audit’s thoughts.

October 1st = Deer Hunting, 1st time I’ll miss hunting in 25 years

September 28th, 2007 | by audit |

Well October 1st is right around the corner and it’ll mark the 1st time in 25 years that I’ve missed not only opening day but the entire hunting season. Due to my health issues, I won’t be in the woods enjoying the sounds of nature with either of my kids. The one that will be the most affected is my daughter as she always loved to go hunting with me. Not just to see her old man shoot a deer but to point out the different sounds and birds, snakes, insects, etc. I think that was the best time I ever had when I went hunting is when my kids came with me. My son was never really into it. Sure he loved to go but after a 1/2hr of sitting in the blind, he was asking to go home if we didn’t see any deer right away.

I guess I spoiled him early on when I would take him and the spot we always went to had deer that watched us goto the blind and then come up within range as it to say, “take me, I’ve had it with this world”. But after a couple years of seeing their buddies go down, I think they smartened up because last year was horrible for hunting. My daughter never minded and had the patience to sit there and watch with me and I treated her the same way as my son and slowly informed her about the outdoors and what it ment to us and how it was natural for us to kill deer. She never liked the kill but never stopped me either from killing a deer.

This year I’ll make sure that every hunting show that’s on TV will be Tivo’d and I’ll figure out a way to continue teaching them about the outdoors and how to survive. Luckily we live out in the sticks so I can still show them the hawks and we can watch them as they swoop down for a Rabbit and then watch them take the Rabbit high up just to drop it on the ground again to kill it and then swoop down to grab their meal again. Just because I can’t hunt anymore doesn’t mean that they need to stop learning about the outdoors. I’ll use every ounce of energy that I have to get my broken down body out in the woods to just sit with them, it doesn’t mean that we need to hunt because god only knows I can’t pull a bow back anymore and sitting down on hard ground isn’t good for my back. We can lean up against a tree or sit in a stand that I’ll continue to keep up in the tree’s so they can get a better view. My ass may not be able to get in the tree but they can and man do they love the view.

Maybe this year we’ll play some games and I’ll see how much they’ve learned over the years by identifying different sounds and I’ll see how good they are at spotting deer tracks or my favorite, seeing the little patch of deer while they are standing in thick cover and then telling me which way they are moving.

Either way I’ll figure out a way for my kids to not miss out because of me. That’s not fair to not only them but also to the wildlife.