Due to the office move, and other such mini-crises, I never made it out to deer-hunt this year. I'm not that into 'deer hunting', but when in my 40's, since I like firearms, I figured I should do the right thing, and show my son (44MagHunter) how to hunt, since I'd shown all my kids how to shoot as first-graders. Mission accomplished, and 44MagHunter is now a far better deer hunter than I ever was, and has used about any weapon other than an atlatl. So I don't really have to hunt much, though I must admit when I can actually get the time, I do like it, and there is of course no more honorable way to earn one's meat ration.
Anyway, today was the last day of 'gun season' for deer in Indiana, and sunset was at 5:21 pm; we are allowed to hunt until 30 minutes after sunset. I made it to my deer stand about 5:05, but ordinarily I never hunt on Sunday evenings, or any other evening when I work the next day, because I don't want to be up late processing the deer, or worse yet, have to deal with a wounded deer to find in the gathering dusk.
However, this year, I just had to go out there, and spend some time remembering Bob, who patiently showed me how to butcher my first deer. I sat in the stand and watched it get dark, and listened to the birds and animals scuttling into places of shelter for the night; even heard a couple deer heading to the nearby thicket, but I wasn't there to hunt this evening. Bob, you will live on forever, in all whose lives you affected so positively, including mine and my son's.
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P.S.
guys and gals - EVERY four weeks you should be doing a self skin exam, checking for any new or darker spot on your skin (anywhere - melanoma is not just where sun hits you). Women should just do it when they do their self-breast-exams, and since it is hard to examine one's own back, just take that time to check each other's backs. That is what killed my friend Bob. This if from the textbook,
Clinical Dermatology by Thomas P. Habif, and shows how obviously the sites of melanomas in this series of patients corresponds to something
other than "sun exposure" (mid-back vs. upper-back, male/bald scalp vs. female scalp, female breast vs. necklace area, vulva vs. thigh/abdomen):
