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    Gun season for deer opened this  past weekend, As well as harvesting all the deer we needed, we had a lot of fun joking around and just socializing. This year, Zane’s girlfriend, Elizabeth, joined us as well as Trevor and his wife. It was a good time eating, hunting, and eating some more.

   We can only start the hunting season after a full breakfast and lots of planning. We had eaten our fill and discussed all the problems of the world as well as our plan for the day before we made it out the door to begin deer season. We have always thought the deer would wait for us to get ready.

The first hunt of the morning, being new to the group, Elizabeth stood with me. I explained to her where the drivers were in relation to our position and where the other blockers would be. We also discussed where the deer should come out of the timber and the best place to get a shot. When driving deer, safety is the most important thing to stress as if not done properly, can be dangerous. We had been waiting for only a couple of minutes when a doe ran out. We both pulled up and shot and the doe dropped. We are not sure which of us hit it, but that really did not matter. She was down.

   On the next couple of drives, the drivers got more shooting than the blockers. After each drive, we would split up to go field dress and tag the deer scattered about the woods. We were harvesting almost all does, which was the object. As well as getting meat for the winter, we are trying to keep the deer herd healthy by decreasing the population. This is most easily accomplished by taking out a number of does.

   It did not take Elizabeth long to become comfortable with being on stand alone. That made one more spot that could be blocked when the deer exited the woods. I was on Strawberry Hill and Elizabeth was across the valley part way up the next hill. The drivers started into the South Place while we waited. We heard occasional shots ring out as the deer moved between the drivers rather than coming out where they were supposed to. I was beginning to think none of the deer would come out when suddenly I heard Elizabeth shoot, then shoot again. That was a good sign. I got ready for a flood of deer to run toward me, but nothing came by. When the drivers in front of me  got to the fence, we discussed what they had down and where they were. We then decided to go check on Elizabeth to see if her shots were successful. She and  her drivers were busy field dressing deer by the time we got over there. She was elbows deep cleaning a nice buck and grinning from ear to ear. She also had a doe that Zane was working on.

   By noon Sunday, we had all the deer we needed and enough to give some to the neighbors. When we ate another large meal, the general consensus was to do something easier than deer hunting. A nap seemed like an excellent plan. We divided up the deer and called it a season feeling confident we had done our part in the deer population control.

   This morning, my wife was pouring a cup of coffee and told me to come look out of the window. I jumped up and saw ten deer standing on the lawn. Season is still open, I still have two tags left and my rifle was on the table in the garage. I considered it for a minute and decided I just did not want to take care of one more deer.

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