A Hunt With Emily

November 26, 2005

Last year Emily had surgery.  That seems like an easy sentence to type but believe me, it was anything but.  Emily is my 10 year old daughter and the absolute apple of my eye.  When people ask, “How are you?”, I often answer, “More blessed than I deserve to be.”  My wife and my first child is one of the greatest blessings of all.  Most blessings seem to be tempered with accompanying challenges though.  Emily’s is her leg.  She was born with a club foot and her right leg grows at a slower rate than her left.  She has had a series of procedures, surgeries, and orthopedic devices since birth.  Last year’s surgery was the capper though.  It was a leg lengthening that involved cutting her lower leg bones and essentially stretching them two and a half inches over a several week period.  She had this large contraption on her leg for 8 months that stabilized her leg while the bones healed in their elongated state.  Unfortunately, this spanned all of last year’s hunting season.  She usually accompanies me on a few hunts every year.  Missing last year was not in the plan but she just couldn’t do it.

So this year was it.  She was going to go with me on a hunt where I would hopefully kill a deer.  I really wanted to see her reaction to the whole killing process.  I have never forced her to go or even to accept hunting and killing.  But she loves meat and seems to acknowledge the honesty of gathering it for yourself.  She also seems to enjoy the whole butchering and processing thing which she has done on a couple of occasions.

We started our hunt on Friday night by staying at my wife’s uncle’s house in Parke County, Indiana.  He has a beautiful home and 20 acres amidst a large forested area sprinkled with agricultural fields.  His property is in the travel path between bedding and feeding areas and the entire area is thick with deer.  It’s as close to a sure thing as you can get.  The morning required some non-hunting chores but the entire afternoon was ours.  This is an evening hunt anyway.  I set up our blind about 300 yards from the house overlooking where a major trail splits.  We could watch both splits and had shots either way. 

We got into the blind at about 3:00.  I gave Emily a pocket knife, her first, to commemorate the hunt and show her that I think she is getting ready for more mature things. She thought it was really cool and admiring it kept her busy for a while.  She's a pretty good kid but definitely has a mind of her own.  I guess her spirit has helped her through her challenges but it sure has proved to be it's own challenge for her parents.  She was doing well in the blind though.  I also gave her the job of videographer and she liked that.  It wasn't long before she was a bit restless though and I wondered if we'd make it through the night.  Not really but I hoped she would settle down.  She did.  At around 4:00, I noticed a deer about 70 yards down in the hollow.  The shot was obstructed and longer than I wanted to take so I just watched while Emily, somewhat noisily, got the video camera and tripod turned that way.  I had to hush her a couple times but it really didn't matter.  That deer wasn't headed any closer.  Soon after a squirrel appeared in a nearby tree and I told Emily to video it.  No sooner had I said this than another deer appeared in the hollow.  This time 20 yards closer and in the clear.  I decided to take the shot quickly and told Emily to be ready.  The doe dropped in her tracks and barely even moved.  A large hole in the exit side and volumes of blood proved she wouldn't get up again.  Emily was really excited and didn't even flinch at the small struggles the deer put up.  I was glad it wasn't dragged out but I doubt it would have mattered. 

Quickly afterwards, the earlier doe returned to the scene trying to figure out what happened.  She was obviously a sibling to this one and seemed confused and approached the downed deer.  I was afraid Emily would get sad about this one losing its sister.  I needn't have worried since Emily kept begging me to shoot it too.  I wasn't about to drag and butcher 2 deer so I declined.  Emily kept asking though as the deer hung out for about 5 minutes and kept getting even closer to us.  "Please Dad.  Shoot it!  I want it. PLEEEEASE".

Eventually we made our way down to the deer.  As Emily approached, I videoed her reaction.  I asked her what she thought and she said "It's wonderful!"  Pure, unadulterated, unfeigned joy is what I saw.  She was adamant about cutting the deer open with her new knife so I let her open her up.  I did most of the bloody work but she wasn't fazed at all and we only had a couple of "Ooo grosses" in there.  I showed Emily the internal organs and how the slug had clipped the top off the lungs and obliterated the spine.  After I was done and ready to drag, Emily wanted to take a closer look at the gut pile.  She cut open the heart and liver and even the stomach.  She was utterly fascinated by it all.

Here are the pics.

Here's Emily


Emily and me.


What it's all about.  About 25 pounds of fine boneless.


Of course this pile of tenderloins never made it to the freezer :)
Sunday morning, fresh tenderloin and eggs, a hot cup of coffee and the sports page.
It ALL good!

I realized later that this was the first deer I have ever killed with someone else present.  I couldn't be happier with the company.

God bless.