Deer season down through the years

By Rennie Phillips

This past week a good number of guys and gals have been out looking for a deer. Some are wanting a great big buck and some a doe. Some are just looking for a deer and they aren't picky about the size or sex. They just want a deer.

We moved to Missouri back in 1986 and I started hunting deer with both gun and a bow and arrow. I was successful with the gun but struck out with the bow. I was about to give up when a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go with him so we drove up by the Block Hole. He showed me where to hunt and where the property lines were so everything was legal and OK. I hunted one morning up by Marble Hill and never saw a thing so drove down by the Block Hole to hunt that evening. I walked in the woods and got my tree stand up a tree overlooking a nice spot by a field of beans. Since I was on the side of a hill I probably only climbed 8 feet or so off the ground.

I sat and waited and waited and waited. Nothing. Now I don't know if it's OK to pray to get a deer but I went to talking to God. I was discouraged and on the point of quitting archery hunting so I did some talking to God. I finally asked and half told God all I wanted was one dumb deer. That's all, just one dumb deer. I had no more than said it when a bush down below me began to wiggle. I looked a little closer and sure enough it was a little spike deer. So I got ready to shoot but he wouldn't stop and he came closer and closer and closer. When he finally stopped he was right under me looking up at me. He had to have been the dumbest deer in the woods.

Thinking back to my childhood I can't remember Dad getting a deer when I was little. He might have but I don't remember. Where I liked to hunt like I did I'd probably have remembered. But as I got older I started hankering to go deer hunting. Back then young kids normally didn't hunt deer so I was one of the spectators so to speak. Some of the times I went with others were memorable and stand out in my memory, not so much for the deer that might have been harvested but for other reasons.

One year I went with my brother-in-law Duane Summers. Duane got a deer but it was just being with Duane that I remember. It was fun. I'm really not sure why Duane took me along with him. I was pretty little at the time. I remember I had one of those little toy knives you buy at a souvenir shop and it turned out to be the only knife we had. When Duane had to use my toy knife on his deer I felt like I'd saved the day. I'll bet Duane never forgot a knife after that.

As time went by Dad started driving up to his brother's ranch up north of Whitman. Loved going up there. Dad's brother was a really neat guy. He liked to do embroidery so he had all kinds of embroidery pieces he'd done. Neat. Dad liked to crochet. Somewhere back in their childhood they had developed a love to do stuff like this. We'd get there early in the morning and then hunt all day long. There were times when we must have stayed overnight. I'm not sure how we did that where Mom and Dad milked cows morning and night but we did.

Another year Dad let me borrow our neighbor Ted Frye's gun which I used to get a deer. I don't remember much about the deer but do remember Ted letting me borrow his gun. Ted was a darn good neighbor. Later on in life I worked for Ted Frye Construction where we built homes and such. Last house I helped Ted build before we left for ministerial training was an underground house.

Later on after I'd married Marge we'd drive up to her folks' place north of Ashby, Nebraska, and spend some time during deer season. Every year Keith would have someone dig a hole in the ground and start burning wood over the hole. Eventually the hole would have a foot or more of red hot coals in the bottom. Marge's dad would wrap a couple deer hindquarters in an old pillow case and then in a burlap sack. Keith would get the pillow case and the burlap bag wet and then lay it on the coals. He'd then put tin over the hole and then dirt on the tin. After half a day or overnight the deer was cooked about perfect. Deer season was always neat because both my wife's birthday and her sister's husband's birthday was on November 13, which was always during deer season.

I still hunt during deer season. Maybe not as seriously as I used to but I still hunt. Back about 1990 the Missouri Department of Conservation began a muzzle loader season after regular rifle season so I got a muzzle loader kit at Dixie Gun Works and built my first muzzle loader. Still have it but now I use another one I built from scratch. I still use a muzzle loader and a round ball and black powder just like the old timers did in the early 1800s. If I harvest a deer that's OK or if I don't that's all right as well. I'm satisfied ether way. I enjoy the going more than the getting.

Down through the years several things have stood out to me. It is a time of slowing down and laying everything aside and spending a few days in the woods or out in the hills. The other day I had a little squirrel climb up close to me and give me the curious eye. He sat there and stared at me wondering if I was a threat or just an intruder into his woods. After talking to me awhile he went on about his business. Times like that make life more enjoyable.