First Deer

This week, the state of Kansas allowed youth hunters to go hunting for deer before the grow-ups take a crack at it when the season opens next week. Andrew went out with his Uncle Kurt last weekend but didn't have any luck. They saw a lot of turkeys, though. They gave it another shot yesterday and didn't see a thing until they climbed out of the blind and there were three deer standing there. Shucks! Because of that, they gave it another shot today, the last day. Lo and behold, those three deer came back! The first one was a large doe and he got it! He hit her in the shoulder and she ran off not too far away. When he fired that shot, a young buck came looking around wondering what all of the commotion was about. This was about 13 minutes after the first one. He collected himself, took aim and fired. Got it! That's the deer pictured above. He could have had the third deer, but he only had two tags. They brought them home, shared stories with all of us, and we broke for lunch and a rest. Later on, we all got together and skinned and butchered them up. (Kurt's dad was a butcher and learned this valuable art from him.) It was a lot of work but good family time. It was a great day of hunting! Not to mention, an awesome experience for Andrew and quality time spent with his uncle, who is a pretty cool guy.