Sometimes I feel like no matter how hard I work at something the work is under appreciated or not appreciated at all. I try to be a positive guy and get excited about what I do but not everyone shares my excitement. I tell my wife (my biggest fan) and she cheers a little then gets back to her work. Know the feeling?
I find my “pats on the back” in nature. Being a hunter carries responsibilities. I get angry and disheartened when I see a carcass on the road, a magnificent animal killed for antlers and backstrap then discarded like trash. My responsibility includes killing for food, not shooting spots, knowing and respecting the law, and providing for the deer that go through my land during the year.
Last year we tried to have a winter garden but the winter was so harsh for the deer they ate our garden to nothing as they foraged for food. My wife was upset. “We need to feed them,” she said. “Let’s buy hay and set it out in the back away from the garden.” I bought a square bale and it was devoured in one day. The next day I bought a round bale and built a lean-to to keep it dry. Luckily it lasted until the grass started coming up again.
This year I planted winter grass along the trails on my land. Long before I moved here and long before my neighbor put a fence up there was a trail that the deer would walk. They would forage then bed down up front in the woods. My neighbor has a horse and put up fence disrupting the trail and limiting the feed area. My answer to that was to provide an alternative place for the deer to feed, especially the fawns that couldn’t jump the fences yet.
Today I was rewarded with a wonderful sight when I went out for my morning walk in the garden. On the trail that leads to the garden five deer were eating the grass I planted a couple of months ago. Does and their fawn were eating the feed I planted and the Lord provided with the bountiful rain we received. I feel so blessed. I guess I did something right!
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