Deer Season *Graphic Content*

I want to tell you an important part of our story.

A vital piece of our Fall.

In the weeks before hunting season opens we are watching the deer every morning and night.

Noting where they cross the road, the fence, the creek.

If we only saw one or two, we would hunt somewhere other than the farm.

We don't want to wipe out the deer in our area.

But we have seen many.  

Mostly does.

A few days before rifle season my husband takes our daughter and chooses a tree for his climbing tree stand.

It is unusually warm for this time of year, high 50's.  We worry it will change the deer's behaviour.

My husband leaves long before the sun comes up and sits, waiting.

Before we came to the farm, deer was our main source of meat, even though we lived in the middle of a busy town in a small apartment.

Venison is much lower in fat, cholesterol, and calories than beef.  It also contains the same or slightly higher amounts of protein, B vitamins and iron.

Around 8 in the morning my husband calls to say he has shot a doe.  He took his time, waiting for the best opportunity.  She falls with the first shot and lays still.

He comes up to the house and has breakfast with us.  

If you are new to hunting, it is ethical to wait a while before tracking or going up to a deer you have shot.  The more quickly you try to track or go up to a downed deer, the more pressure they feel to run.  They are more likely to jump up and run farther and you are less likely to find them.

If your shot didn't kill them instantly, it is better to let them bed down and die quietly.

As soon as breakfast is finished we take the old truck through the fields to where the deer fell.

She raises her head and I see my husband's spirit fall.

He has spine shot the deer and it has been laying there through our breakfast.  

I keep our daughter in the truck and explain that Daddy has to shoot it again.

After he shoots the deer in the back of the head we walk through the dying grass to him.

He is disappointed with himself and sorrowful that the deer was alive - unable to move.

My husband points out to me that it wasn't a doe.  It was actually a small buck that had both of it's antlers broken off at the base fighting with other bucks.

He shakes his head and sighs, several times as we load the deer into the back of Old Blue.

I am so proud that my husband is crestfallen by the fact the deer had to suffer.

We gut the deer in another field.  Our daughter plays tea party and watches us from the back of the truck.
She understands that the deer is for meat.

Whenever we kill a deer we check the liver and kidneys.  These are ways to make sure the deer was healthy.  If we had any doubts, we would feed it to the dog.

After gutting, we skin the deer outside and then hang it in the barn to process ourselves.

We normally let our venison hang at least a few days to help with the game-y taste, but it gets too warm and we decide it will be best to just get the meat into the freezer.

The Bird Woman can't taste anymore, and we don't mind the game-y taste.

I take meat that was cut from the deer the day before and put it in a crock-pot with a can of cream of mushroom soup and a can of mixed veggies.  I place a bay leaf on top and cook it for 6-8 hours.

Easy venison stew.

We thank God for his provision for us and for the deer.

Fall is almost over.