire over to the new spot and brushed all of the embers away from the first place. After laying some evergreen branches in a small pile over the area, Jed said, “Lizzie, come lie down here where the fire was. The ground is warm and will keep you warm for a while.” He noticed she was already starting to shiver. Stress of the day, exhaustion, and the chilly air had caught up to her.
Lizzie laid herself down and felt the warmth of the ground. She smiled up at Jed. “I learn something new from you all the time! I never would have thought of this.”
“It’s nothing. Just because you’re out-of-doors, you don’t have to be uncomfortable. It would be nice to have something to cover up with, but we will be okay.”
“Where are you going to sleep?”
“I’ll lean against the bear. She still has enough heat to keep me warm enough. I don’t want to sleep too deeply in case coyotes or something comes.”
“Coyotes? We won’t be safe?” Lizzie half sat up.
“No, we’ll be fine. Coyotes won’t usually attack humans unless they are helpless. That’s why we have a fire, and I’ll sleep lightly. They won’t bother us.”
Jed walked away from the fire as Lizzie settled down to sleep. He began to break branches off an old deadfall.