Over the last couple months I have enjoyed looking out the south windows of my house to watch a Doe and her twins come out a couple times a day to feast on fallen apples. The twins are three quarters the mothers size but still have visible spots on them. It could be a coincidence, but after the youth hunt one of the twins was no longer present. Then after the early doe hunt the mother is absent also. As I let my dog out the other morning I sadly saw the remaining twin standing near the apple tree where its mother would bring them. What use to be enjoyable entertainment for my family was now just sad. As the young deer watched and listened to me instruct my dog to go outside, it just stood there puzzled, waiting for direction from its absent mother. I wonder if it will survive alone, will it become prey to the many coyote with no mature deer to stomp its feet and warn it to run?

I wish more hunters would take that extra second to see if a doe has a fawn with her, and as for the missing fawn, I don’t even want to express my opinion on that. As a hunter myself I understand the desire to get a deer. At the first sound of snapping branches and crunching leaves, your heart starts pounding and the excitement grows. As with any thing we do in life we have to have self control, and when a bow or gun is involved this can’t be emphasized enough. Come on now; let’s have some common sense out there. First make sure you know what you’re shooting, next make sure you have a good shot. My mom always said, “If you take the shot, you don’t come in until you find it”. She also says, “If you shoot it, you eat it” but that’s another story.When you’re fishing and the fish you caught is not of legal size, you can throw it back, you can’t do that when deer hunting and shoot a young deer born this year.   

Over the years I have seen many pathetic results of non empathetic hunters, deer with arrows shot in their butts, deer wounded by .22 caliber guns during bow season, deer limping though our yard because they were shot in the leg. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage all hunters to make sure their guns are sighted in and their weapons are shooting accurately.