Apprentice & Mentor: A First Deer Season
February 12, 2016 10:31 PM Subscribe
I’ve watched my dad gut a lot of deer, but this time it was different. It’s different when it’s your own deer. Everything was really interesting, how all the organs fit together and how they all come apart. How much blood is inside a deer…--11 year-old Iris, reflecting on her first deer hunting season.
See also A Deer for My Dad, First Time's a Charm, and Deer Hunting for Beginners.
See also A Deer for My Dad, First Time's a Charm, and Deer Hunting for Beginners.
Growing up I got to the point where I realized that hunting deer with a rifle can hardly be called a sport. Bow hunting is where it's at.
posted by AElfwine Evenstar at 11:37 PM on February 12, 2016
posted by AElfwine Evenstar at 11:37 PM on February 12, 2016
Well I can't speak for the deer, but personally I think I'd prefer getting shot by a rifle. Getting shot with a bow is basically like getting gored with a giant x-acto knife, then bleeding everywhere while guys in orange vests chase you down.
posted by ryanrs at 1:15 AM on February 13, 2016 [19 favorites]
posted by ryanrs at 1:15 AM on February 13, 2016 [19 favorites]
...we'll all remember that when The Reaping comes, ryanrs.
posted by leotrotsky at 4:27 AM on February 13, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by leotrotsky at 4:27 AM on February 13, 2016 [4 favorites]
How do people learn how to hunt if they didn't learn as kids?
Is it like playing the piano, or has anyone done a good job figuring this shit out as an adult. Sounds goofy, I know, but it's totally part of the cultural narrative to be like "my daddy and I bonded over shooting these deer" and I'm like how the hell do you shoot deer without a daddy?
posted by oceanjesse at 4:59 AM on February 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
Is it like playing the piano, or has anyone done a good job figuring this shit out as an adult. Sounds goofy, I know, but it's totally part of the cultural narrative to be like "my daddy and I bonded over shooting these deer" and I'm like how the hell do you shoot deer without a daddy?
posted by oceanjesse at 4:59 AM on February 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
it's totally part of the cultural narrative to be like "my daddy and I bonded over shooting these deer"
I grew up in the suburbs, with parents who were horrified by a new neighbor who processed his deer in the side yard, strictly Not Our Kind, Dear. All the same, my daughter goes hunting with her daddy; in a recent phone call, she lied through her teeth about having shot a deer with her crossbow, and my parents chuckled with relief when I told them it wasn't true. Neither my daughter nor I mentioned that she had been learning to shoot a tiny rifle a few days before.
Some things she has learned: Getting your gear together the night before is essential. Scoping out the hunting site, and setting up accordingly, makes your life easier. Gear must be maintained and not just dumped on the floor. Sleeping in a base layer makes getting out of bed before dawn more tolerable. Early hunts = breakfast with Daddy, possibly (likely) with a ritual stop at the local 24/7 convenience store for some sort of "breakfast sandwich." You may not get any coyotes with that call, but it brings in the hawks and crows, and they are beautiful at sunrise. If you get bored or cold in the blind, you crawl under the sleeping bag and nap. Patience, especially when there's a sighting but no shot. Treat other people's hunting dogs with love. When I asked her just now what hunting has taught her, she said, "You gotta be quiet and listen to your teacher."
She is 8, and freakishly confident around adults, partly because she really does know her stuff about animal behavior, partly because she has a knack for remembering instruction on bow and rifle, but mostly because she has been expected, since she was small, to be a competent and helpful participant in the experience.
As her mother, I have no part in this. (I do, actually: it's to laugh and laugh and laugh as I watch my husband say "Where are the binoculars?" or "Where are her good hunting gloves?" because this is not my circus and these are not my monkeys.) It is frankly bizarre, and I suspect she'll grow out of hunting as she enters her teens. But all of these things are going to be a part of her, going forward, the prep, the patience, the willingness to go and try even if the outcome cannot be predicted.
and I'm like how the hell do you shoot deer without a daddy?
