It's Hunting Season

Technically, it is squirrel, grouse, dove, crow, and turkey season. You can hunt deer with a bow now, but have to wait until mid-November if you want to use anything but a bow or muzzleloader.

Groundhogs are fair game year round. The building inspector said they are good to eat.

Hank tells me the best way to cook deer meat is in the crock pot.

The pond that sits in the 14 acres is a perfect draw for deer. I frequently spot them through the trees in the mornings. I have scanned the treeline that separates the pastures, and there are several trunks begging for a tree stand.

It seems like it would be as easy as taking candy from a baby, and I keep daydreaming about it. I would set my alarm for a pre-dawn hour, brew some coffee and don my newly acquired insulated bibs. (On clearance for $20 at the Co-op. Couldn't pass them up.) Just before the sun would rise, I would climb up into the stand and sit patiently, sipping coffee as my breath stirs the steam warming my nose. Then, just after the sun peeks over the edge of the earth, two or three deer would walk hesitantly out of the woods toward the pond for a drink. I am realistic enough not to imagine anything more than a 6 point.

I imagine taking aim, shooting... and then the daydream goes awry. Having never actually shot a crossbow (how hard could it be, though) or a deer, I miss the mark and the arrow lands high, and off he runs into the woods, maimed.

Anyway, first things first, though. I need a deer stand. And something to shoot with.

No, I'm not excited about these bibs, I swear.

...

All year, Finley had been telling me she wanted to go hunting with our neighbor, Terry. Last week, she saw his Gator out by his back pasture, and she was desperate to know if he was hunting. She pestered me enough that I finally sent his wife a text, and sure enough he was. Her eyes were glued to the window, and at dusk, when the Gator pulled away, I had to send another text asking if he had bagged anything. He had seen five, but didn't shoot any.

A few days later, Terry pulled up in his gator and told Finley she could go hunting with him that afternoon if it was okay with us. "I have a camouflage dress I can wear!" she said, bursting with excitement. He explained that wouldn't be necessary, but to dress warm, then headed back to set up a blind on the ground as he didn't want her falling out of any trees. So a couple hours later, armed with books and a bottle of water, I sent her off on her first hunting trip.

An hour and a half or two later, out they came: no deer, but satisfied with a deer and squirrel sitings, and a fistful of turkey feathers, just as I expected.