Look! It's Pa Ingalls

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He had brought four fat ducks, and he said he could have killed hundreds.  But four were all they needed.  He said to Ma, "You save the feathers from the ducks and geese we eat, and I'll shoot you a feather bed."

From Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

* * * * *

My oldest son was invited to go with friends on a guided hunting tour this morning.  My first impulse was to say, "Do you have to go on Christmas Eve?" (ie:  I hate guns.)  But the hunter-man he is, go he would.

And he didn't return empty-handed.  What a treat for our younger girls to experience firsthand the goods of the hunt just as Laura and Mary did when Pa Ingalls came home with a gun slung on his back, wispy grayish-white feathers clinging to his muddy pants, and geese and ducks and rabbits hanging limp in his hands. 

They got to inspect a small teal duck, a spoonbill duck, a specklebelly goose, and---most important of all---a snow goose; perfect for the Christmas platter.

One piece of hunting etiquette for anyone who does not have a brother, husband, or son who hunts:  Never ask a hunter what they caught.  You will only get laughed at.  Fishermen catch their game. Hunters kill their game.

Comments

[molly]

That is so great Cay, and BTW thanks for the etiquette clue!!

[Jennifer]

It is an important lesson, isn't it? Food doesn't magically appear neatly plastic wrapped to styrofoam trays!