The Christmas chaos is now over and sadly so is hunting season. All of the things I asked for this Christmas were to keep me warm. It doesn’t matter how cold it is, whether it is +5 or -20 -I absolutely freeze. This year I managed to get soaked one night (a story that stays where it happened because as funny as it is I am not admitting to it). Even after changing to dry clothes and trying to warm up in the truck I still thought body parts were going to fall off. Next year I am adding another buddy heater, hot pads that stick on to my socks and new green boots to my heated vest and so many layers of clothes and blankets I can hardly move and maybe I’ll be warmer. I doubt it but there’s always hope.

I love the assumption that wild meat is free. In reality it’s expensive as heck and for anyone that has ever been given any I hope you truly understand how much of a gift of love it really is. By the time all the tags were purchased and licences were renewed in my house we were well over $1000. The first week alone I went through about $300 in diesel in one truck alone just going in and out of the bush. Now let’s add new hunting clothes, firearm purchases, alterations, accessories, ammunition and bait and we we’re starting to talk some serious money. Oh then there are the snacks. The never-ending need for more and more snacks. It must be the underaged equivalent of alcohol because I cannot understand where they all went and how we had to spend so much money on food to eat in the stand- but we did. I was informed by one of the kids we could have gone on a cruise for the amount of money I put out for deer season. Trust me kid- I KNOW!! But I don’t want to go on a cruise. I want to hunt and I want to pass on that love into my kids which is exactly why I do it and it seems like it’s working!

To end out the year I went on a three-day black powder hunting trip down South. I was lucky enough to get a nice 8 point buck the first day there. A friend invited me down to hunt a few years ago and amazingly still invites me back, it must be the cookies I bring. It’s all private property and each stand has its own rules of what you can shoot and trust me no amount of begging bends these rules. I might have increased my chances a bit by hunting where the rules are a lot less strict and the guy I hunted with agreed I could shoot a smaller buck when it came out. I am not a trophy hunter-especially when there are so many mouths to feed and as long as we have the tags- a deer is a deer to me (with a few exceptions). I don’t need a big one-those can go to the guys that it means more to. I just want to hunt and bring home food, but the bragging rights that I got one and they didn’t sure didn’t hurt either.

The second night of black powder season two of the guys arrived back to camp with two antlers “they knocked right off the bucks head with the truck”. Yet there was not a mark on the truck. They wouldn’t give up that it was true but it wasn’t until I saw some red on the base of the antlers that I started to believe this wasn’t a game to see how much they could wind me up before they said it was a joke and were laughing at me. The “Power Wagon” buck came home with the buck I shot and both are now in the freezer along with one more that was given to us. We ended up with a decent amount of meat and the kids won’t have to eat grocery store meat because they think is pretty much the equivalent of poison.

Deer season was spent with my whole family including my dad and a friend who you have to know means a lot if they were invited. While he didn’t get a deer my friend did get his first bear. His butchering fee was a couple pounds of meat and my mind was blown when my daughter LOVED it. I stopped bear hunting for a while because I didn’t want to attract them near the house when the kids were little but now I think we have a whole other season to add now that she likes it so much. I sure don’t mind giving her the same bragging rights I had as a teenager when I shot my first bear. If she likes it that much she’s going to have to help hunt one too.

Hunting can be relaxing sitting out in nature in the complete quiet. However adding a new hunter in your stand squawking “why are you making so much noise.. why are you on your phone… who are you texting?..” is not exactly peaceful. It’s still the teenager stage just in a different environment. You’re trying to teach them to be independent- but they can’t be yet. There’s nothing more you want than them to make a perfect shot and they don’t yet understand that it takes time. Not only did I have to manage where my own clothes etc. were -I had to find all of theirs too and manage the sharing of stands and staffing of the businesses so we could all do what we love. I know this stage will only last another couple years, but just like when they were toddlers, it seems like it will be forever.

My entire life has been complete chaos and probably always will be and now hunting season is no different but I wouldn’t change a thing. Whether you’re a hunter facing life’s challenges or have a business where unfair laws are constantly thrown at you-keep going. No matter what changes life has in store- do whatever you must. Whatever you do-stay warm, pack snacks and keep hunting.