Just a Fine Evening

Young and Stupid

Yesterday evening I arrived home after a long drive from Guelph, Canada, and as my family is way and my dog in the cannel, there was no reason to be home alone, so I got my gear and drove go the Southern Michigan Gun Club, just minutes away.

To my surprise the clubhouse, skeet and trap fields were closed, and only the Mattawan scholastic group was present at the Five-Stand, so I left the club and drove to On Target Guns & Gunsmithing (www.ontargetgunstore.com), a place where I can always get some good conversation.

Within minutes of my arrival Eric Weeldreyer, one of the owners, invited me to have dinner at this home with his family. The venison “Sloppy Joes” were fantastic!

After dinner Eric took me around his property, where he grew up, and showed me some of the stands where he collected quite an impressive collection of whitetail deer.

Eventually I had to leave to go on some errands, and in my way home I had a very pleasant surprise. Just before getting to my subdivision, coming from Almena Drive, we need to cross a small “Whisky Run Creek”, and I generally slow down, as this is a very used deer crossing.

As I came down the hill there were two young whitetail bucks with their small antlers covered in velvet, not ten feet from the road. I stopped the car, turned on my emergency lights, and took several pictures. Then I asked the deer to get away from the road so they would cause no accidents.

It was almost as if I was not there. They just ignored me and continued grazing on the lush riverine plants. Finally I lost my patience and showed them away, with about the same success as Meryl Streep’s character in “Out of Africa”, and it was just in time as other cars were coming.

The popular saying is that “bucks don’t grow old and big by being stupid”, which is something that these two youngsters have not learned yet.

Anyhow, I hope that these young bucks are a good omen for a good 2012 deer season in "the land of the free".


Have a nice Independence Day!