As an adult, you can go get hunter education, and you can bring your grown-up experiences of being patient/willing to learn/etc. to it. But there's something compelling about watching this stuff develop in tandem. Not just bonding, or putting some meat in the freezer, but some fundamental approach to nature, self, and the world.
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:00 AM on February 13, 2016 [42 favorites]
I grew up in the suburbs, with parents who were horrified by a new neighbor who processed his deer in the side yard, strictly Not Our Kind, Dear. All the same, my daughter goes hunting with her daddy; in a recent phone call, she lied through her teeth about having shot a deer with her crossbow, and my parents chuckled with relief when I told them it wasn't true. Neither my daughter nor I mentioned that she had been learning to shoot a tiny rifle a few days before.
Some things she has learned: Getting your gear together the night before is essential. Scoping out the hunting site, and setting up accordingly, makes your life easier. Gear must be maintained and not just dumped on the floor. Sleeping in a base layer makes getting out of bed before dawn more tolerable. Early hunts = breakfast with Daddy, possibly (likely) with a ritual stop at the local 24/7 convenience store for some sort of "breakfast sandwich." You may not get any coyotes with that call, but it brings in the hawks and crows, and they are beautiful at sunrise. If you get bored or cold in the blind, you crawl under the sleeping bag and nap. Patience, especially when there's a sighting but no shot. Treat other people's hunting dogs with love. When I asked her just now what hunting has taught her, she said, "You gotta be quiet and listen to your teacher."
She is 8, and freakishly confident around adults, partly because she really does know her stuff about animal behavior, partly because she has a knack for remembering instruction on bow and rifle, but mostly because she has been expected, since she was small, to be a competent and helpful participant in the experience.
As her mother, I have no part in this. (I do, actually: it's to laugh and laugh and laugh as I watch my husband say "Where are the binoculars?" or "Where are her good hunting gloves?" because this is not my circus and these are not my monkeys.) It is frankly bizarre, and I suspect she'll grow out of hunting as she enters her teens. But all of these things are going to be a part of her, going forward, the prep, the patience, the willingness to go and try even if the outcome cannot be predicted.
and I'm like how the hell do you shoot deer without a daddy?
As an adult, you can go get hunter education, and you can bring your grown-up experiences of being patient/willing to learn/etc. to it. But there's something compelling about watching this stuff develop in tandem. Not just bonding, or putting some meat in the freezer, but some fundamental approach to nature, self, and the world.
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:00 AM on February 13, 2016 [42 favorites]
I remember going to Penn State as a freshman from New Jersey and often being the only person in the room who hadn't gone deer hunting. Growing up one state over, I had no idea how deeply ingrained hunting was in this state. Public schools close here on the first day of the season and I've had college professors cancel class because they were going out hunting that day. Heck, there's even an official State of Pennsylvania hunting app for your android or iOS device.
posted by octothorpe at 6:00 AM on February 13, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 6:00 AM on February 13, 2016 [3 favorites]
Is it like playing the piano, or has anyone done a good job figuring this shit out as an adult. Sounds goofy, I know, but it's totally part of the cultural narrative to be like "my daddy and I bonded over shooting these deer" and I'm like how the hell do you shoot deer without a daddy?
There are more and more adult hunting classes meant to address exactly this. With fewer and fewer people hunting each year, bridging that gap is seen as necessary for it to thrive as a tradition. Learning the skills is one thing, though, while in many places figuring out and getting land access is another issue entirely.
It was a sweet article, especially because he is involving his daughter, and from the sound of her excerpts, doing so on her terms. I always see people taking their sons hunting, but much less often their daughters.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:22 AM on February 13, 2016 [4 favorites]
There are more and more adult hunting classes meant to address exactly this. With fewer and fewer people hunting each year, bridging that gap is seen as necessary for it to thrive as a tradition. Learning the skills is one thing, though, while in many places figuring out and getting land access is another issue entirely.
