Sunday, November 14, 2010

Small Town Sunday #8 - Deer Season






It's here! One of the most important times of the year for so many people in the Ozarks...Deer Season.  Schools are canceled and people take off work. Seriously.

My school takes of the first Monday of deer season. A few of the more rural schools in the area take off the whole first week of deer season.  I cannot believe they do that, but... The reason schools do this is because of the attendance rate. If the attendance is low, then the school actually loses money being in operation, so some schools just plan for a day off. Even with Monday off, I will still have some students who will take off additional days. I had a boy come up to me the other day and tell me that he was going to be "sick" Tuesday through Friday.

I don't hunt, but I grew up in a family of hunters. My dad is a serious hunter. Every year he goes off to Colorado elk hunting right before deer season. Dad has quite a few acres of land and even creates food plots that encourage deer and turkey to stay on the land.  We have deer camp every year with men in orange all over the place. All the men stay in a cabin in the woods and get up early to head out to their deer stands or to walk the woods.

This morning I was woken up by what had to be the world's loudest 4-wheeler driving around my house. I can't imagine it didn't scare away any deer in a half-mile radius.

This year dad built a new deer stand that is semi-movable. It is one of the most interesting stands I've seen. 

   
Unique Deer Stand

I want to wish all the hunters good luck this deer season. Be careful! And if you are going to kill a deer...eat the deer. It is irresponsible to do otherwise.  For those who like to hunt, but don't need or want the meat, there is a great program called Share the Harvest here in Missouri that has been created by the Missouri Department of Conservation.

2 comments:

Godsadventureroad said...

So, I'm passing this along to my dad, cuz he's always dreaming up new ideas for deer stands, and the picture is just awesome! Though in a way I kind of hope my dad's beloved Chevy Luv doesn't end up like this, who know, if it makes him happy.... Anyways, where I lived, in rural Iowa, we never got days off of school, but many missed school or came later in the day with blood on their overalls. A hunting family who lived on deer meat, I'm not sick of it like i am of green beans I was forced to pick every summer...

Gifts of Nature said...

I completely understand. We grew up on a large farm that made no money: big house, no money. We lived off of pork (it was a hog farm) and venison. I do not like either anymore. I was most upset by this deer stand because it meant that I could no longer use the old vehicle for my poortrait photography.