4 Bucks for 4 Boys

Late last fall, Jonah and Micah took the Hunter's Safety class necessary to get their hunting licenses; they've been looking forward to hunting ever since. Josh was so excited to give them rifles for their birthdays in September this year so that they could participate in hunting this fall with him and Ammon. Josh used a laser to make sure their guns were shooting straight, and he took them target shooting to practice using their guns so they'd be more comfortable on the season's opening day. For weeks leading up to opening day, there'd been a pack of 7 bucks hanging around in the fields by our home. We watched them every evening, and all the boys were getting buck fever and were SO excited for the opportunity to hopefully tag several of them. And thankfully, within 48 hours of the start of opening day, they all got one!

L-R: Jonah's, Josh's, Ammon's, Micah's

Opening day was Saturday, October 10.  Jonah had his last football game of the season that day in Idaho Falls, and he got up early to catch his ride at 6am. After he left, Josh took Ammon and Micah to scope out fields near our home before the sun came up. As the sun began to light the sky, Micah had a good shot at one, but unfortunately missed. Josh spotted another one soon after, took the next shot and got it. Ammon followed a deer to a different field, and shot it; it went down but unfortunately it wouldn't die. So Josh got his pistol and went to where Ammon was. He shot at its head, but he looked away before pulling the trigger, and the shot ended up taking off the antler instead of being a clear shot into its skull. It still wouldn't die, and as they were slitting its throat, it was gasping for breath. It was a pretty traumatic killing, for sure. Because they were so involved with their deer that morning, nobody thought to take a picture in the fields! Josh gutted his deer, and Ammon gutted his deer in the fields, and then Grandpa came with the hay truck to load them up and bring them back to the shop. They hung the deer up in Grandpa's shop to skin them and cut off all the meat. In years' past, we've let the deer hang for a week or two to let it cure, but because the forecast said it would be a super hot day (reaching over 80*), we knew the meat would spoil, so the job had to be done that day. 

Josh hanging his freshly killed deer.
Notice the steam rising from its body?!

Using the chains to pull up Ammon's deer

Ammon pulling the skin off.
Tiki loved being around all the raw meat!!

After skinning both deer that morning, Josh took Kanyon and I into town to the Sacajawea Center. We unloaded pumpkins from the trailer, then he left to come back home and Ammon and Micah helped him as he cut off all the meat from both deer. Around 5:00, Jonah arrived at home, and Josh brought Kanyon and I back from selling pumpkins at the Sacajawea Center. Josh grilled us up some fresh venison steaks for dinner, and then he took Jonah to go hunting.

Jonah got one on his second shot! This time, Josh remembered to take a photo of the momentous occasion!

Then Josh repeated the same process from that morning: gut the deer, haul it to the shop on the back of the truck, hang it, skin it, and cut off the meat.

Jonah helping Josh skin it. 

Tiki loved all the piles of blood below the deer

As Josh cut strips of meat off the deer, he would hand it to Jonah, who then put it in a bag. As the bag became full, Jonah's job was to bring it up to the house and put it in the fridge, and then repeat the process. It was the same process that Micah and Ammon did that morning with both of Josh and Ammon's deer.

On Sunday afternoon, we started grinding all the meat that had been in the fridge for 24 hours. Josh started cutting the meat into smaller sections, and Ammon helped Josh by putting the meat into the grinder. He wasn't feeling very well, so then Jonah took over the grinding.

As we were processing the meat inside, Kanyon was on the lookout for deer outside. He spotted one in the field right below our house. Micah grabbed his gun, and Josh went out with him. He shot at the deer, and killed it this time! He was pretty happy to finally get his deer! 

It wasn't too far from our house, either. When they went to gut it, and Grandpa brought his truck over to the site to repeat the process again (for the 4th and final time), I took a break from the grinding to snap a couple of shots. This was the view from the back porch: 

Zooming in, you can see that Micah is holding up a leg as Josh is gutting it in the field before putting it on the truck and hauling it to the shop:

When they got back to the shop, it was Micah's turn to help skin it!

Tiki happily took the prize from this deer--similar to Rocky Mtn Oysters

Then Micah helped bag the deer meat and bring it up to the house as Josh cut it off the carcass.

Meanwhile, the whole time Micah and Josh were working on his deer, Kanyon and Jonah became my helpers in the kitchen. Jonah cut the meat into smaller strips AND fed them into the grinder, Kanyon measured 2-cups (the equivalent of 1 lb.) of meat, and I placed the meat into freezer bags and sealed them shut. They were good little workers, and we were an excellent team; we worked on it for 2 hours! It seemed like there was an endless amount of meat and I was determined to get it all done that night!

When Josh was through cutting up his 4th deer in 2 days, he came up and relieved Jonah from the meat cutting duty. Micah then became the grinder, and Jonah started measuring the meat for me.

Then after everyone took a break for a bit, Josh and I finished packing the rest of the meat that night, and then cleaned up the fridge and kitchen after the boys went to bed. We were both exhausted (especially Josh--he'd worked non-stop for 2 days!!), but the job needed to be done. There was a lot of blood all over everything: on the table, countertops, floor, fridge shelves, and on the utensils and dishes we'd used. It was like vampire heaven!

At one point, after cutting a ton of meat, Jonah said to me
"Look at my hands, mom! I'm bleeding!!" Thankfully he wasn't, but they were so gross!

Within 48 hours of starting the hunting experience, the boys tagged 4 bucks, we'd eaten venison steaks for dinner, and we had 110 pounds of deer burger stored in our freezer! It was a very successful hunting season, and an exciting one too!