It was a sweet article, especially because he is involving his daughter, and from the sound of her excerpts, doing so on her terms. I always see people taking their sons hunting, but much less often their daughters.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:22 AM on February 13, 2016 [4 favorites]
I learned to hunt as an adult. I learned to shoot a rifle (and pistol) as a kid, but that was in an indoor range at paper targets. I purchased a cabin on a lake in the Adirondacks in my late 30's. One day, while sitting outside smoking a cigar and drinking beers, my neighbor happened by and asked what I was doing sitting there when hunting season just started. I explained that I hiked not hunted, not because of any opposition to hunting, but because of lack of knowledge. He then offered to teach me. Several times over the next few years he took me out. He helped me prep, to understand wind and shooting angles, etc. Now I hunt on my own when the rare occasion presents itself.
Neighbor also likes to claim that he taught me to fish, but that is another fish tale. I out fish him every time we go out. It is only when I am not there that he catches the big ones. He did however teach me to use the auger to drill a hole in the ice.
Btw, I really liked this article. The daughter Iris is a good kid. I love the fact that as a kid, she will reach inside a dead deer to gut it but the SPIDERS, egad!
posted by AugustWest at 7:00 AM on February 13, 2016 [7 favorites]
Neighbor also likes to claim that he taught me to fish, but that is another fish tale. I out fish him every time we go out. It is only when I am not there that he catches the big ones. He did however teach me to use the auger to drill a hole in the ice.
Btw, I really liked this article. The daughter Iris is a good kid. I love the fact that as a kid, she will reach inside a dead deer to gut it but the SPIDERS, egad!
posted by AugustWest at 7:00 AM on February 13, 2016 [7 favorites]
The Pennsylvania Game Commission is almost a government unto itself, an independent entity with its own laws and police force (Wildlife Conservation Officers) huge amounts of its own land and cooperative agreements with private landowners, wildlife biologists, ecologists, roads and bridges, and responsibility not just for game animals but all wildlife. Except aquatic wildlife, which is handled by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission - a similar entity with only a little land but jurisdiction over any waters big enough to hold a fish.
posted by tommyD at 7:10 AM on February 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by tommyD at 7:10 AM on February 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
and I'm like how the hell do you shoot deer without a daddy?
If you are in Washington State, this group of women will teach you.
posted by 445supermag at 7:42 AM on February 13, 2016 [5 favorites]
If you are in Washington State, this group of women will teach you.
posted by 445supermag at 7:42 AM on February 13, 2016 [5 favorites]
Our schools had a fall break much like some have a spring one just for hunting season so it was in the culture; but though my dad taught me, his daughter, to hunt, it was never a "good time". My family has a rich tradition of sons learning to hunt from their fathers who had been to war, stopped hunting, then hunted only to teach their sons. So I learned from my dad, who loved to hunt, went to Vietnam as a Marine, and never hunted again until my brother and I came of age. When he did it again, he hated every second of it; I think I learned more from my uncles and grandfather than I did him. He was adamant, though, I should learn even though I was a girl. So although I had lots of bonding experiences being outside with my dad which I treasure just as Iris will, none of them were hunting.
My poor brother loves animals and hated hunting too, so it was of tremendous relief to him when we could go by ourselves, just the two of us - safe with his sister, the one person who (he felt) would not judge his masculinity about his dislike of hunting. He would take a lot of photos and I would just wander around because I wasn't fond of it either.
Later, until my late 20s, I also earned thousands of dollars under the table guiding out of state hunters a few times and even more cooking for large hunting camps. I still don't like it, but the years I was struggling to work and go to school at the same time, I genuinely did depend on the deer I got every fall for meat. I was so poor that I'd clean the shop to pay for getting my deer butchered. I haven't hunted since and would be so happy if I never have to hunt again. It's an association with necessity, not fun.
posted by barchan at 7:44 AM on February 13, 2016 [12 favorites]
My poor brother loves animals and hated hunting too, so it was of tremendous relief to him when we could go by ourselves, just the two of us - safe with his sister, the one person who (he felt) would not judge his masculinity about his dislike of hunting. He would take a lot of photos and I would just wander around because I wasn't fond of it either.
