Hunting and Seeing New Beauty

Each day that I do my daily walk I’m drawn to the beauty I see around me. I try to capture some of the things I view as I walk to share. This past Saturday, I didn’t walk as much as I normally do, even though I was out on the first day of deer season. Much of the time I rode from one hunting spot to another in my brother Ken’s four wheel drive vehicle. We covered more deal distance than I’d care to walk. The first place we stopped was at a nearby farm where my brother has permission from the farmer to hunt. While we were there we saw a herd of does charge across a hilltop. There were probably ten of them, but none with antlers. I was slow on the draw and didn’t get the safety flicked off on my rifle in time and although they came very close, I didn’t get a shot.

I did catch a few photos of the sunrise and the distant vistas of the mountain ranges of southwest Pennsylvania as we waited there. The varied blue of the far mountain range made a beautiful backdrop for the closer green and brown hills and valleys.

Next we drove to another place where he has permission to hunt. The land belongs to a close friend and school classmate. They’ve always lived close to each other and yet managed to stay out of trouble on their youthful escapades. The land is the abandoned Boy Scout Camp called Camp Wildwood. Much of it is either grown up grassland or pine woods, although his friend does keep a camping area cleared beside Indian Creek that flows through the property.

There were so many fantastic places of scenery, but I didn’t ask my brother to stop. We were hunting and with Ken, that came first. When we were driving through an area of high grass, Ken spotted two deer. They poked their head above the grass. He pointed them out to me. He loves to hunt more than I do and allowed me to get one of the does. He said later, “If I shoot one now, I won’t be able to hunt later.” Me, I just like to know there is meat in the freezer.

We drove down to Indian Creek to wash our hands after disemboweling the critter. When we stopped, I was able to take a few photos of the trees, water, and what was left from the old dam at Camp Wildwood. Later this week, I hope to butcher the doe. I prefer to do it myself, then either to can or freeze the venison for later.