I woke up to Coltie in our bed, "Mama, I want to go hunt deer." I heard Kevin, "No buddy, it's way too cold. I'm sorry." "Mama." His voice cracked and I fluttered my eyes open. My eyes finally focused on what was in front of me. Colten sat eye to eye with me his little blue eyes full of tears about to spill over. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close. "Mama, I want to hunt deer. cut deer. eat deer."
My mama heart was warmed, but also kind of sad. We had been promising him a chance to go hunting but it never seemed to be the "perfect day". Now here we were on the very last day to hunt deer.
The Deer.
I kept him busy for the entire day, then at sunset he began putting his requests in for dinner. Crabs (crawfish) and shrimp. Every time I turned around there he was tugging my shirt and asking for crabs and shrimp. So, I called his daddy to let him inform daddy of dinner plans. But he ignored the call, so we went back to doing what we were doing then we got a call.
On the other end daddy yelled, "Deer Down! Deer Down!"
Coltie said, "Daddy! Get crabs!"
Daddy said, "Oh boy! It's a big one!"
Coltie said, "Bring crabs home!"
I said, "Send us a photo!"
He made sure the deer was dead and then send a photo of the beautiful eight point. The biggest deer he had ever shot. The first deer he had shot in TEN years!
While Kevin excitedly talked about the deer, I showed Coltie and Kayven. Colt said, "Daddy shoot baby deer??" And Kayven said, "That's not a baby deer! That's big deer!" I laughed, "A Big Baby Deer!"
And that has been our new joke.
The Processor.
I loaded the boys up and we headed to meet daddy at the family processor. When he arrived we all stood in the doorway waiting for him to pull the deer out and the boys were mesmerized. Colt stood watching in amazement and Kayven kept a good distance. He said the antlers were too sharp and he didn't want to get hurt.
Colt then asked where his knife was and he said he was ready to eat deer! So we explained that we were going to clean the deer, then it would be ready and turned into meat ready to cook in the next week. He understood and the whole time his daddy cleaned the deer he watched closely.
The Hunting Meal.
Then, by the time he was done with everything we were ready to go and our toes were frozen. It was late and by time we got to town it'd be even later, but I refused to cook that late at night so we went to Cookout and got milkshakes, burgers, and quesadillas. It was the perfect end to the night of excitement.
We sat around the kids picnic table in the living room eating our burgers and quesadillas and sipping on milkshakes in all camouflage. Then it was time for bed. What a memory this night will be.
-Lady of the Farm.
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