A deer, my dear!

I just love telling this story. I wish I knew how to videotape so you could see the dramatic live version with Mari's commentary. I won't be posting many photos, as I know many people would not appreciate the visuals. If you are interested in seeing them, please email me and I would be happy to share.

Eric got his deer!!! But you won't believe how.

Eric went hunting a bit Monday afternoon. He wasn't scheduled to, but his plant shut down for the day after a water main break. He saw a doe, but couldn't get a good shot off. On Tuesday, he had to work all day and planned on using that evening to prepare for hunting. He had taken off the rest of the week to hunt.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, I was busy with three little ones at home. Mike, Eric's brother, was in town on business and had brought along his son Justus, who happens to be Joshy's best bud. Naptime was just getting over. Both boys were still asleep, but Mari and I were on the couch looking at books. The plan originally was for me and the children to meet Eric at the YMCA where he plays basketball, but since the boys were still asleep, I asked Eric to just come home and we'd all go back into town together.

So Mari and I are having a snuggly time on the couch when we hear the garage door open. "Ok, Daddy's home, Lella. Time to get ready for basketball."

I was just getting up when the door from the garage to the house flies open. Eric dashes in yelling, "Get my gun! Get my gun!"

Of course I know why. There must be a deer somewhere! So I run to get his gun while he runs to the basement to get his bullets (he keeps the gun and ammo on separate levels of the house). Meanwhile, I glance out the back windows, but don't see a thing. As he's loading his gun, I ask, "So where's the deer? I don't see it."

Without so much as glancing up at me, he hurriedly says, "Front yard. I have four minutes."

He runs back out the door he came in. (Why four minutes? Where we live, you can only shoot until sunset. Eric had all the sunset times for the whole week memorized.) I turn back to Mari, who is looking out the deck doors trying to see the deer. I tell her that Daddy is going to shoot his gun so there will be a big boom soon. She gets a bit sniffly, reminding me, "Daddy's gun 'cares me." So I pick her up and walk to the front of the house, moving slowly and not turning on any lights so as to not spook the deer. I so wanted to wake up the boys or at least go get my camera to video, but I also didn't want to miss anything myself.

With Mari in my arms, we creep up to the window next to our front door. Sure enough, there is a good-sized, spike buck nibbling at the ground around our persimmons tree. My heart is beating fast, and Mari and I are squeezing each other. I have no idea where Eric is.

I hear a bump noise from the garage, and the deer looks up in that direction. It twitches its tail, but soon returned to the persimmons. It turns around 180 degrees and takes a step. Then,

BOOM!

From the opposite direction of the garage comes the shot. The deer falls immediately, right where it stood. Mari and I cheer, and she yells, "Deer for dinner! Deer for dinner!"

I can hear Joshy calling anxiously from his bedroom. Obviously, the shot woke him up. Funnily, it didn't even cause Justus to stir. I run upstairs and tell Joshy what had happened. He bounces out of bed and grabs his own toy gun, and we all go back downstairs. By this time, Eric is standing on the porch, leaning on the rail with his gun, waiting to check the deer. I tapped the window and he motioned us outside. Joshy really wanted to go up to the deer and shoot it again himself, and Mari wanted to go take a bite of it. After a few minutes, Eric checked it out, changed out of his work clothes, and began the work of dealing with the deer.

From the time he pulled into the driveway and saw the deer until the time he shot it was four minutes. He shot the deer at the stroke of sunset. In our front yard!

I know this isn't a great photo, but it shows our house, the deer, and where Eric shot it from (that's what that white star is). He was right next to our house about 35 yards from the deer.
I am ever so grateful that Mike was in town and showed up soon after to help with the "details" of taking care of the deer. Eric spent the next few days hunting (in his tree stand this time, not in the front yard) and processing the deer. At the end of the week long season, we had the deer done and in the freezer and a great story to tell about it. Really, his hunt lasted four minutes and required no prep of tree stands. I asked Eric this morning if he was sad to not have shot another deer, but he said no.

And then reminded me that the extended gun season begins in two weeks.