Oh Deer...

Last Friday Boyd got his buck. While grateful for the meat (we're putting most of it into jerky), I'm afraid we didn't prepare James very well for this experience. He and Andrew had their annual checkups that week and both received immunization shots. When Boyd told him he shot a deer, he said, "You gave him a poke? Was it owie?". When Boyd showed him the deer head through the window he thought it looked more like a goat. ( How many real deer has he ever seen?...None.) So while I was talking about how we get meat from animals and what a blessing it was to have meat for our family from this nice deer, all he could think about was, "Yeah, but what about the goat?" After I finally convinced him it really was a deer, he wanted to know what sound it made. (I was somewhat at a loss). Then he wanted to go outside to hear and pet it (thanks to the petting zoo at the pumpkin patch). I reminded him it was not alive and thus could not make any more sounds, but he could touch the hide if he really wanted to. He decided that was a little too weird for him and he'd rather keep his distance. I couldn't keep him away from the window, however. He pulled himself up a seat and watched every move his father made while butchering that goat/deer. He spent the rest of the day letting his imagination run wild about animals running through the forest. I hope we haven't scarred him for life.

The mighty hunter and his prey.