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Speaker 1: Welcome to this country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves

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Speaker 1: from coon hunting to trotlining and just in general country living.

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Speaker 1: I want you to stay a while as I share

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Speaker 1: my experiences in life lessons. This Country Life is presented

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Speaker 1: by Case Knives from the store More Studio on Meat

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Speaker 1: Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you the best outdoor podcast that

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Speaker 1: airways have to offer. All right, friends, grab a chair

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Speaker 1: or drop that tailgate. I've got some stores to share,

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Speaker 1: Beat shoes and Amy's first deer. You only get so

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Speaker 1: many first in life, and the first time your first

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Speaker 1: child decides to go hunting with you is one of them. Now.

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Speaker 1: Factor in that she's a teenager when she makes that decision,

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Speaker 1: and it's even more special. When they're little, they more

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Speaker 1: or less have to spend time with you. They ain't

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Speaker 1: got a whole lot of choice. But when they're old

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Speaker 1: enough to choose to do so, well, that's something altogether different.

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Speaker 1: And that's what we're talking about today. A Hunter took

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Speaker 1: place twenty years ago this month. Today's show was all

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Speaker 1: about my first baby girl, the one whose name cost

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Speaker 1: a class made of mine a quarter when we were

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Speaker 1: both of the sixth grade. Amy and I are going

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Speaker 1: deer Honty today. But first, I'm going to tell you

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Speaker 1: this story. Thirty one years ago, when my daughter Amy

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Speaker 1: was three, I took her to town to buy her

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Speaker 1: some of those wading shoes people wear it to the

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Speaker 1: beach when they go swimming. My little girl was born

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Speaker 1: more mature and growing up than I am now. She

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Speaker 1: more or less helped raise me instead of the other

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Speaker 1: way around. She was always thinking and being observant of

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Speaker 1: her surrounding, and stating the obvious when the obvious seemed

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Speaker 1: a little obscure. So we shopped for little girl waiting

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Speaker 1: shoes and we found some. Not surprisingly, Amy picked out

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Speaker 1: a pair of pink ones. I found her size and

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Speaker 1: took one out of the box for her to try on.

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Speaker 1: I placed that shoe on her beautiful little square foot

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Speaker 1: that looked more like a hamhock that should have been

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Speaker 1: in a pot of beans on a foot on a

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Speaker 1: little baby, and I told her to walk down the

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Speaker 1: aisle and back to see if it felt all right.

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Speaker 1: She stood up, and she walked down the aisle, never

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Speaker 1: taking her eyes off her foot with the waiting shoe,

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Speaker 1: her head bobbing back and forth as she emphasized every

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Speaker 1: other step, she got to the other end and turned

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Speaker 1: and walked back to me in the same fashion. All

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Speaker 1: the while she walked, she never took her eyes off

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Speaker 1: that shoe as she waddled back to where I was standing,

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Speaker 1: and I squatted down and asked her, well, what do

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Speaker 1: you think. My little blond haired beauty looked at me

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Speaker 1: with her big old eyes, her face and demeanor as

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Speaker 1: serious as I have ever seen her, and she said, Daddy,

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Speaker 1: I think I want two of them. And that's just

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Speaker 1: how that happened. She'd been fourteen years old for nine

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Speaker 1: months when she said, Daddy, I want to go deer

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Speaker 1: hunting now. From a little girl, she loved the fish

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Speaker 1: as long as I took the fish off her hook

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Speaker 1: and baited it. For I had taken her with me

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Speaker 1: to brush doug Blass before she was old enough to

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Speaker 1: start school. She'd wear her boots and her hunting clothes

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Speaker 1: and complete with a camouflage hair bow. We'd walk around

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Speaker 1: in the woods a little here and there, and she'd

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Speaker 1: grown up going to deer camp on family night. All

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Speaker 1: the other kids were there to play with, and it

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Speaker 1: was the social event of the season. We'd all sit

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Speaker 1: around the fire before and after supper, the women folks

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Speaker 1: eventually gathering up all the youngins that were too young

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Speaker 1: to hunt the next day had school or would rather

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Speaker 1: sleep in their own beds rather than a drafty old

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Speaker 1: camp house that varied in temperature from blistering hot and

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Speaker 1: freezing cold, depending the amount of wood that had been

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Speaker 1: crammed into the stove. Now, had she wanted to stay

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Speaker 1: and hunt, or any of the other girl cubs in

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Speaker 1: the family for that matter, she could have, and they

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Speaker 1: could have, but she and they chose not to, and

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Speaker 1: for fourteen years that was where it was. Then she

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Speaker 1: decided on her own that this was the year she

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Speaker 1: wanted to go. Do you want to shoot? Yes, sir,

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Speaker 1: all right, we'll go tomorrow. Now all I had to

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Speaker 1: do was hope she didn't change her mind, And it

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Speaker 1: was all like auld duke, contain my excitement. I bought

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Speaker 1: her some boots that were supposed to keep her feet

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Speaker 1: on a dressed her in everything I could think of

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Speaker 1: to keep her comfortable. Once we got on the stand,

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Speaker 1: and I gave her a crash course on aiming through

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Speaker 1: a scope, controlling her breathing and squeezing the trigger. After

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Speaker 1: we ascended the letter to the buddy stand. We both occupied.

