By Jade Meinzer
Rifle season for deer has come and gone in this part of the world. A very warm and dry week made hunting difficult for most. There’s a lot of corn fields that haven’t been picked yet; harvest season was delayed this year. Most of the bucks that we saw were young and needed a few more years to grow up. There was no shortage of does however, every meadow, hay field and hidey hole in the pasture had a doe bedded down or grazing away without a care in the world. My son and I would fill my tag on the final night with one of these.
We crept through the tall grass to the edge of the meadow about an hour before sunset. A young fawn had spotted us walking in and bolted for the cover of the trees in the river. We thought that our hunt would be over before it started, but our patience would pay off. Just about 15 minutes before shooting light would end, two does and a young buck would come strolling across the meadow. I don’t know how many of you have ever taken a young boy hunting, but reigning in their excitement is hard to do. As parents, we spend the first two years of our kids’ lives teaching them to walk and talk, we then spend the next 18 years telling them to sit down and be quiet. This was the case with our hunt. My boy was so excited to go along that he nearly spooked our prey away as he fumbled with his binoculars and kept whispering questions to me. I had to give a lot of grace because I remember a time when I was excited to tag along on hunts too. We sat, we waited, every second seemed like an hour. Closer and closer the deer walked, stopping to sniff the air and listen to their surroundings every so often. Soon they were within range. With light fading and this being the last day of the season, I took aim and fired. In the blink of an eye our hunt was over. The doe that had been walking across the meadow was fixing to be cooling off in a freezer for the next couple months. My son erupted with excitement; he had to take pictures and call his mom and grandparents to tell them all about our hunt.
Fast forward to the next day. Rifle season is over. We have filled our tag and are feeling pretty good about life. My wife decided that our family wasn’t done hunting for the season yet, er rather a deer decided to take revenge for her species. My bride didn’t need a gun, binoculars, or even fancy hunting gear. All she needed was her car, a set of headlights, and a suicidal deer who came flying out of the ditch among several cars. My wife is fine, her car that we just recently got fixed, not so much. Her deer hunting story didn’t provoke as much joy with my son as the one he had been apart of the night before. It’s funny how the thrill of the hunt changes when the rifle is a Buick. So, if anyone out there is in the market for a Buick Enclave Deer Slayer edition, I have one for sale.
Here’s to finding the silver lining in every situation. Enjoy this holiday season with friends and family and watch out for Rudolf on the way to Grandma’s house. That’s all for this time, keep tabs on your side of the barbed wire and God Bless!