i remember when i took my wife, melissa, deer hunting with me for the first time; we were younger of course and joe was still a baby (holy crap, that was 18 years ago) and went out with my dad. he gave her a rifle to hold, a mini-14, which is a semi-automatic .223 - OK for deer but it looks like something rambo would use. she was walking along, not a care in the world, swinging it this way and that, muzzle going everywhere, including toward me and my dad! i remember wondering where in the hell she went to hunters' education, if ever, and stopped her and said something about it; she said something about being more careful, and was. later, my dad and i were stalking up on a deer while she waited and watched, he rather sheepishly revealed that he had given her an empty rifle and showed me the loaded magazine still in his pocket, thinking he could help her load it if she saw a deer she wanted to shoot! i told him it was just as well, consdiering the baton-twirling she seemed to be doing. i didn't tell her until a few years later about the missing magazine, and i think she still holds a grudge about that - empty rifle, indeed. as i recall, that stalk didn't go very well. later, we were walking along and my dad suddenly hits the deck. since we were in pretty grassy area without much cover, i realized he must have seen a deer and did the same. she just stood there wondering what was wrong with us, until my dad turned around to her and urgently whispered "it's a buck! it's a buck!" i couldn't get the image of enemy deer stalking us with orange vests and rifles out of my mind, and started laughing and trying to pull her down by her leg at the same time. sure enough, there he was, standing there near a slough maybe 150, 200 yards away. so we waited and watched as my dad crawled along through the grass like a snake as if he was carlos hathcock himself going after some NVA general. melissa couldn't stop laughing and my dad damn near didn't get a shot because of the ruckus; lucky for him the buck had been more interested in the possibility of a doe and stood right there presenting a beautiful broadside shot. in the end he got the buck, a nice 4-point whitetail (western count) and we got a hell of a good memory. even today it's still something of a private joke between us: "it's a buck! it's a buck! hit the deck!"

another time, this would have been 2001, she was pregnant with roger and went along with me. i shot a very big doe then for some reason got worried about whose land i was on. it turned out i was on federal (BLM) land like i thought i was, and i was 99.999% sure i was, but that little nagging doubt kept eating at me until i was frantic. it wasn't long before i had convinced myself that i had missed something on the map (naturally, these thoughts only come AFTER i make the shot!) - and to make it worse we were within sight of a road and people kept driving by - waving now and then. it crossed my mind that even if i was on private land, they probably didn't mind because out there deer, especially does, tend to be regarded as pests - BUT STILL!!!! first rule after safety is to respect landowner rights. so i am trying to field dress the doe quickly and get the hell out of there so i could check the map and melissa, having just recently graduated as a nurse a year or so ago, was looking around in the heart/lung stuff and finding kidneys in the guts and all kinds of stuff, rather interested. now i myself have been known to explore around in a gutpile, but i am a guy and to see her do it was slightly creepy but at the same time kind of cool. she looked a little disappointed when i told her we had to hurry and GO. soon after, i double-checked and yes, i was on BLM land, but it had an impact and since then i have been obsessive about knowing FOR SURE where i am when i have an opportunity. it's kept me from more than a few nice deer and antelope, even as recently as this year, but knowing is better than not knowing.

there have been a few other times, but she never really has had much interest in it, and i figure if it isn't going to be fun for her, no reason to "make" her go, but i always invite her along - with stories like those above, it is usually worth the trip, one way or the other!