Yesterday opened gun deer season here in Big Woods County. We had four hunters manning various quadrants of our 40 acres. On opening day, all the deer appeared in the northwest section, and my son-in-law Nate collected three: two bucks and a doe. It was his year to shine.

(This is a buffer image for those who do not wish to see dead animals.)

Nate with his 8-point buck at 9:30 am.

At 2 PM he shot a doe that came through the corn. While he was waiting for his adrenaline to calm down enough to scale his 18 foot ladder, another buck came sniffing after the herd of does that just passed by, so he downed him as well. The pattern of deer traffic changes every year. So nice that Nate had his chance to provide us all with venison this year.

I got to watch golden finches in winter plumage all day.

Michael got to clean out a mouse nest from his deer stand, even though he had cleaned it the day before.

Michael helped Nate haul the buck up out of the ravine, and Matt, our other son-in-law, helped with the doe. Me, with my bad knees, got to sit in the Ranger, which I drove up from the garage. I did have to hook up a trailer. Go me.

Michael, who loads bullets for everyone, noticed that the bullet had not come out the far side of the buck. It hit a shoulder, hit the heart, hit another shoulder, and stopped just under the hide. The boys spent time finding the buck due to a lack of blood to trail. It ran 60 yards before it tipped over, which is typical for a heart shot. Good shooting Nate!

Today, Michael parted out the deer, Persephone and I chopped it into edible pieces, and Nate kept the kiddles under control. That is the Grand Guy imitating a fierce buck.

Our mini-dinosaurs loved the job of cleaning the bones. These will go on the pyre in next year’s garden.

Here’s to another year of sharing in the fruits of our labor!