Later, until my late 20s, I also earned thousands of dollars under the table guiding out of state hunters a few times and even more cooking for large hunting camps. I still don't like it, but the years I was struggling to work and go to school at the same time, I genuinely did depend on the deer I got every fall for meat. I was so poor that I'd clean the shop to pay for getting my deer butchered. I haven't hunted since and would be so happy if I never have to hunt again. It's an association with necessity, not fun.
posted by barchan at 7:44 AM on February 13, 2016 [12 favorites]
Beautiful article.
My parents grew up in a big city- they were the epitome of city kids- but we moved to a teensy tiny village up in Northern Canada when I was about 4. There were two or three streets that looked like any suburban town, but they were surrounded on all sides with fields and sparse woods. We had one grocery store, and it wasn't particularly good.
They had a big shock when the nice neighbors across the street started stringing up deer in their driveway, and they learned all the nice casseroles people had brought the new neighbors had bear, venison and rabbit in them. There have never, ever been a nicer group of people- they took my parents under their wing. As one of a small herd of children who basically ran wild, I had the chance to learn outdoors skills from nearly every adult, and years later, I'm sad that we moved away after only a few years. They'd take me out hunting, camping, ice fishing, and I learned to skin rabbits, track deer and sit really, really quietly for a long time. We moved when I was about 10, and I really regret not appreciating it more at the time.
posted by Torosaurus at 7:53 AM on February 13, 2016 [4 favorites]
My parents grew up in a big city- they were the epitome of city kids- but we moved to a teensy tiny village up in Northern Canada when I was about 4. There were two or three streets that looked like any suburban town, but they were surrounded on all sides with fields and sparse woods. We had one grocery store, and it wasn't particularly good.
They had a big shock when the nice neighbors across the street started stringing up deer in their driveway, and they learned all the nice casseroles people had brought the new neighbors had bear, venison and rabbit in them. There have never, ever been a nicer group of people- they took my parents under their wing. As one of a small herd of children who basically ran wild, I had the chance to learn outdoors skills from nearly every adult, and years later, I'm sad that we moved away after only a few years. They'd take me out hunting, camping, ice fishing, and I learned to skin rabbits, track deer and sit really, really quietly for a long time. We moved when I was about 10, and I really regret not appreciating it more at the time.
posted by Torosaurus at 7:53 AM on February 13, 2016 [4 favorites]
and I'm like how the hell do you shoot deer without a daddy?
My brother has intimated several times he's going to want me to teach my nephew. Which I don't want to do except for the small part of me that thinks maybe it'd be pretty cool for my nephew to say his aunt taught him how to hunt. Reading this article and some of the comments here nudges that up a notch.
MonkeyToes, I read most of your comment to my mom and she loved it and it made her sniffle! Thank you for that.
posted by barchan at 9:10 AM on February 13, 2016 [4 favorites]
My brother has intimated several times he's going to want me to teach my nephew. Which I don't want to do except for the small part of me that thinks maybe it'd be pretty cool for my nephew to say his aunt taught him how to hunt. Reading this article and some of the comments here nudges that up a notch.
MonkeyToes, I read most of your comment to my mom and she loved it and it made her sniffle! Thank you for that.
posted by barchan at 9:10 AM on February 13, 2016 [4 favorites]
barchan, if you read MoonOrb's fantastic comment to her, you'll probably get full waterworks.
posted by MonkeyToes at 9:29 AM on February 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by MonkeyToes at 9:29 AM on February 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
Twice now I've moved to Wisconsin and learned to appreciate hunting and its culture. Although I know little about the sport, I've learned things, like what to do during deer season when you see a bunch of guys peering into the bed of a pickup truck: go admire the large buck within.
That's how I met a 30-ish guy who was distraught because his buck was weirdly asymmetrical: one a beautiful many-pointed antler and one its tiny perfect replica, smaller than my hand. His friends were mocking the deer, which they named "Nemo," and the guy looked so dejected I couldn't help myself and butted in. He was upset that he had "wasted" his tag on what appeared to be a huge buck that turned out to be "unworthy" of being mounted. So I worked him, talking about how interesting this deer was and how the many other deer he had shot since becoming a hunter at age 14 or whatever and would shoot over the next 40 years or so would blend together, but this one--yes, still technically a 12-pointer-- would always stand out in his memory. Plus he may have helped the herd by removing this animal from the breeding stock. I told him about my friend the nationally famous deer hunter, who as a private hunter now seeks out and mounts only deer with birth defects (especially antlers), and would be very interested, promising to hook them up (which I did). He brightened and I left. Flash forward four or five years and I ran into the guy in the lumberyard. It turned out that he had the deer mounted after all and it was always a conversation piece. He told me I'd convinced him and thanked me. It felt good.