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Speaker 1: We were hunting in a hardwood flat that she wouldn't

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Speaker 1: see for another thirty minutes when the sun started climbing

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Speaker 1: into the sky. We passed the time snuggled up and giggling,

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Speaker 1: and me asking her every few minutes if she was

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Speaker 1: warm enough, and she reassured me that she was. Amy

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Speaker 1: is my first born, the first girl on my mother's

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Speaker 1: side of the family, and was everyone's little princess. As

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Speaker 1: you can well imagine, she still mine and has held

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Speaker 1: that title for all of her thirty four years. She

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Speaker 1: could read before she started school, has her grandfather's sense

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Speaker 1: of humor, and she only seed the good in people,

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Speaker 1: trust others beyond what most of them deserved. Love's with

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Speaker 1: her whole heart. And on that day, when she could

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Speaker 1: have been anywhere she wanted to be, she chose to

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Speaker 1: sit with me in the cold, in the woods and

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Speaker 1: in the dark. Now, what kind of bird was that? Daddy?

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Speaker 1: When will we see a deer? This gun gonna kid?

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Speaker 1: I answered every question this best I could, And when

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Speaker 1: daylight started creeping in, I put a pair of headphones

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Speaker 1: on her ears to protect them from the shot I

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Speaker 1: prayed would eventually come before she got too cold to

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Speaker 1: stay any longer. A couple of days before, I'd poured

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Speaker 1: out some rice bran about fifty yards away in front

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Speaker 1: of that stand, the cream colored pile of deer food

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Speaker 1: was there for the taken by anything that wanted to stop.

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Speaker 1: The first movement we saw heading toward that buffet was

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Speaker 1: a mama coon and a couple of her kittens. They

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Speaker 1: ate and played around the pile of as if they'd

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Speaker 1: stumbled upon the divine treasure, and we watched them in

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Speaker 1: silence except for the giggling as the little ones climbed

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Speaker 1: all over everything they could find, including their mama and

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Speaker 1: each other. I first saw the dough as she slipped

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Speaker 1: between the timber, heading straight toward where that family of

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Speaker 1: coons was feeding, And as soon as she entered into

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Speaker 1: the little opening, Amy and saw her too. I looked

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Speaker 1: at her, and I could see the excitement in her

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Speaker 1: eyes and the increase in her breathing, cold air turning

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Speaker 1: into a white fog as she borderlined on hyperventilating the

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Speaker 1: kind of calmed down on it you got all the

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Speaker 1: time in the world, and made sure her earmuss were on,

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Speaker 1: and laid that rifle across the wrist in front of her.

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Speaker 1: The dough crept closer and closer as she watched that

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Speaker 1: family of coons waiting around and what she was wanting

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Speaker 1: to eat. She stopped and she stumped her foot, claiming

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Speaker 1: that pile of groceries for herself. Lacouz took the hint,

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Speaker 1: moving along at a pace they seemed fairly familiar with,

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Speaker 1: kind kind of like they'd been wrong off before and

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Speaker 1: recognized their spot in the pecking order. Amy had slowed

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Speaker 1: her respirations down to about sixty per minute and was

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Speaker 1: intently listening to every whispered instruction I was giving her. Really,

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Speaker 1: teaching time was over now. It was just a matter

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Speaker 1: of calming her to the point where she could make

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Speaker 1: an ethical shot. It was early. I didn't care if

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Speaker 1: the deer left. We weren't going to rush the shot.

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Speaker 1: And she had up and until the time she'd pull

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Speaker 1: the trigger to say, daddy, I don't want to do it.

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Speaker 1: I was seated to her right, and she held that

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Speaker 1: rifle firmly to her shoulder, and she leaned forward, trying

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Speaker 1: to get adjusted properly to the eye relief and find

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Speaker 1: the deer in the crosshairs. Can you see the deer. No, sir.

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Speaker 1: I looked at the scope. It was on nine power.

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Speaker 1: I turned it back down to three. What about now, no, sir,

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Speaker 1: why could she not see this deer? I looked at

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Speaker 1: the deer and the orientation of the barrel. They weren't

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Speaker 1: even close to being similar. I told her to aim

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Speaker 1: to the writ and down. She did just that, and

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Speaker 1: in a few seconds she whispered excitedly, I see it.

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Speaker 1: I see it all right. Now. You see that crease

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Speaker 1: right behind that deer's front shoulder. Yes, sir, put the

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Speaker 1: crosshairs right there in the middle of that deer. Tell

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Speaker 1: me when you're there. The big old dough fed like

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Speaker 1: she hadn't eaten in weeks, completely oblivious of the conversation

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Speaker 1: going on fifty yards away. Okay, Dad, it's there, Sissy.

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Speaker 1: I've taken this safety off. Are you ready? Yes, sir,

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Speaker 1: I pushed the safety off. I didn't ease it off.

