Deer Hunting Season...

...is upon us. Drew, Tyler, and Austin have already been out several times. They've seen a few deer that were out of range along with some wild boar, bobcats, and turkeys. But, so far, none of them have had a good enough angle to put any meat in our freezer. We are confident that it will happen before the season ends.

Yesterday, Drew took Alicia hunting with him. Drew's friend Levi went as well. I believe that it was Alicia's first time to hunt. As we were doing the dishes after dinner, the phone rang. Alicia had killed her first deer...a 6 point buck. Not bad for your first time out!
I'm not sure which of them was more excited...Drew or Alicia.

Levi helped Drew drag the deer back to where they were parked, and he brought it back to the house for them in the back of his truck. Thanks, Levi, you saved the back of our suburban. We are grateful.

We let the girls stay up until the hunters got back so that they could see the deer. Drew had promised on opening day of the season to bring something home for them to see, so it was a little overdue as far as they were concerned.

Once they got the deer unloaded and into the garage Kara noticed that its tongue was hanging out. She wanted to touch it. She was fascinated at the sight.

At one point, shortly after they got here, Emma, Alicia, and I were in the house together. Emma was going on and on to Alicia about killing the deer and then she said "You're going to make a fine wife someday". The way she said it sounded so grown up, almost like she was the wise older woman speaking to the wee lass. I just about cracked up and Alicia got a good snicker out of it too.

Levi and Tyler pitched in to help Drew skin the beast and cut it up. Then Drew and Alicia had a late night of meat processing but I'm pretty sure that it was worth it to them. What a fun memory.

Congratulations, Alicia! We're excited for you. Are you ready to go again?