The nationally famous deer hunter friend has offered to teach me. I may do it; I love venison and there's far too many deer where I live. Years ago, a single mother I worked with told me her hunting/fishing was an important food source for her family, but that the DNR always grilled her about the specifics of her deer kills, suspecting that her tag had been used by a boyfriend. It ticked her off. Meanwhile our legislature recently voted to approve the use of hot pink safety gear because that's what Scott Walker and his friends think it takes to get women to hunt. That ticks me off.
posted by carmicha at 10:40 AM on February 13, 2016 [7 favorites]
That's how I met a 30-ish guy who was distraught because his buck was weirdly asymmetrical: one a beautiful many-pointed antler and one its tiny perfect replica, smaller than my hand. His friends were mocking the deer, which they named "Nemo," and the guy looked so dejected I couldn't help myself and butted in. He was upset that he had "wasted" his tag on what appeared to be a huge buck that turned out to be "unworthy" of being mounted. So I worked him, talking about how interesting this deer was and how the many other deer he had shot since becoming a hunter at age 14 or whatever and would shoot over the next 40 years or so would blend together, but this one--yes, still technically a 12-pointer-- would always stand out in his memory. Plus he may have helped the herd by removing this animal from the breeding stock. I told him about my friend the nationally famous deer hunter, who as a private hunter now seeks out and mounts only deer with birth defects (especially antlers), and would be very interested, promising to hook them up (which I did). He brightened and I left. Flash forward four or five years and I ran into the guy in the lumberyard. It turned out that he had the deer mounted after all and it was always a conversation piece. He told me I'd convinced him and thanked me. It felt good.
The nationally famous deer hunter friend has offered to teach me. I may do it; I love venison and there's far too many deer where I live. Years ago, a single mother I worked with told me her hunting/fishing was an important food source for her family, but that the DNR always grilled her about the specifics of her deer kills, suspecting that her tag had been used by a boyfriend. It ticked her off. Meanwhile our legislature recently voted to approve the use of hot pink safety gear because that's what Scott Walker and his friends think it takes to get women to hunt. That ticks me off.
posted by carmicha at 10:40 AM on February 13, 2016 [7 favorites]
My first hunt was with my grandmother. We sat in a clearing, backs against a tree. She planted a stick with her left hand, and rested the muzzle of her rifle on her fist, a perfectly good monopod. Her rifle was a pump .22 with an octagon barrel, and open sights. She kept a round in the chamber, but the hammer on half-cock until she was ready to shoot. When I was with her she shot only squirrels. At a distance of about a hundred or so feet she shot them in the head every time. My job was to retrieve the dead squirrel and then field dress it. When we had five or six squirrels she hung them on a hook suspended from her belt, and we took them back to her house. Sometimes she cooked them in a pan with some sort of batter, and sometimes she made a stew she called slumgullion. I was around five or six years old at this time, and I saw her only a few times, when we went back to Oklahoma to visit.
When I was 14 I began to hunt with my brother, usually in the coastal range in California, near the Hunter Liggett military reservation. He was exactly 20 years older than me. In the foothills, we usually hunted pigs and deer. Other times we'd wander around the hills near Kettleman City looking for something other than coyotes or cats. For some reason he wouldn't shoot at bobcats. I learned to use a shotgun for quail, a .22 for small mammals, and either the 30/06 or the 30/40 Krag for deer, pigs and, rarely, bear. Like Iris, I was a veteran of many hunting camps before I took my first shot. But unlike her, nobody in my family ever hunted for trophies. When my brother and I went out to hunt we were determined to bring back a dead mammal, even if it turned out to be rabbit.
