My First Hunting Experience
By Christine Francesconi
Like many wives , fall brings hunting and the loss ( temporarily ) of my husband . It has always been my favorite season , but I began to dread it because I knew it meant that John would be out having fun while I was at home . After 17 years of feeling sorry for myself I agreed to go hunting with him . If you can ’ t beat them join them , right ?
So with my new rifle in hand , which was a Valentine ’ s Day gift , I headed to Riggins with my husband and our friend George for a hunting weekend . I didn ’ t really think I would be successful . I had practiced shooting some , but was not super serious about the whole thing . I was just glad to be invited , and in on the fun . We arrived at camp late on a Wednesday night , set up , discussed the plan for the morning ( well they discussed I just agreed , I was along for the ride ) went to bed with the anticipation of the hunt in our dreams . Truthfully I was wondering how many layers I should wear , which jeans would be the most comfortable while still looking cute and should I wear my earrings which I had forgotten to take out at home before we left .
Thursday morning arrived , the guys loaded me in the truck and we started up the hill to “ glass ” the area . I had no idea what that meant , but didn ’ t want to appear stupid so I sat in the backseat with my coffee and quietly paid attention to what they did and said . Somewhere along the way it was decided that John might not be the most patient coach in the field with me so I would hang near George . So while John drove , we got out periodically and “ glassed ” the hillside ’ s which I quickly figured out meant staring through the trees with binoculars looking for animals . Feeling smarter I asked for my own binoculars and proudly wore them and pretended to know what I was doing should another hunter happen by . There was some chit chat ( mostly by me as men are not big on that sort of thing ) but mostly lots of “ scouting ”, which is what they call driving and walking around looking for animals .
At one point a few hours into the scouting process George spotted a deer , we abruptly stopped . I tried to take aim but couldn ’ t get the shot . I was not quick enough to react as I still didn ’ t really know how this whole thing was going to work so I missed the chance to shoot him . It was at this point that I started to really get excited about what we were hopefully going to accomplish on this trip . George reminded me that we were just scouting , we would have to hike in somewhere , but on the off chance something was spotted I needed to be ready with my gun when told .
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