Mitch Hokanson was making noise on the side of Oasis Rd. and causing drivers to turn their cars around to see what he was creating. Hokanson was in the middle of carving a large fish out of wood with a chainsaw, and this is his twentieth year finetuning his craft.
Hokanson creates chainsaw wood art and said he was first taught skills from his artistic mom and learned woodcutting from his dad, but he is also has learned a lot on his own. “I saw a guy at a farm one time carving bears," Hokanson said "I got my wallet out; I got my money out to buy it and I thought, 'you know, I’m going to try it.' I’ve got a little bit of chainsaw skills; a little bit of art skills, so I bought a book and taught myself. And after probably a thousand carvings and 20 years, this is the point I’m at.”
During the summertime, Hokanson is a smokejumper for the U.S. Forest Service.