Happy Thanksgiving

For me, Thanksgiving seems to mark the beginning of the holiday season (the weather gets chillier, the leaves change and fall, Halloween is only a couple of weeks away, and before you know it Christmas is here). But around here, it’s a mere blip in the much more celebrated season of hunting.

Now, who would’ve thought that I would ever be interested in hunting? I can hardly sit still for a few minutes, I never shut up, and I get bored very easily. And yet, I make it work. I first became interested because Ryan loves hunting and was very excited to include me. My continued interest, however, rides on three things: the opportunity to buy a new outfit, my desire for a bear rug, people’s reactions when I tell them I have a gun.

Camo

Shopping for my own hunting gear was not as much fun as I anticipated as I ran into two main obstacles. The first obstacles was that most stores have an extremely limited selection of women’s clothes. Even at Sail, I found one sad rack. Just because I’m a girl, doesn’t mean I need pink logos and v-necks. Why would I want a v-neck?! It’s not unreasonable to expect pieces that aren’t long and boxy, but this was my next obstacle: much to my dismay, hunting clothes are supposed to fit loosely. Even though I made fun of the pink accents, I admit that I wanted a cute outfit but Ryan insists that tight clothes are not hunting appropriate. I left with only a pair of pants and a hat, so my outfits is still a little mismatched. Next time, we’re making the trek to Bass Pro. They have a women’s section and I remember a large portion of it being Under Armour.

Bears

We’re currently in the middle of deer and bear seasons. We’ve been successfully baiting a family of bears for several months, but those crafty bastards must know when the season starts because they’ve been MIA ever since opening day. The raccoons, however, are still feasting regularly. I’m still set on having a bear rug so my fingers are crossed that the bears get hungry and wander back in our direction before the season ends.

Our Backyard Bears - Mama & Cubs

Guns

As a child I was incredibly cautious, so I doubt my parents expected that I’d ever want to operate firearms. I’d like to think my father is quite proud. Despite friendly words of caution from his co-workers, Ryan gave me a gun for my birthday (for some reason they felt it unwise to arm one’s girlfriend or wife and suggested jewelry instead). My family likes to joke about how hick that is, but I’m quite certain that there are few things more badass than I woman with a gun.

After all this about hunting, I must admit that all of our holiday food is store bought. I wish you all a very happy and delicious Thanksgiving weekend, and hope some people are getting to enjoy multiple dinners as I am (three in total). Be thankful for plentiful food, wine, loved ones (furry ones included), stretchy pants, and not having to rely on the hunters in your family to bring home dinner.

xox

View from the tree stand