Sunday morning at around 4am you would have found me fidgeting in my bed awaiting my alarm, so I could start prepping for the day ahead of me. My ride out to Astoria, OR arrived at 6:50 am, and we headed North in the crisp sun soaked air of Autumn. We took highway 30 for two hours, stopping only briefly to listen to the sound of the distant and menacing barks of the living sea lions perched on the docks. We then followed instincts and vague direction to Syd Snyder beach in WA.Arriving, we found the rest of our crew and climbed like nervous primates into the back of the truck that would take us to our purpose. Our first sea lion was relatively near by and could already be detected by our noses before visual confirmation. Once there measurements and photographs were taken, and the necropsy was launched. As samples were cut from the body I placed them into identifiable bags, squeezed the air out, and placed them in their respective coolers.Namely, Jason did the dissection from the tail of the animal toward the head, spilling and removing the intestines first.With the internal organs sufficiently sampled a trench was dug for the remaining insides and carcass of the animal. The tide was coming in fast, we then made haste to pack up and drive through the cold wind blown in from the sea, to Cranberry beach, where the other sea lions were located.With the following animals we were short on time, and therefore had to work from the truck. From these animals we only took the heads, a blubber, and a muscle tissue sample. We were finished, and all I could think about was how hungry I had become for clam chowder.
If that isn't enough death for one evening, Here are pictures of the bison we slaughtered on St. Valentine's Day. We skinned it with stone tools, and every part of the bison was used. Truly archaeological discovery, the experience certainly lent to my understanding of usable meat, and butchering patterns. 
