Gone Huntin'

We had a beautiful weekend for hunting. Our hunting party consisted of my Uncle Albert and his daughter Audra, my dad, me, Ben and Mindy, and Ben's dad Dennis. Between us we got seven deer and had a big packaging party last night at Grandma Berge's. Even though it isn't the most pleasant job butchering deer, the atmosphere is always fun and full of dramatic hunting stories. It is always good to be together. Plus, every few hours Grandma appears in the shop bearing delicious baked goods and refreshing drinks. She is so wonderful.

Here is the deer stand that my dad built for me out behind our house...



It is a wonderful stand and yielded two deer this year! I also saw a porcupine meandering through the woods--he was kind of cute but I was hoping he wouldn't start coming my way. Thankfully he didn't.

Here is the eight-point that came by on Monday morning. He is now in our freezer--poor guy. Someone asked me if I felt bad shooting those cute little deer and I said that after having your garden ransacked beyond recognition and having one run into your car you begin to lose a little of that compassion.

I guess I never realized what a huge thing deer hunting was around here until I started teaching. The little boys in my preschool play "hunting" almost all day and even pretend to track their "elk" and "deer" after they shoot them. I was amazed at how much they learn from just being around all of the hunting talk at home.

Here they are with their Lego guns and blaze orange hats. They are so cute and have such amazing imaginations. I love it!