Deer Day

As a child growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, I was quite sheltered from the concept of "Deer Day." To my county kids, this means a day off of school (while they love school, a day off is a nice treat too). Deer Day is what they call the first day of Open Season on Deer, this day is the opening of riffle season (as opposed to bow season which was several weeks ago, and never gets the same publicity). The kids' school district actually gives them this day off school. I have heard there was a year they tried to have school and it didn't go over well. In a community like this, you have generations of people who grew up spending deer day as a family. It's more than just a hunting trip, it's a yearly event.

My concerns on Deer Day center around the fact I have alpacas in the my back yard, some of whom are brown/tan/fawn color and *could* look like deer from a distance. Add on that our land butts up against many acres of state land, and you can see how I would be concerned about a confused hunter (hunters are allowed to hunt in state land). Each year I feel less concerned, being we have never had an issue. But I will say Spot was barking an awful lot this morning, and I did hear several gun shots before I got out of bed. I did a quick head count of our alpacas and everyone is accounted for.

My former self, that suburbanite, would have thought deer hunting was rather barbaric. Now having lived in the country for several years, I have a different take on it. The fact is there are deer. Eventually these deer will die. I would rather it was fast, by a hunter who will eat the meat and mount the head, then have these animals die by starvation or by hitting my car. So on that note I will wish all the hunters "happy hunting" and hope they find the perfect buck.