Red meat - it's what's for dinner!

Nathanael is the mighty hunter in our house these days.

Many of you may know that Nathanael has been hunting for some large game lately. And as you can see, he was successful! Early this last fall, Charles was approached with the offer of letting Nathanael hunt on a land-owner preference tag at a (then) local piece of property. I think we all jumped at that chance, but Nathanael was definitely excited to have the chance to kill an elk before his dad! So, we got it all set up and then we moved just as the season opened. Nathanael had been totally bummed out about it, but we promised to make some trips back to hunt. I did not realize at the time of promising that making some trips back would mean getting up at 2:30 am and driving two and a half hours to sit and wait for enough light to get into position and wait for the elk to move up through the property. I also didn't realize just how many trips we'd make, some of which found us arriving to find the elk already moved through, not to be back that day, so we'd turn around and drive the two and a half hours back home. Thankfully, I only made the trip twice, but Charles and Nathanael made several more without me and Mikael. This last Saturday, March 14th, 2009, Charles and Nathanael headed back to the coast (we'd all just been there on Thursday morning)right into a storm front. We'd checked the weather forecast and they were looking at an inch of rain, sustained winds of 25 mph and gusts upwards of 45 mph, with temperatures in the very low 40's. With rain gear piled high in the back seat, they left at 3:45 am after I got up and made them two thermoses of homemade hot chocolate. After they arrived and parked, they got all geared up and headed up the hill... right into a group of elk which spooked and took off up over the ridge and out of bounds for this hunt! So, they decided to get settled and wait to see if there were any stragglers that might show up. After a couple hours of waiting, they figured that they had blown there only chance and headed down the hill. They walked right into another group of elk! This time, though, they saw the elk before the elk saw them and they were able to get over behind a stump before they were spotted. Charles told Nathanael to get settled, take his time and make a good shot. Nathanael got to take his time all right! They sat for about 15 minutes watching and waiting for one to really present itself, and then the elk started lining out like they were ready to head up the hill. Charles was getting a little impatient by this time and finally told Nathanael that if he didn't shoot soon, Charles would do it! So, Nathanael shot, saw her flinch and then they couldn't see what happened to her. The other elk just milled around, fed for a little while, and then moved off. At that point Charles had to go see if they could track her (in the pouring rain and not even sure that Nathanael had hit her.) But after just a bit of following tracks, then loosing them, not seeing any blood, they found her, just below the road she had been on when Nathanael shot her. He had made a good shot, right through both lungs. Then came the work of gutting, skinning and quartering her and getting her in the Bronco to bring home. All of that work was made easier by our friend from church who brought up his four-wheeler to drag her out and down to the dairy his brother owns, then they used the tractor to hoist her up as they skinned her, Nathanael helping, and then they used the sawz-all to quarter her. They were all done with that, loaded and on the road by just after 11 am!

After arriving home, more work awaited us, as the majority of the cleaning of the meat still had to be done before we left it to hang and cool out. Charles and I worked for several hours cleaning and washing down the quarters, having to work pretty intensively on the quarter that the bullet had entered and on which she had lain for a hour or so. After that was accomplished, we cleaned up, got all the dirty, bloody, wet things in the washer. Then we could finally appreciate the satisfaction of Nathanael's successful hunt.

There will be a freezer filled with meat soon (we have to take the elk with us to Southern Oregon and cut and package it there as we only have this one window for our trip south to visit family, and the elk needs to be taken care of in the next day or so). Nathanael has gained confidence, and he and Charles have strengthened that father/son bond through all of this experience. I've gained a bit more faith and trust in the Father. It seems that when I finally let go of whatever I have been holding so tightly to, and I finally place it fully in the Father's hands, that is when the blessing comes!