I'm officially a hunter .....

Down here in Texas, hunting is a way of life for some.  It's how we feed our family for months.  If you aren't for game hunting please do not read this, as I do not want to know your opinion of me for this choice I've made

For years growing up, right after Thanksgiving the men would load up and go hunt for 3 days while the women would pack up and go to San Antonio or Houston for a weekend of shopping and eating.  Then we'd all come back home and start processing the deer the men had shot.  I remember my Grandma and Grandpa covering the entire kitchen counter with deer and their knives for processing it.  At one end would be the grinder for sausage, and ice chests lined up in the walkway of the kitchen.  Those were the great ol days !  I've always wanted to hunt just never thought I'd actually get my chance at it.  I grew up with hunters, had friends that are hunters and married a hunter.  I've sat in the blind and watched, looked for deer everywhere we go on trips in the country.  I guess you can say it was a passion.  Yes deer are beautiful creatures of course, however they are and always have been a source of food.  This past weekend we went up to my aunt and uncles ranch in Medina with the intentions of my hubby shooting a deer for us to bring back and process so we could eat for a good while.  Saturday started out with riding one of their horses.  We all got our turn and it was exhilarating.  I hadn't been on a horse since I was a kid ( I love to ride), so this was a treat for me.  Then my hubby has been wanting me to shoot his guns for so long and here was my chance.  First he let me shoot his 22 rifle, a small one, not a big bang or recoil.  Then it was onto the big gun, 700 Remington.  Yeah I know this name has no meaning to you, it meant nothing to me, it was just a big gun to me.  Well little did I know how big this would be.  A big bang, a huge recoil ( it's huge for someone 5'4" and with no big gun shooting experience).  It hurt, not gonna lie, I said "If I had breast implants the damn thing woulda busted", but the pain wore off, the initial shock eventually did too.  Then my hubby said good you can shoot the deer now.  I thought for a few minutes about it and felt a lil bad because that would be taking his shot and he hasn't killed a deer in a few years.  I didn't want to be selfish and take that from him.  But then he kept telling me how he knew I could do it and just kept giving me the confidence I needed to do it.  We didn't see much of anything but white tail deer that night, we wanted an AXIS.  They are so pretty !  So the decision was made I would do it (my hubby basically said I would be shooting, not him) and he would clean it up !  6:30am came and we got up (in the 30 degree weather) and got dressed (me 2 shirts, a fleece pullover, a wool jacket, jeans and a blanket.  to think I wanted to just stay in my pj's) pulled on our boots and went to the front porch....Haha we don't sit in a blind at my aunt and uncles, we sit on the front , side or back porch to hunt.  It was clearly still dark so we sat and waited for the sun to light up the earth.  Finally it was coming up and there were deer.  about 6 of them in front of us, eating the corn from the feeder.  I found one that was perfect for me and she was closer than the others (108 ft away).  I sat and watched her snack on the protein block provided for her.  Then it was time ! My hubby helped me here, getting the gun in place and I scoped her out.  He kept telling me to take my time and breathe, make sure you shoot her in the right spot, find it and pull the trigger.   I did this and BANG ! It was done....I won't go into detail about the next 3 minutes however it seemed to take forever.  After all of the "I'm proud of you's" he gave me we then got our 4 year old son dressed and went to look for the deer.  My uncle drove the mule and Mav down to it and she was loaded up, pics taken and then it was time to get to cutting up.  We then finally got home and my hubby and I sat down to process the deer I had shot.  We'll be eating pretty well for a while.  The hide will be tanned so that I can remember this day, my first shot ! 

I was proud of myself for being able to do this.  That may sound sadistic but it was food for my family, that's how I had to look at it.  I grew up with hunters so now I was offiacially just that " a hunter"  I know my Grandpa would be proud.  I shot right where I was aiming and the funniest thing was one of my uncles (he likes to critique everything and not always in a positive way, kinda like my grandpa), couldn't find a negative thing to say about it, so he started nitpicking the small things that really didn't matter.  But he finally said Congratulations and I felt so much more excited.  I know to some this is a stupid and disgusting sport but to me it's a way to (yes I'll say it again) feed my family ! 

Life as I know it is ....full of hunting pride & going to be full of awesome venison dinners for a while !