now something civilized

Now that the public election has officially come to an end, it is time to get back to my main Fall activity, clinging to guns and religion. I like that phrase.

Today I was out with my 12 gauge shotgun trying to rustle up some venison for my hungry family members who love venison jerkey. I watched as several deer fed in the recently harvested corn field. They were 150 yards or so away from me on another property. I tried two of my calls in an attempt to persuade them, in deer language, "come on over here, it's great over here." They looked my way but showed no sign of checking things out.

Then I heard some rustling in the leaves as an animal crossed the ravine behind me. It was a coyote, and he was stealthily moving closer to the same deer I was watching. I thought, "If this coyote takes off after those deer he'll chase them into the next county (literally I was hunting very close to the Putnam/Hendricks County line.

What should I do? I decided to shoot the coyote. He was unaware of my presence and I had a good angle on him. Chances are the deer would be undisturbed due to being quite a distance away.

I shot, he kicked a couple of times and then slid down into the ravine. The deer looked up momentarily from their meal of field corn and went back to minding their own business, eventually walking completely away from my line of sight.

About 20 minutes later I saw a buck coming my way from the direction where the deer had disappeared. He was on a line toward me that would lead him very close to the dead coyote. He came closer and closer. He stopped and looked and saw the coyote. I thought for sure he would turn and run but instead he walked right up to the coyote as if to take a sniff. I thought, "that is a dumb deer", and decided at that moment to shoot him.

Predator and prey lay in the back of my pick-up truck. The family will snack on jerkey when they visit for Thanksgiving Day.

check out my new linc... BBH

I am excited to have a new blogger on my sidebar. BBH has written a great story about the sorest loser in history. I am getting to know this blogger beyond the blogging world because she is the newest member of our family and one of my two favorite daughters-in-law. BBH has a wide range of interests and capabilities so I'm expecting an eclectic offering of topics on her blog. She has already found a special place in my heart because she wrote about history in her most recent post. Aside from her blog she is not afraid to ride on the back of my motorcycle (that was last Thanksgiving), she is a great cook, loves to be outside, is interested in people and new experiences. She's a lot of fun to have on a hike or climbing rocks, and is a great traveler (reference to Toronto, Canada where I missed so many turns that I think I had the car in reverse more on that one trip than the whole time I've owned the car. So welcome aboard BBH.