One weekend down...one to go

So the opening weekend of the 2009 MN deer hunt is over for us. We saw a lot more deer than I was expecting. I think somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 in a day and half. This weekend wasn't so much about filling tags as it was about me passing down some knowledge as it was Cullen's first real hunt and Melinda's first deer hunt. Saturday got off to a rocky start as Melinda woke up with a fever and stayed at my mom's while Cullen and I headed out to the stand. The spot we hunt is affectionately known as "Paul's Stand" after Paul Thunselle who built it many years ago. Paul and Linda were great neighbors the decade or so I worked at the resort which bordered their property. Paul developed a rare skin disease which ultimately took his life. After his passing, Linda was kind enough to allow me to take over caring for the deer stand and hunting in it each year. Linda has since sold the property but the Anderson family who purchased the home and land have been gracious enough to allow me to carry on my caretaker duties of keeping a memory alive.

Another decade plus one year has passed since I pulled up my stakes and left that area. Now with Cullen hunting for real, getting a deer isn't so important to me. It's about keeping a part of the past alive while giving the new generation of hunters the opportunity to create memories of their own. This morning Cullen passed up three deer which came very close to Paul's Stand. When I asked him why, his response was "we have another weekend to hunt". Melinda had 4 deer pass within feet of her stand also (where Jerry Schulte, another hunter in our party who has since passed, would sit in the early morning darkness in hopes of putting meat in his freezer for another year). This season wasn't the end of a time frame. It's the begging of a new tradition and memories which includes the people who I hold dearest to me. My family (Melinda and Cullen) and some of my closest friends (Mike Schultz and his family, Seth and Isaac Englestand, and the rest of the Ferber bunch). Good times, good times...