The Great Huntress Strikes Again

Well, once again, Eler Beth got a deer on the first day of gun season. She called me a bit after 10 this morning to tell me she'd gotten a doe. She describes it here much better than I could. Thomas didn't even see anything today, but Lee, the other member of their hunting team, got a buck. Thomas usually has Eler Beth placed where if anything is going to come by, she's going to get the first shot at it. She hit it just under the shoulder blades, which is what she was taught to do, so it took out one lung and the heart.

(Sorry, if you're not into hunting. We do fill our, and friends and family's, freezers with deer meat, and I don't even buy beef anymore; haven't for years. It's leaner, healthier, and tastier than anything you buy at the grocery. I respect the feelings and opinions of anyone who is against hunting, and only ask that you respect mine as well. We are a hunting, meat-eating family, and that's all there is to it.)

The doe field-dressed at about 175 lbs., so that was a pretty good-sized deer. Right before Thomas and Eler Beth got home a guy we know called to see if Thomas had gotten anything. I knew as soon as I saw who was calling that he must've gotten something, otherwise he wouldn't be calling. He's only been hunting for a few years now, and he is really jealous of Thomas' hunting record. So when he calls during deer season, it's sort of a tallying-up for him.

I answered the phone and answered him that no, as far as I knew Thomas hadn't got anything today, but Eler Beth got a big doe this morning. He said something along the lines of, "Eler Beth must be grinning from ear to ear that she got something and her dad didn't." Well, that really irritated me a lot, because neither Thomas nor Eler Beth thinks like that. Thomas will go out of his way and sacrifice a shot if he thinks Eler Beth can get it, and Eler Beth just loves venison, so as long as the freezer is full, Thomas could get them all, and although she'd be a bit disappointed that she hadn't got one, she wouldn't begrudge her dad getting one.

So I said, "Oh it doesn't even matter. She always gets at least two, and Thomas always gets at least three or four, so it doesn't even matter who gets what or when." And he knows that's true. He's irritating in general, so I shouldn't even let it get to me.

Both my hunters are out cold right now. They came in and put away their gear, I fried up some loin, they ate, and then they went right to sleep. Thomas will be back out there tomorrow, but Eler Beth is taking tomorrow off. She has earned it. Oh yes, I asked her if she'd called or texted Heather (her new best friend), and she said, "Yeah, I texted her right after I called you. We texted for a while." I love that visual of her in her camouflage 15 feet up in a tree, texting!

They forgot to take a camera, but she got a few pics with her cell phone, and then on their way to check in the deer they bought one of those one time use cameras. So as soon as I get the pics developed, I'll post one or two.

Okay, so that's it for now. Better than yesterday's post, right?