It was just another day: laundry, pick up kids, gut a deer, make supper...wait, what?! I don't know about your neck of the woods, but around here hunting doesn't mean stalking the clearance aisle at Target, it is sort of a regional epidemic. We actually have people driving hundreds of miles to do just that, my favorite story was the guy from Alaska (moose, wolves, grizzly!) who came out here to hunt doves (?!). Pheasants are popular but it is deer season that really gets the locals enthused. We aren't a hunting family. We live in town, we don't own a gun, neither of us ever went hunting as kids, basically we didn't have a clue. But we wanted our kids to take hunter safety, sort of like swimming lessons but for things that go boom, so if they ever did want to hunt, they could get a license. I never took it, not sure if I ever will, but like swimming lessons, it is a good thing to learn (and get out of the way) as a kid.
I didn't realize that once your kid took it he could qualify for a youth deer license. And my youth (aged 11) was interested in getting one. This was back in June, and as the deadline was approaching, I figured at worst we'd be out $30. There were so many things against him actually getting a deer: clueless parents, nowhere to hunt, no rifle to go hunting with, we had a family vacation planned for half of the youth season, he'd never shot a large gun before (air rifle doesn't count!), I didn't think he had the grit to actually kill a deer (he's a soft-hearted nature lover and irritated that people kill his beloved ducks!). So he got his antlerless whitetail permit and we had to figure out if we could actually even try this peculiar autumnal ritual. The local farm store ran a good sale on deer rifles so after consulting some friends, we purchased one, we were halfway there.
The next question was where and who? We knew people who have land so that was easy enough to settle but who? Usually it is the dad who takes the kids hunting, but though our dad had had hunter safety and had fired a gun a couple times, he had about as much idea how to do this stuff as I did. And strangely, I was possessed of professional skills that might be useful in this particular case. I was pretty good at cutting stuff apart (usually a cow that had been dead for two days) to see why it died, I was probably the most qualified to take care of the deer if we actually got one. And while I've never hunted with anything but a camera, I've spent a good portion of my life in the woods and understood animal behavior (another professional plus). So lucky me got to be the hunting mom! I didn't know a thing about guns, I couldn't tell a shotgun from a rifle. I had used a BB gun and a tranquilizer pistol but not a big mean gun thing. Guess I'd have to learn and it really wasn't rocket science. We bought some fake bullets (Snap caps) and both practiced loading and 'firing' the thing until we were comfortable.
I had made some 'camouflage' for out spring duck photography trips out of some ugly shower curtains and old sweatshirts (an arm transplant!) so figured we could sit in a couple canvas chairs and hide under that. We had never tested it before and it actually worked out pretty good, we went out two days during September during the youth season and the second day two gorgeous bucks came right out of the woods on top of us, probably 25 feet away, they just stood there for 5 minutes staring at us, not really knowing what we were but knowing it was weird but apparently not a threat (they didn't run) before continuing on their way. We froze and could only admire them, our hearts pounding in our throats. Any movement would have spooked them and we had an antlerless tag anyway, these boys were not on the menu! Lesson #1: Don't park yourself right on a game trail, find somewhere close but with enough room to shoot.
The first night we had a decent shot at a doe probably at 75 feet, but my poor nervous kid was too anxious to pull the trigger and when he finally did, didn't hit anything but we learned immediately why we should be wearing that hearing protection we brought along! Lesson #2: Big guns go boom!
That was the end of youth deer season but happily his tag was still valid during the regular gun season (versus an irregular gun season?). It snowed (a lot) over Halloween and we went trick or treating in snow pants, not looking good for the mid-November deer season, I wasn't going to trek through feet of snow or freeze to death for this. But the weather warmed up, the snow vanished, and it was about 50F when we went out for day number three. We found a spot with a good 180 degree view where we were out of sight and wouldn't cause any collateral damage if we missed and set up camp. Lesson #3: if you know the deer come out an hour before sunset, you don't need to get there right after lunch.
It was a little chilly sitting there in the wind and the kid was getting antsy/bored/cold and was ready to start wandering around looking for stuff, but I told him to sit tight and keep watching, he sat but he didn't do much watching. A few minutes later I saw a nice doe come running over a distant hill (probably startled by some hunters to the west), dash across the field and into the trees where we were sitting, I poked the kid and made him turn his chair in that direction just in case she came our way. He sort of looked at me as if he wanted to argue but wisely just did as I told him. We got settled and waited, a minute later she came slowly through the trees towards us and at 125 feet, turned broadside to head south. I was watching through the binoculars, it was a perfect shot, nice range, she didn't stop but she wasn't moving fast, and I kept wondering if he'd take the shot. Then I saw the shot in the flank and wondered if we'd have to track the silly thing, but she leapt three feet in the air, bleated in surprise, turned a somersault and went down, I saw her head up for a moment but then I lost her entirely in the tall grass. I couldn't tell if my son was trying to laugh or cry, probably both, the adrenaline was certainly high for both of us. As we stood up to get a better look, I saw another doe 250 feet in the other direction also standing broadside, but she was only there for a few seconds before vanishing into the trees with one of our buck friends in close pursuit!
We cleaned up our stuff and just let her be for 15 minutes and then went to inspect the damage. She hadn't gotten up or raised her head again, which I took for a good sign. She must have died pretty quickly, I think he hit an artery in the hindquarter with his flank shot, not bad for a kid who has only fired his rifle once before this! Lesson #4: practice with rifle before going hunting.
She was a big girl, probably 200 pounds, and now I'd have to see if I knew how to gut a deer. It was actually much nicer than all those cows I necropsy, mostly because she was 1/10th the size, wasn't covered in flies, and mostly rotten. The mighty hunter wasn't happy to be asked to help but I certainly couldn't do it alone, and this was his deer! He held legs or the belly cavity open while I did my thing, and even sans her innards she was heavy, I wasn't sure how we'd get her in the car, but happily our landowner friend had heard the shot and came over to see what had happened, he helped me lift and maneuver our trophy and got us on the road! I called another friend and said we were incoming, her husband processes deer so they could deal with the rest of the messy details. Lesson #5: make sure you know some big strong people in case you actually shoot something.
I wasn't sure if my family would eat venison, but I brined it overnight and then fried it in the air fryer and they thought it was great, which is a good thing because we have a bunch to eat! My mighty hunter was excited but also went to bed in tears, she was a beautiful animal and he has an artistic soul, but he plans on hunting again! I never really understood this whole hunting thing, it is a lot of money, time, work, and mess, and we don't as a rule like wild game, but that isn't the point. It is pretty cool to be out there, especially with those you love, and not knowing what might happen, even more so than with a camera, this is life and death pure and simple. But also to know how deeply those who do it feel about nature and the land. It seems counterintuitive, but as my weeping minion proved, it can be both/and no either/or. It isn't just to get a trophy or feed your family (groceries are much cheaper!) or to prove your manliness (which a kid and a woman probably aren't going to do!) but it touches something deep, at the very heart of what it means to be human, to be a steward of creation, because that is what modern hunting is. Nobody makes money hunting X or Y to extinction in the US these days, no true sportsman could or would, but rather our money goes to support conservation and preserves the very critters we hope to kill. For every deer killed by a hunter there are 10 more that can live out their natural lives because hunters have taken the time, energy, and finances to encourage conservation and habitat preservation. Just like a farmer should get a cut of his beef, so too does the sportsman harvest a small percentage of the game he has invested in. Lesson #6: hunting is kind of cool after all!
