More Deer......

As part of my "winter blahs" this year, I have not been very excited about deer hunting season..... among other things.

I have been even less excited about the prospect of having to process any that the kids might kill.

The kids went out a couple of times during the early season and I even broke down and got my tags and license so that I could go out a few times with them.

I have to confess. I have been rooting for the deer! We saw a few and Salena missed one and I was secretly very relieved.

One of our neighbors has been gracious enough to let the kids hunt on his nearby farm land. Salena and Adam went out last night and had no luck. Thank goodness!!

That all ended today.

We have had a very busy afternoon. I had to take Neil to the dentist and we didn't get back until late. Seth had gone in to work early. Salena and Adam went hunting. That left Charlie and me to get the evening chores done. After every body was fed, watered and tucked in for a cold night, we headed back to the house. I had a big pot of beans and ham on the stove for supper. After I had chowed down on a big bowl, I realized that it was very dark outside and the hunters were not home yet. I gave Sis a call and she answered rather breathlessly. They were loading up a nice doe that Adam had shot. I could hear him chattering happily in the background. The bad news was that she had also shot a doe but could not find her.

They hauled the deer home and the boys got to work on field dressing her in the front yard. Salena and I went back to try tracking the other deer with flashlights.

I have been hunting with my kids for over ten years. Now that they are old enough to hunt on their own, it is rather flattering that when they have trouble, they still want Mama to come do the tracking!

We made very good progress and we tracked her through some pretty rough ground that was even harder because it was pitch black. We did not find her but I am pretty sure that we will in the morning. There were interesting things moving around in those woods and if it was the injured deer, I did not want to push her any farther away. If it wasn't the deer, I didn't want to take the chance on finding a skunk!!!

Now that we are all home, snug and well fed, I have had to hear Adam tell the story of the hunt about 10 times.......  It was too dark tonight for pictures so we will have to take a few in the morning.