by Laura Thomas Boles

 I’m not a Hunter, in fact never have been, I don’t even carry a gun!  Not that I’m opposed to them, just not something I’m in the habit of doing. But here I am being called a deer slayer! So funny to think of myself as that, for I’m a softie. I got my first buck without even trying, in fact he got me.

Yet the story I should tell is that I killed him with my bare hands. Or as my friend pointed out “There’s no bullet hole, good job!”  So much better than saying, he hit my truck and took out a side panel, costing me a thousand bucks! 

 I killed a deer, an experience I’ve never been a part of before. The task of processing the deer seemed, well, a major task. I think some of it was the fact of the emotions I was dealing with.  Sad that I killed the poor thing.  Mad because he caused damage to my truck.

 I’m a greenhorn completely, like I said never hunted, never been around it. I didn’t grow up with hunting and married a vegetarian, so like I said a complete greenhorn. So why take on the task of processing a deer? Well the way I see it, he cost me a lot of money and I was going to enjoy every bite! Kind of a revenge thing, but at the same time it seemed a shame to waste the meat.

 So call in friends.  Thank God for people who can and will help, who tolerate my greenhorn-ness.  Teach me how to grow in knowledge, as well as dealing with processing a deer.

The best part, and most memorable, was my daughter and two grandkids a part of this experience, working together to put the meat into the freezer as a team. There for a while my twelve-year-old granddaughter was making the typical pre-teen faces and saying “This is gross. I think I’ll become a vegetarian.” In the end, however, she even started to be a part in the whole experience.

Growth, overcoming the unknown. Allowing an experience to sink in and become a memory that will be a part in growing to be a whole person. Crazy the things I’m learning, so maybe I’m not such a greenhorn after all.