a happier deer story

For the first time in almost 200 entries I received a negative response from a reader regarding the shooting story (sorry mom)............so, ya'll must know out there I'm a big nature loving kind of guy and hopefully it didn't offend anyone's sensitivity on that front. It was sorta a "shout out" to some of my hunter friends. Me? Never fired a gun in my life-unless you count a bb gun.

So, to prove I'm more of a warm hearted guy.......I share this story with you from last Thanksgiving.

We were at my folks house out in the country, situated in a big woods. While we finished dinner, snow began to fall perfectly across the landscape. We looked toward the back of the woods and a group of about 20 wild turkeys emerged from the deep woods beyond. Soon a young buck walked up from the path too, in the middle of the turkeys and began to jump around, kicking his back legs up playing with turkeys.....head down and rack swinging like he was fighting a rival buck, but clearly in jest.

It was one of the most stunning displays of the animal kingdom I have seen and will cherish it forever.

Even more remarkable is that when my dad was a kid........it was rare to see a white tailed deer, being almost extinct in Indiana by 1945......and when I was a kid, even more rare to see a wild turkey. And here stood my son, drinking in a sight that probably hadn't been seen in the Hoosier state in nearly a hundred years.