Hunting in Heels

STORY TIME!!!!

So lately I've been messing around with the name for my blog and I was walking down memory lane and I remembered a pretty funny moment.


Last Season, which was around Oct/Nov I had planned on taking a week off of my mundania life to go hunting out at my Uncle's property. And then I got a text message from a very close friend of mine verifying that I was going to her college graduation on the evening of the Friday that I was planning on leaving! Uhhh...oops! I had totally spaced it!! I'm sure no one has ever experienced THAT feeling...anyways! So I ended up getting dressed up and went to her graduation at 7PM. The Ceremony was over by 9 roughly. And I still have an approximately 4 hour drive ahead of me. And I should be up ready to go hunting between somewhere in the range of 5-8AM. Oh yes! I am simply THRILLED at this! So I get to my Uncle's place around 1AM and everyone is still up. And I walk in, decked to the nines, skirt(which is extremely rare for me), make-up, and heels. And as I bring in all of my stuff in from my car, I kid you not, my Aunt asks me, "Are you going hunting in those heels?" I bust out laughing and so does my Uncle! But he was more on top of it than I was and quickly responded, "You bet! She's easy to track that way!" to which I reply, "Yeah! You just gotta look for the sink holes!" So ergo, Hunting"N"Heels!


And for those potentially lingering questions, No I did not actually go hunting in my heels and yes I did have my hiking boots to go hunting in.

Gardening

So about a month ago...I got most of the garden weeded and planted! Yay!! This year we're actually trying to have a successful garden. Unlike last year, which was successful in the fact that we only had lettuce and tomatoes grow, but hey! nothing died at least right? So this year in our produce garden we have Carrots, Corn, Beets, Beans, Peas, Chard, Butter Lettuce, mixed Lettuce, Cucumbers, Kolhrabi, and Onions. And in our herb garden we have Mint, Rosemary, Parsley, Oregano, Queen of Sheba and Thai Basils, Cilantro, Chives, and Lemon balm. Also, against my will, I am growing Fennel. I try and try but I can't get it out. I've dug out roots the size of my arm and the stupid stuff keeps coming back. So if anyone has any fool proof way of getting rid of Fennel and Morning glory, without using some modern form of Napalm, I would really appreciate it!

I'm good.

So, I recently was hired to work for a company at my local airport. Yes, GO ME! And we have been training for a little while, but 10 hours at a time. Which for me is a huge change. But it's what I gotta do. Anyway, back to the story. So we got to the part about how to deal with firearms in the airport via checking in and all of that stuff. And I'm the kind of woman that is all for following the rules, when they make logical or common sense, but when I get into a conversation with another person who is COMPLETELY against guns and whom also has to make their point about it through an idiotic, illogical, rant. I have to suppress myself from becoming the type of person that either proves their point or drives them to that side of the spectrum. Which was happening. In training, which is work, where I'm required to maintain some sort of professionalism. Woo hoo!


No one who owns or respects guns(in my life these are the same thing. You don't respect the gun, you ain't gettin one!) is going to try and bring them on a plane. For reasons like, if they did they could lose their gun owning privileges. And many of these said collective they; hunt so they would be out of a way to provide to their families. And if they end up doing it, they're going to follow the rules.


Now let's talk about international hunting.

I think it would be the coolest thing to fly out of the country, immerse myself in a new culture and hunt something COMPLETELY new. I am not aware of very many countries that will let you bring a gun, even unloaded, into the country even if you're going on a hunt. However, I would put a solid 90% amount in my confidence that if you're hunting at a place that provides guides to take you hunting, they are most likely prepared to lend you a gun for your say. It just makes business and common sense. But I have never done that kind of hunt, but it's definitely something that I would love to do if given the chance.


Back to the workplace conversation.

So this gal was talking about all of the crazy people who have guns and believe in the doomsday stuff and just kept going on and ON about it. So first. Doomsday people are, IN MY OPINION, crazy. Not legally or anything, mind you. Just people taking an EXTREME situation to the WILDLY EXTREME. I was watching a show, Doomsday Preppers I believe, and this guy was teaching is community about radioactivity prevention. NEWSFLASH!!! If there is radiation in the AIR there is NO WAY YOU CAN PREVENT YOURSELF FROM BEING AFFECTED. Once in it's in the air, it will be in everything you touch or eat.


My belief on the doomsday.

It's a realistic threat. Is it coming tomorrow or next month? Probably not. I think that being prepared for something like a doomsday isn't necessarily a bad idea. But treating it like that is. If you teach your kids how to garden, hunt, camp, and various LIFE skills, then they will be prepared and they are less likely to get into the mess that you can easily see happening with the doomsday preppers. It's just like "If you catch a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach him how to fish, he eats his whole life." People who feel the need to have enough guns to supply a decent sized milita...not my thing.


Here's my thing:

I've got a .243, and a 12 gauge shot gun.
I need/want, a bigger rifle for bigger game(like Elk or Moose), and a handgun.

Other than that?
I'm good.

Where I fit in

I didn't start shooting my own kills until I was about 18, for various reasons, and then I got my first deer when I was 19. You could say I was a late bloomer in my family! I really loved how my Grandparents, Mom, and Uncle made sure to use every part of the animal as possible. SO! My first deer was done just like normal, only I gave the heart to my Grandpa, on my father's side and the large bones (legs) went to my boss's wife for jewelry. And then my second deer was the exact thing only my Grandpa got the liver as well as the heart.


I am new to killing my own deer, so I don't know every trick of the trade by any means!! I'm really just starting out and bumpin around, figuring out my style. I currently use my late Grandmother's Remington .243 model 70. I thought this was a common gun my whole life. I found out a couple of months ago that apparently it's pretty rare. Who knew?!

I had a bunch of friends that wanted me to teach them how to do what I do, which I'm totally blown away by!! I didn't realize that hunting/shooting/canning, all the stuff that I grew up doing, was COMPLETELY uncommon. And then I came across a book called, Hunter Girl and it was about a Chef who decided to learn how to bird hunt. So I figured, well hell! If she can write a book about bird hunting with some recipes thrown in, why can't I do the same? So here I am, blogging about all of my blunders, hunts, conversations about hunting, recipes, related belief systems(ie. gun control), and all of that good stuff!

If you KILL it, you EAT it.

I grew up hunting with my family, mostly my Grandparents, starting from at least the age of 7. When it came to hunting my family had the motto, "If you can't kill it and then eat it, you probably shouldn't shoot it." Well that was more of a rule. Our family did it all. We skinned or plucked our animals, like most people. We butchered, cut, and wrapped the meat, not so common. If the hides weren't completely flea/tick infested nor had too many holes, we took them to a local tannery and had them turned into leather. And some bones were kept for soup stock. I think the only parts that weren't used, were the guts. And even then we used them for coyote traps!

I lived about 4 hours away from my Grandparents, so I didn't really get to do a whole lot of killing myself. But, my Mom's best friend's sons, whom I consider to be my brothers since we grew up together, (Did you manage to follow that?) started hunting when they were around 14 and we had grown up with the motto/rule, "If you KILL it, you EAT it." Unless open season was declared. So when they started hunting, I made the coffee and dug in and helped with the cleaning and butchering. It was completely natural.