Hunting Adventures!

November 28th brought with it deer-hunting season, which means that several members of our family suddenly had a strange fascination with rising very early in the morning and going out to sit in the freezing cold in search of Mr. Monster Buck.

During the season we saw many deer and there were several shots fired- Lydia shot at a large buck (and presumably missed since we never found anything), Moses shot at a doe, but missed, I never actually saw any deer while I was carrying a gun (we had 4 guns for the five of us), so I never got to shoot.

Esther and Moses on opening day, empty-handed but excited!!

With five hunters between us and the Ansons, we had a serious case of buck fever floating through the house. We didn't think it was contagious but apparently it was; before the first day of the season was over, Esther had contracted the fever too. She decided not to buy a tag, but she went out faithfully everyday with Moses. This was Moses' first year getting to carry a gun and he was SO excited!! He saw plenty of deer but didn't get a shot until the end of the season.

The guys heading out to the field.

Most of the season was unreasonable warm and sunny, usually hunting season brings with it below freezing temperatures, snow and wind. This season it stayed warm until the last 4 days. Scott bagged his deer on the last warm day and tried not to laugh as the rest of us battled the freezing cold, ice and wind the next three days.

Seth is the most selective hunter of us all. Having bagged two 8-point bucks during his career as a hunter, he now reserves his bullets for only the largest bucks, which unfortunately, he has yet to locate. During the beginning of the season he passed up on several nice bucks and a swarm of large does. Finally as the days ticked off until that last day, he began to shoot; we won't talk about the three that got away, or the eight empty shells in his pocket, which all strayed from their target.
On the last day of the season Seth, Esther and Moses once more walked through the fields hoping to bag a deer. They were heading home when suddenly; they saw it. Actually Esther saw it, and as she dropped to the ground she whispered "It's a buck, a HUGE buck!!!" Seth, visions of those antlers floating through his head, raised his gun. Scroll down for a picture of the monster........

Okay, so Esther was partly right-- it was a deer, so she gets brownie points for actually seeing it, but as you can see from the picture, it was not by any means a big deer, and there were certainly no antlers on her. Seth deliberated for only a second before pulling the trigger. Since it was the last day and he will be able to hunt only the last day 1/2 of the next season, he wanted to fill at least one of his tags.

Hopefully this coming season will be a little more profitable then this last one-- we've still got 4 tags to fill!!