6 years ago, when I said I do...I don't think I fully considered the consequences of that action. That meant "I do", to everything. EVERYTHING, people. Including deer heads. (Can I place a disclaimer that I did NOT sign up for deer heads when I said "I do"?)
Allow me to share. Jason, although not necessarily encouraged by his Dad, picked up the hobby of hunting from dear friends way back when he was just a young boy. He's grown to love it, and I can honestly see the love in his eyes as he teaches his brother Jacob and now Colton to love to hunt as well. And I can support thathabit hobby, for a while each year. Until the costs of participating begin to add up. Until the number of hours in a tree stand or in the woods outweigh the number of hours at home with our family or until the amount of deer meat in my freezer over runs any available space for things like frozen vegetables, bread & cheese (you know, things you must have to complete your meal of deer meat.........................). I was especially pleased with Jason and his hunting habit hobby this fall when he took my cousin Kevin under his wing, and helped him kill his first doe. Kevin was in HEAVEN..............which made hunting an okay thing. For about 15 minutes.
However, last fall, Jason scored his first big buck. Granted, again, it was an exciting time as Colton was super excited to see daddy's buck, and Jason was beside himself with glee. I agreed we could get it mounted, but must have been drunk at the time, because I obviously didn't consider the aftermath of that "compromise". After all, you mount deer so that you can HANG THEM ON YOUR WALLS. Seeing how it took nearly a year for Joe to complete the process, I had nearly forgotten all about the "big buck" that would eventually grace my walls. Until last week.
Remember our wonderful night at the Union seeing the big tree & ginger bread house? Well, before we could make that pitstop, we headed south to West Point to pick up the prize buck from last year. Granted, the place was very interesting. They've got two live doe's living on their farm in captivity and feed them and the whole bit. Colton thought that was cool. And inside Joe's showroom (see here Joe Smith Taxidermy), you could quickly tell that he'd hunted all over the world. Pretty cool. Fast forward about two hours, when the joy of Christmas and seeing the giant tree had worn off, the kids were in bed, and it was just Jason, Kim & Bucky sitting in the living room, trying to decide where he'd go.
Originally, in my drunken "yes" state, I think we'd talked about mounting Bucky up above the wood stove in our living room, on the rock wall. That was all well and good, until Joe told us we probably shouldn't hang him that close to the stove, for fear that he'd get hot, melt the form and see green goo (melted form) coming out of Bucky's nose. I didn't sign off on a $375 purchase to have green goo coming out of a dead deer's nose. Picture Jason carrying Bucky all around our house, trying to find the perfect spot, and me vetoing about every location he suggested. Now picture Jason really pissed off at me.
Finally, after I got him to cool down by complimenting how amazing Bucky is and what a good kill that was....Jason agreed to put the deer up in the toyroom at the top of the stairs. Yes, folks, that's what I call compromise. Jason gets the deer in the house. I don't have to deal with Bucky being part of my everyday decorum, and we all go to bed happy. See, after 6 years of blissful marriage, I've learned one thing. You compromise. You agree to a man cave. And you start saving your pennies for it to be built so that you can move Bucky right out the front door and into man land.
PS. I forgot to mention that in his haste to hang the deer and go to bed (and mind you, he hung this deer unsupervised by me) he choose to hang the deer at the tip top of the stairs. Not on the back wall of the room at the top of the steps...right at the damn top of the stairs. So, when you come to our happy home, and you make the trek up to Colton's room (because he has to show his bedroom to anyone who enters our home, even the mail man...), you'll probably have this guy watching you...
Allow me to share. Jason, although not necessarily encouraged by his Dad, picked up the hobby of hunting from dear friends way back when he was just a young boy. He's grown to love it, and I can honestly see the love in his eyes as he teaches his brother Jacob and now Colton to love to hunt as well. And I can support that
However, last fall, Jason scored his first big buck. Granted, again, it was an exciting time as Colton was super excited to see daddy's buck, and Jason was beside himself with glee. I agreed we could get it mounted, but must have been drunk at the time, because I obviously didn't consider the aftermath of that "compromise". After all, you mount deer so that you can HANG THEM ON YOUR WALLS. Seeing how it took nearly a year for Joe to complete the process, I had nearly forgotten all about the "big buck" that would eventually grace my walls. Until last week.
Remember our wonderful night at the Union seeing the big tree & ginger bread house? Well, before we could make that pitstop, we headed south to West Point to pick up the prize buck from last year. Granted, the place was very interesting. They've got two live doe's living on their farm in captivity and feed them and the whole bit. Colton thought that was cool. And inside Joe's showroom (see here Joe Smith Taxidermy), you could quickly tell that he'd hunted all over the world. Pretty cool. Fast forward about two hours, when the joy of Christmas and seeing the giant tree had worn off, the kids were in bed, and it was just Jason, Kim & Bucky sitting in the living room, trying to decide where he'd go.
Originally, in my drunken "yes" state, I think we'd talked about mounting Bucky up above the wood stove in our living room, on the rock wall. That was all well and good, until Joe told us we probably shouldn't hang him that close to the stove, for fear that he'd get hot, melt the form and see green goo (melted form) coming out of Bucky's nose. I didn't sign off on a $375 purchase to have green goo coming out of a dead deer's nose. Picture Jason carrying Bucky all around our house, trying to find the perfect spot, and me vetoing about every location he suggested. Now picture Jason really pissed off at me.
Finally, after I got him to cool down by complimenting how amazing Bucky is and what a good kill that was....Jason agreed to put the deer up in the toyroom at the top of the stairs. Yes, folks, that's what I call compromise. Jason gets the deer in the house. I don't have to deal with Bucky being part of my everyday decorum, and we all go to bed happy. See, after 6 years of blissful marriage, I've learned one thing. You compromise. You agree to a man cave. And you start saving your pennies for it to be built so that you can move Bucky right out the front door and into man land.
PS. I forgot to mention that in his haste to hang the deer and go to bed (and mind you, he hung this deer unsupervised by me) he choose to hang the deer at the tip top of the stairs. Not on the back wall of the room at the top of the steps...right at the damn top of the stairs. So, when you come to our happy home, and you make the trek up to Colton's room (because he has to show his bedroom to anyone who enters our home, even the mail man...), you'll probably have this guy watching you...
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