Remembering the Kids: First Hunting Season

Jacob and Jack got to go on their first hunt! They were so excited to go. Lucky for them, they got to hunt on Kory's (Uppa's cousin's husband) family property in Dayton. Uppa called to say he was on his way to pick them up and gave me a quick list of what the needed to pack. I had no other information then that but both boys had about a dozen questions each about what was happening, where they were going, and who was going to be there.

First Uppa showed up pulling a tent trailer. We were like, where did you get the tent trailer? Turns out he bought it for hunting. Oh my what a surprise, and of course, more questions to come about how it works. While Uppa took a quick shower I headed to the store for food supplies. Prior to Uppa showing up I was trying to call Umma to see what she had already packed. She was unavailable but it worked out just fine; no one would starve. Once I got home the boys and Uppa packed up their things and were off!

The very first day Jacob got his first deer! A cute little doe. Apparently each day each boy would split up between hunting with Kory or Uppa. Jacob was with Kory that day. I can't remember who spotted the two deer but as soon as they did, Jacob said they belly crawled to a fence. Once there, Jacob set up his shot. Kory and Jacob were uphill, with the deer lower in a field. Jacob said he missed twice high but on the third shot hit the deer in the upper spine. The deer dropped where it was. Kory shot it in the head to finish it off. They then had to drag the deer quite always back to the truck.

Now Jack got his first deer on the second day. Jack got several different looks at some great deer but he wasn't either able to take a good shot or missed. Uppa and Jack snuck up on a 4 point but Jack wasn't able to get a shot in. He was really disappointed that he didn't get that deer. Later that night as the four of them were driving a couple deer jumped across the road. Who ever was driving slammed the car into park so Kory and Jack could jump out after the deer. Jack was able to shoot the deer right thru the lungs and heart, a perfect shot! The bad part was that it wasn't quite a doe, but very quickly it was made into one.

Each night the boys would call to give a report. They loved the tent trailer. I think each of the boys had to give us a tour of it. They got to eat a lot of junk food. Jack reported that lots of the guys there smoke and drank, which of course he isn't use to but was fine. Jacob told me about being charged by a bull. He had to duck under a wire fence really quick. They both told me lots about Kory and different ways he was cool. They got to ride a little motorbike around. There was a dog named Lady Bear that was super nice. It was super cold, with compact snow and ice on the road. They told us about helping some people out of the ditch and it taking forever. Jack had to tell me all about how much adrenal was pumping thru his body each time he was about to take a shot.

Uppa and the boys brought the deer back here. We hung them in the garage so the next day we sent up a table to cut up the meat. The kids did a good job, even Amelia helped cut it up. Now our freezer is full of tender deer meat.