Deer Hunting and the Reward

The main reason we went on vacation over Thanksgiving was because Brett and his family were coming to West Virginia and also Brandon.  The other reason was that they were going to go deer hunting.  Last year was the first time in over 30 years that Dennis wasn't home for Thanksgiving and deer season.  He and the boys love going out deer hunting, trust me!!  The time they spent out in the woods between four of them they got 11 deer.  Brett and his cousin were able to take two big coolers of venison back to New Mexico with them!  Unfortunately, we didn't bring any home with us :o(  One afternoon, the phone rang at my father~in~law's and it was Dennis' brother~in~law telling him he saw a big buck standing in a field and wanted Dennis to see if he could go get it.  He wanted me to go with him, but I was in the middle of making dinner and at a point I had something on the stove cooking and didn't feel as though I could leave.  He wasn't gone too long before he was back telling me that I had to go with him to drag the deer and help put it in "our" Jeep!  By now, the cooking I was doing when he left the first time was done.  So, I found a pair of one of the guy's hunting boots which were about five sizes too big and I went with my clod~hoppers on to the Jeep.  I could hardly walk as the boots were so big.  When we got out to where Dennis shot the deer the grass was pretty tall in the field.  So, I rolled up my skirt so it wouldn't get all wet and dirty :o)  What a sight to behold!!

See the little spot of orange between the branches of the pine tree?

It was the Buck Slayer

He had already dragged the deer from where he shot it up farther in the field.  It was downhill, so he didn't need my help with that!

I love this picture!!  It was a good sized deer!!

Dennis said he needed me to hold it's legs apart so he could do the necessities for cleaning the deer.  This was the first time in all his years of hunting that I got to help him!  It was interesting to say the least.  The gory part didn't bother me.

Here he was dragging it toward the dirt road

It had rained for about four straight days, so he got a cup out of the Jeep and dipped it in the water running along side of the road to wash out the cavity!!  Don't worry, it was cleaned again properly!!

Here's where my help came in by helping to lift the deer into the back of our Jeep.  Dennis told me to hold it's head and guide it up on to the tarp.  That thing was heavy and I only had the easy part!!  After loading it, Dennis decided not to close the hatch tight as there was quite a bit of drainage, so he just pulled it down.  Well, we had to go back up the steep dirt road to get to the hard road.  I happened to turn around and the hatch was going up and the deer was sliding out.  Of course, he stopped immediately when I said something and got out to close the hatch :o)

Dennis again with his prized possession!!

And Dennis' wife aka ME!!  Check out that hiked up skirt and those huge boots, but please don't laugh too hard.

It was a lot of fun!!  Glad I could help him as none of the other guys were around to go out with him!!