Sunday, October 13, 2013

Life in Our World - By the Yard

Calvin asked me before we got married if I had a problem with him hunting.

"Nope," I said, "no problem at all."

I think he may have even briefly considered me as a future hunting partner.

Until he invited me to go scouting for deer one summer morning.  He shook his head when I came out wearing an over-sized white t-shirt, "White," he said, "does not blend in with the trees.  They will see you coming."

I did not blend in with the terrain nor did I step gingerly through the forest; for where I walk, twigs snap, leaves crunch, and logs trip me flat.

So I happily stay at home from the hunts and wait to hear about it.

This past week Calvin and as many of his sons who could arrange their schedules went antelope hunting in Lusk, Wyoming.


Calvin

Abe and Ray

Trevor

They were wildly successful.

Abe, Ray, and Calvin made pepperoni sticks with all of that antelope meat.

They made it by the yard.

Grace and Ray

So many yards, in fact, that there were two football field lengths of pepperoni sticks
by the time they finished.

They filled this smoker full three times 

Calvin, Ray, and Abe ground the meat, mixed in the seasonings, stuffed it in the casings, smoked it, then cut it into eight to nine inch strips and vacuum-packed it.  Amazingly, it all fit in one medium sized container in the freezer when it was done.  It is the best stuff.  It really is.  I'm not just being a good sport.

But as good as the meat is, Calvin said the best part of the whole trip was the philosophizing about life and being fathers and husbands, and watching the boys get their animals.

And I happily stayed at home in my white t-shirt with Grace, Cali, Levin, and Atlas and enjoyed hearing all about the hunt when they got home.


3 comments:

Jill said...

I have no experience with hunting other than through you and Amie, so this is totally foreign to me.

It would be fun to listen to their conversations though and seems like a great bonding activity for them.

Julie said...

They were worried about your white shirt but weren't worried about their bright orange hats? I'm pretty sure that neon orange isn't found in nature. Maybe that's so they don't shoot each other? :)

Haley Krumblis said...

Okay, even I admit those sausages look mmmmmmmmmm good. Ryan, Homer, and Jake didn't get a single deer. Will have to go back. I just won't show him this post that all the Payne men got an antelope! Looks like fun. What did the girls and kids do? Projects!?