Who Will Pull Santa's Sleigh This Year

 Who Will Pull Santa’s Sleigh?
It’s that time of the year again when hunters are all decked out in flourescent orange hunting coats and hats. They converge on the woods and fields in search of venison. I joined that throng of men, women, and youth who were trying to bag their prizes.
It was very cold this year. My Brother Ken took pity on me and allowed me to hunt from a hunting stand he built for my Dad Carl Beck. It is on the backside of Ken’s property. I don’t know whether to thank him or does he think I am too old to be traippsing around in the woods. I can say I was thankful because it was so cold and I’m a couch potato when it’s cold outside. He was also kind enough to put a small propane heater inside to mitigate the icy air outside. Sitting for two and a half hours and I saw onlly a gray squirrel and a few birds, I called it quits for the day;  if I sit much longer or I get cramps in my legs.
I don’t hunt on Sunday. I go to church and Sunday school in the morning and evening services later in the day. That is enough sitting for me. I don’t want to miss out and do without my afternoon nap. That just wouldn’t do.
Monday morning I was at home and heard several shots from the woods behind my house, A few minutes later I saw three does scurry across the road and into the field in front of my house. I don’t hunt there. That land is posted, but it spurred me to get dressed and drive to my Brother Ken’s house. I wasn’t sure that I would see anything there, but I knew I wouldn’t get a shot at anything inside of my house. So I drove to Ken’s place and hurried back to Dad’s hunting stand. It was later in the day and the temperature was about twenty-eight degrees Farenheit with just a whisper of a breeze. I didn’t light the propane heater. The hissing of the flame covered the sounds that any approaching deer might make. The stand was warm enough. It was protection from the cold and the breeze.
I got settled in the seat and had my rifle at the ready should any target come within range. I opened a bottle of water and began my vigil. The approach of the doe was silent. I saw a movement as she nibbled the tops of bushes and made her way towards me. The shot was loud in the confines of the stand, but who will pull Santa’s sleigh this year?