hormone free family...

This post is about eating. Some people frown upon shooting deer and elk, and turkey, etc. about a year ago, I began reading about hormones in meat, and we switched to eating mostly hormone free meat, eggs, and milk. Most of the meat we eat is deer and chicken. I buy bison when I can. My dad owns deer ranches, and we can get pig, turkey and deer off of his ranch. This is the most pure forms of meat, and completely hormone free. It is lean meat and extremely healthy for you, so this is what we choose to feed ourselves and our kids.

I have always been a person who has said that if I were ever in a situation where I needed to provide for my family I could. I can grow my own food, kill my own food, live with no electricity, or running water. If I ever had to be, I know I could be self sufficient. I am not saying that I WANT to be self sufficient, but I could if I had to. I decided that I needed to put my money where my mouth was. I am in my 29th year of life, and there are some things I have always wanted to do before I turned 30. One of those goals, was to kill a deer so that we could have meat without having to buy it from the store. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. I grew up with a dad who hunted, and raised us to understand the importance of hunting. Even though hunting has been a big part of my life, I have never done it. I shot a mocking bird from the window of a moving car once, but I did not mean to, so that does not count. Plus, I was really sad after I did it. Mike has hunted before, but he has never shot anything. He would not shoot anything we would not eat, and I feel the same way.

During thanksgiving, I decided that I needed to shoot a deer. We were running low on our meat supply at home, so we needed more. Mike also wanted to hunt to try to get a turkey for thanksgiving. My dad said he would sit in a blind with me and Mike would sit in one by himself. We dropped Mike off at his stand, and my dad and I went to another area and sat in a stand. We waited and waited, and then heard a shot. Mike had shot something. Then 5 seconds later we heard another shot. Mike had shot his gun again. right after we heard the shots Mike texted my dad and told him he shot a turkey. I was happy for him because he felt a since of pride in that he shot a turkey on thanksgiving to feed his family.

As my dad and I sat in the stand together, I had many feelings running through me. I thought about my paw paw and how proud he would be of me if I shot a deer. I wished he was there. It was an incredibly special moment for my dad and I. We talked and he told me how to hold the gun and how to pull the trigger if I saw a deer, and where to shoot the deer. A few minutes after mike shot the turkey, a deer walked in front of our stand. I aimed the gun and squeezed the trigger. I had shot my first deer. That moment after I shot the deer was surreal. I was not excited that I took the life of an animal, but I was happy that I could provide some food for my family. I was excited that my dad had been there with me. I can admit that when I see hunters who kill for the fun of it, I get really sad, but when I killed this deer knowing that it would be food for us, I was not sad. We ate turkey for weeks, and we will be eating deer for the next year.

One more thing... When a hunter kills his/her first animal, it is customary to have the blood of the animal smeared on their face. My dad did it to my brother, and my grandpa did it to my dad. I told my dad that I would shoot a deer, but he was not allowed to smear blood on my face! He did not listen to me! He did not smear it as bad as he did for my brother, but he still did it. Here are the pictures...