Deer Hunting

 I met my lovely wife almost 50 years ago at church.  When I was dating her she informed me that her entire line of male members were avid deer hunters.  I had never entertained or even considered hunting for deer growing up. Well the reasons are simple, or at least some of them are. Firstly when I was growing up in southern Florida deer were extremely scarce and most were in preserved habitat and called “Key Deer” they are about the size of a medium sized dog.  The second reason was because of the socialization that was introduced by our media. What’s that you say? Well I learned in college about the method that our media has used for decades to promote their agenda. It starts with the entertainment sector which develops various forms of propaganda used to influence young minds. What was mine you might be asking. It was the Disney character of Bambi.  So when my wife told me that her entire male group of family members were heavily engaged in deer hunting I almost freaked out. I thought I had come across a bunch of Neanderthals and savages that were barbarous buffoons. And now I am dating the one who I’m in love with and thinking seriously about marriage.  So I asked her why did they want to kill Bambi? She replied that they loved venison and ate it regularly. What eat Bambi how could they do such a thing!!! Little did I know that they would set me up soon. I regularly called on my now wife, well regularly wouldn’t describe it adequately. I was over the house as soon as I got off work and stayed for dinner every night and only left when my soon to be sister in law chased me out the door.  One day her husband asked me if I liked steak. Of course, what red blooded young man who grew up in a family of 11 brothers and sisters that only had it occasionally didn’t.  He said that they were going to have a good meal of it tomorrow evening and that I should bring a healthy appetite for it.  I showed up early with the expectation of eating a fabulous dinner.  I could smell it from the kitchen and I couldn’t wait until it was served. I sat down adjacent to him and proceeded to gobble down as much of the steak covered in gravy with onions and potatoes.  As I was literally mopping up the few pieces of meat in the bottom of the container and draining the last few ounces of gravy into my mouth he said, well you like eating Bambi huh. My jaw dropped like a ten ton weight hitting the table top. But as I thought about it I realized why they had become avid deer hunters. I believe that this was the best steak I had ever tasted.  So I went out after that and bought a 30-30 and started hunting with them. I never got to see a deer during the first three years of hunting but one day I got my first one and I have forever been a deer hunter since.  I was never a horn hunter but I had countless times when huge ones came along that I never got to get.  I am still hoping to get a shot at one of these big ones.  I kill a deer almost every season and I have passed up more chances at smaller ones than I can count.  I generally don’t kill one unless I’m running short of venison in the freezer. And I have become a little more active in horn hunting lately allowing deer to walk to the dismay of my friends and family who tell me that they would pay for the processing if I didn’t want to kill one because my freezer has enough. I still let them walk, only this year did I shoot one so my brother in law could have a little bit for his freezer.  Here’s a couple pictures of some I have been hunting including one that I had been after for three years that a lady killed while literally hunting for deer almost in her backyard.