Sarah Nigbor

The 2024 gun deer season has drawn to a close and so sink my husband and sons into a deep depression. Well, not quite, but I know they cherish the nine days together hunting. This year my husband harvested a decent sized buck and our oldest son shot a big doe, both on opening day on the land where I grew up in the town of River Falls. Meat for the freezer!

I used to hunt during the gun season, but I haven’t the last couple of years. I honestly wasn’t too motivated to do so this year, considering a deep freeze settled over the land. Yes, I’d be in a blind with a heater. Yes, I could take refuge in the truck if I needed to (though I always try to hold out the longest). But health and family issues just wouldn’t permit it this year. Next year I’m hoping to break out the old blaze orange and show these kids that I do indeed have good aim.

To me the most fun part of hunting has always been “driving around the block” to see who else is out and about and if they’ve gotten anything. In our neck of the woods, the number of orange soldiers keeps dwindling. I miss the trips to the registration station with the tailgates down, parading the bucks throughout town. How times have changed. Now to catch up with everyone’s success, I need to check social media.

I don’t think anyone particularly likes gutting a deer once it’s harvested, but one story always stands out in my mind. The first year our middle son Dawson went out hunting, his dad brought home a deer and Ethan (the oldest) and Dawson watched him gut it. We were at my husband’s grandparents’ place in Waushara County. Dawson’s face turned greener and greener. I expected him to blow at any minute, but he kept his lunch down. However, he decided to let loose once he was inside on his great-grandmother’s living room carpet. I was so thankful I had to leave early that day to get to work the next morning!

My daughter’s father is quite the hunter and always harvests something. When we were still married and living in Prescott, I remember coming home from work one afternoon to find a deer leg in my sink. While I was gone, the kitchen and garage had turned into a butcher shop. I didn’t mind, but finding the deer leg sticking out of the sink was a bit unnerving – and disgusting.

What was even more disgusting was the fact that he had decided it was a good idea to feed our two Beagles bits of deer fat as he trimmed the meat. Of course, they gobbled it up like candy and of course, it didn’t sit well with them. I’ll spare you the details, but my living room carpet looked like the scene of a horror movie. It was made even worse when he tripped on our stairway while carrying a bowlful of bloody venison trimmings and that splashed out all over the place. The dogs, always helpful, lapped that up too and became sick all over again. What a mess. If an officer had come over at that moment, I would have had some explaining to do. It looked like a murder scene.

On that note, isn’t it nice to have your venison processed at one of the fine butcher shops in Pierce County? No deer legs in the sink. No trimming fat for your dogs to steal. No mess ground into your carpet/garage floor. To me it’s well worth the money. After all, sanity is priceless. Plus, you can get delicious venison sticks of all sorts of flavors. Be sure to pop onto our Journal Facebook page to vote for your favorite meat stick in Pierce County! We will announce the results in next week’s edition. Voting goes through Friday, Dec. 6.