The house is smelling wonderful right now because I've had two big pork roasts in the oven since about noon. But that's not the big news.
The big news is that Bob the crossbow hunter was here setting up his tree stand earlier. He hasn't been around since I saw him get that doe in early December. A nice clean shot. She ran maybe twenty yards and then laid down next to the creek. Bob told me that he's also gotten three bucks on the property this year. So the score to date is Bob four and deer minus four. Things are just as they should be in the great circle of life. There are still plenty of the lily bud ravagers running around so I wished Bob well in getting a bunch more if he can.
Bob mentioned that his son is heading back to China with his family soon. He's a missionary there. Bob tells me that it varies depending on the province; but the Beijing authorities have been reasonably tolerant of Christian missionaries. Bob's son must be a pretty brave man, for the Chinese government has not been at all tolerant of the Falun Gong people they've been persecuting for the past few years. There are some pretty shocking but credible stories out there about the things they've been doing to Falun Gong folks. Bob said his impression is that the Chinese government is moderating it's oppression in general as a result of all the world attention from the Olympics and all; but it's hard to be sure.
Time will no doubt tell; but the view of time in China's governing circle is a bit different than here. There's a famous quote out there about one top Chinese leader's response in the 1970's when asked his opinion of the French revolution. He said, "It's too early to tell yet." For those of you who went to high school in the last thirty years I'll add that the French Revolution happened in 1789 or thereabouts.
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Regarding Bambi:
When I was a little girl, my parents gave me a set of Time Life books (I can't recall which series). In one of the books, there was a winter scene of a deer that was lying dead in the snow. For all you could tell, it was sleeping. Apparently, there were too many deer in the area, and the poor thing had died of starvation.
I was no more than 7 years old at the time, but that photo impressed upon me the importance of proper conservation practices, which includes culling the herd.
It's not cruel to reduce the deer population, it's cruel to let them become hungry and diseased.
If you want to read some interesting books about hunting by someone who believes in proper conservation practices, try Peter Capstick. If memory serves me correctly, he includes a lot of funny stories in his work.
At this point, I'd like to wish you and yours a very happy New Year's.
And don't forget about a designated driver. :)
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A few years ago I came upon a deer with a hurt leg in the woods. A couple of days later it was still in the same area but looking even more pathetic and it didn't even get up when I went near. The next day I took an ax with me when I went out. I was glad to find it already dead.
People somehow have this romantic notion that deer live forever, and they're completely in denial about how it is for those deer to die slow out there. I've found several of them dead in the woods over the years.
On a more humorous note, there's this deer feeding station over by the Fire Island Lighthouse. I've been told that in an attempt to reduce the deer population, they lace the feed with contraceptives.
Things don't always work out according to plan, because I was there on a fine spring morning to see some deer lead their young to the feeding trough. :)
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