A great weekend!

Don M.

Don M.

SF VIP
Location
central Missouri
In spite of all the bad news surrounding this Paris attack, we had a great weekend. This was opening weekend for deer hunting season in Missouri, and we had a Houseful...all 4 generations. Deer season, in Central Missouri, is almost a "religious holiday", with restaurants, churches, etc., opening their kitchens at 4AM to serve all the hunters.

The kids, grandkids, and little ones arrived Friday evening, and we had the spare bedrooms, fold out couch, and air mattresses all being put to good use. The weather was great...mid 50's, with a slight breeze, and we were all up about 5AM Saturday as the kids got ready to head into the forest. The Son-in-Laws, one of the Granddaughters, and her husband, all got a nice deer on Saturday, and we spent much of Sunday cleaning and butchering the deer, before they all headed back to the city yesterday afternoon. I didn't join the hunt...rather, spent the day playing with the greatgrandkids, and standing by with the tractor to haul the deer back to the house. The kids left us with about 40 pounds of good steaks and roasts which aren't laced with all sorts of Steroids and growth hormones...we'll have some good meals over the next few weeks.

Now, before anyone gets upset about hunters "preying" on the deer...here are some numbers to keep in mind. Missouri has a stable population of about 1.5 million deer. Every year, hunters take about 200,000. Car accidents and starvation take that many, or more, each year. 2/3rd's, or more, of the herd makes it to Spring, where the numbers are replenished. All told, the Dept. of Conservation has found a formula which allows the stability of the herd, and allows for good hunting, and compensates for the high number of deer killed on the highways every year. The "unknown" factor is the severity of the Winter...but the farmers usually leave some hay bails in the fields, and many of us buy some corn to put out in Jan/Feb if the weather turns really bad.

Already looking forward to next year.......
 

Deer season - especially the first day - here in PA is seen almost as a religious holiday. Many businesses and schools close and people have been preparing for months to get out in the woods.

Not being a hunter I'm not sure I understand the fervor but I know it's good for the economy. :)
 
It was a big deal in NY with my family when I was a little guy. Two carloads of hunters heading for Cooks Woods to our shanty. A homemade shack to get in out of the cold and fix some coffee. At times, I think it was a treat just to go to the woods and tell stories.

I remember my grandpa telling us kids that all the farmers put their cattle in the barn during hunting season. When asked why, he said because all those dang blasted hunters from Pennsylvania shot brown cows for deer.
 

Pappy said:
I remember my grandpa telling us kids that all the farmers put their cattle in the barn during hunting season. When asked why, he said because all those dang blasted hunters from Pennsylvania shot brown cows for deer.
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We shoot anything that moves - that's why Safety Orange was invented. :D

It's funny, though - I heard stories when I was still in NY about those dang NYC hunters coming upstate and shooting at everything ...
 
There are some places I would Never go to hunt. Several years ago, my Son-in-Law and I went to a "Public" hunt in the forest near a big local USAF base. They wanted to clear out an excess of deer that were getting on the runway, etc. What a Zoo! I swear, half the people who got tickets for that event seem to have been on their first hunt. We hunkered down for 3 or 4 hours with shots ringing all around, and when things finally quieted down, we made a bee line for the truck and said "Never Again". It's a wonder that several people didn't get shot that morning.

At least, where we live, the hunters are all local, and very responsible....so there is little likelihood of any problems. The one's that Really scare me are those who head for the woods with a 6 pack of beer, or a jug of whiskey. I would not want to be within a mile of such an idiot.
 
It's not such a great weekend for the helpless animals who will be shot, killed and consumed though is it?
The men in my family were all hunters when I was a child. By the time they became old men they just went went out into the woods together and watched deer without killing a single one. My dad fell asleep under a tree (typical old man thing to do on a hunting trip, right?) He woke to find a buck nuzzling his boot. He thought about reaching for his gun but didn't have the heart anymore. His story attracted as much attention as a deer carcass would have.
I hope one day people will stop killing these beautiful animals for sport.
 
SifuPhil said:
Deer season - especially the first day - here in PA is seen almost as a religious holiday. Many businesses and schools close and people have been preparing for months to get out in the woods.

Not being a hunter I'm not sure I understand the fervor but I know it's good for the economy. :)
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Actually, in PA the biggest day of deer season is the Monday after T'giving. That's the first day of buck season.
 
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