My next to last hunt for game meat was with my brother, the summer after my senior year. We hunted pigs, and got two. My last hunt was about ten years later, after I got out of the Army. We took two more pigs at Hunter Liggett. That also was the last time I ever went hunting. The last time I ever killed something was in 1996 or so, at our place in the foothills near Sequoia National Park. A huge boar had come on to our property and decided to make it his home. I let him be for a few weeks, until he started chasing my horses and mules around. When I killed him I gave him to a neighbor. He was a subsistence hunter, and was happy to come over and help me field dress the pig. He dressed out at more than 300 pounds.
posted by mule98J at 12:49 PM on February 13, 2016 [5 favorites]
When I was 14 I began to hunt with my brother, usually in the coastal range in California, near the Hunter Liggett military reservation. He was exactly 20 years older than me. In the foothills, we usually hunted pigs and deer. Other times we'd wander around the hills near Kettleman City looking for something other than coyotes or cats. For some reason he wouldn't shoot at bobcats. I learned to use a shotgun for quail, a .22 for small mammals, and either the 30/06 or the 30/40 Krag for deer, pigs and, rarely, bear. Like Iris, I was a veteran of many hunting camps before I took my first shot. But unlike her, nobody in my family ever hunted for trophies. When my brother and I went out to hunt we were determined to bring back a dead mammal, even if it turned out to be rabbit.
My next to last hunt for game meat was with my brother, the summer after my senior year. We hunted pigs, and got two. My last hunt was about ten years later, after I got out of the Army. We took two more pigs at Hunter Liggett. That also was the last time I ever went hunting. The last time I ever killed something was in 1996 or so, at our place in the foothills near Sequoia National Park. A huge boar had come on to our property and decided to make it his home. I let him be for a few weeks, until he started chasing my horses and mules around. When I killed him I gave him to a neighbor. He was a subsistence hunter, and was happy to come over and help me field dress the pig. He dressed out at more than 300 pounds.
posted by mule98J at 12:49 PM on February 13, 2016 [5 favorites]
This article takes me back to my very independent youth. These days, my mom would be charged for child neglect or endangerment but I appreciate her giving me the freedom I needed to grow up a resilient person.
I must say that the way the article is structured with the long scrolling frame pictures in between text was very nice and carried me into the wild after each couple paragraphs.
Great post.
posted by Muncle at 2:06 PM on February 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
I must say that the way the article is structured with the long scrolling frame pictures in between text was very nice and carried me into the wild after each couple paragraphs.
Great post.
posted by Muncle at 2:06 PM on February 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
One of my earliest memories is my father and his friend butchering a whitetail in our houses 6x8 kitchen. It was a mess and it set a tone for the rest of my life.
posted by Ferreous at 5:51 PM on February 13, 2016
posted by Ferreous at 5:51 PM on February 13, 2016
>Well I can't speak for the deer, but personally I think I'd prefer getting shot by a rifle. Getting shot with a bow is basically like getting gored with a giant x-acto knife, then bleeding everywhere while guys in orange vests chase you down.
Actually, it all depends on shot placement. Either weapon is capable, in the wrong hands, of a bad shot resulting in more suffering for the animal. I wasn't commenting on the ethical aspect, but rather the sporting/skill aspect of it. Rifle hunting isn't really much of a sport in my opinion because it is so easy to kill from long range. Whereas with a bow a much higher skill level is required because you have to get so much closer to the animal to take a shot. The following article gives a good breakdown of the differences between bow hunting and rifle hunting deer.
Gun vs Bow Hunting for New Hunters
posted by AElfwine Evenstar at 11:28 AM on February 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
Actually, it all depends on shot placement. Either weapon is capable, in the wrong hands, of a bad shot resulting in more suffering for the animal. I wasn't commenting on the ethical aspect, but rather the sporting/skill aspect of it. Rifle hunting isn't really much of a sport in my opinion because it is so easy to kill from long range. Whereas with a bow a much higher skill level is required because you have to get so much closer to the animal to take a shot. The following article gives a good breakdown of the differences between bow hunting and rifle hunting deer.
Gun vs Bow Hunting for New Hunters
posted by AElfwine Evenstar at 11:28 AM on February 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
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