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Speaker 1: I wanted her to hear that audible click. I want

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Speaker 1: her to know that the only thing between that if

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Speaker 1: for firing or not firing, was her. Now, don't put

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Speaker 1: your finger on the trigger until you're ready to shoot.

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Speaker 1: Then just squeeze it slowly until it fires. It's not

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Speaker 1: gonna kick, and you ain't gonna hear it, said, don't

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Speaker 1: be scared. I'm ready. The door turned and was facing away,

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Speaker 1: and I reached up and re engaged the safety. She

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Speaker 1: turned to look at me, like what now. I told

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Speaker 1: her just keep looking through the scope and once she

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Speaker 1: turned back again, we'd start over. About that time i'd

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Speaker 1: finished telling her that the door did turn back broadside.

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Speaker 1: All right, are you ready? And after a few seconds

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Speaker 1: she said, yes, sir. I punched the safety off and said,

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Speaker 1: shoot whenever you were ready. I watched the deer the

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Speaker 1: end of the barrel settled into stillness. I leaned back

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Speaker 1: and eased my fingers in my ears, and from the

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Speaker 1: corner of my eye I saw her finger go inside

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Speaker 1: the trigger guard. But later, bam, dirt kicked up from

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Speaker 1: beyond and beneath that deer who exited stage right at

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Speaker 1: a rapid rate of speed. Did I get her? Now?

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Speaker 1: You missed, sissy, But you did so good. You were quiet,

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Speaker 1: You took your time, and you didn't shoot until you

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Speaker 1: were ready. Did it kick you, no, sir? Was it loud? No, sir,

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry I missed. Daddy. Don't be sorry. This is fun.

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Speaker 1: There'll be another one along, don't worry. I'm very, very

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Speaker 1: proud of you. For forty five minutes, we went over

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Speaker 1: everything that had happened that morning so far. She seemed

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Speaker 1: to be more relaxed with each stick of the clock.

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Speaker 1: We watched squirrels, and we listened for deer, and resumed

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Speaker 1: the joking and the laughing, trying to be as quiet

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Speaker 1: as we could. I didn't care if I ever saw

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Speaker 1: another deer who were sharing a moment that can happen

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Speaker 1: a million times, what can only happen once. The first time,

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Speaker 1: a carbon copy of that deer she miss stepped out

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Speaker 1: into that little opening, and I hadn't seen her approaching

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Speaker 1: when I did, kind of startling me, SIS said, there's

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Speaker 1: another deer. Her demeanor immediately changed. She eased that rifle

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Speaker 1: to her shoulder with a slow and steady movement and

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Speaker 1: acquired her target like she'd done it a hundred times before,

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Speaker 1: rather than only once. Can you see her, yes, sir.

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Speaker 1: She sounded more confident at that time, and I didn't

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Speaker 1: notice it until replaying that scenario over again later on.

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Speaker 1: But I pushed the safety off. I said, shoot whenever

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Speaker 1: you're ready. I didn't get it out of my mouth.

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Speaker 1: Good When a bam, she dropped that deer like a

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Speaker 1: hot rock. You got her, You got her. I am

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Speaker 1: so proud of you. She was smiling and hugging me back,

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Speaker 1: but she didn't She didn't say a whole lot, just

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Speaker 1: answering my questions of did it kick? And did it

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Speaker 1: hurt your ears? Did you? Did you feel comfortable? As

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Speaker 1: we unloaded the rifle, gathered our stuff, and climbed down

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Speaker 1: the ladder, I could see she was very moved by

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Speaker 1: what she'd just done, and I wasn't exactly sure which

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Speaker 1: way the pendulum was going to swing on her experience.

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Speaker 1: I wanted her to be a part of experiencing our

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Speaker 1: way of life and contributing as much or as little

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Speaker 1: as she wanted on her own terms, by choice of

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Speaker 1: the enjoyment of participation, and not by guilt for taking

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Speaker 1: the life of an animal. Closer we got to the deer,

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Speaker 1: the more the realization of what she'd just done became evident.

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Speaker 1: We nailed down beside that door, and the silence and

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Speaker 1: stillness of that little oak, flat and fur a moment,

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Speaker 1: neither of us spoke. We just just looked at her.

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Speaker 1: I glanced at my daughter who had made the choice

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Speaker 1: twelve hours ago to go hunting and two minutes ago

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Speaker 1: to shoot a deer, decisions that were made all on

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Speaker 1: her own, one of which weighed a lot heavier than

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Speaker 1: the other. Wow, look what God gave us, I said.

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Speaker 1: And then we prayed, and we were thankful that we

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Speaker 1: were granted the opportunity to take that deer's life to

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Speaker 1: feed our family. And we talked about how God gave

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Speaker 1: us these animals to take care of and that we

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Speaker 1: should take that responsibility very seriously, and if we took

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Speaker 1: care of them, they take care of us. It's our

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Speaker 1: belief that's how he intended it to work. She'd been

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Speaker 1: a hunter for less time than it took for me

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Speaker 1: to tell that story, and in the shallow span of time,

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Speaker 1: she'd experienced every emotion a seasoned hunter goes through all

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Speaker 1: in one morning. Anticipation of the hunt, the beauty of

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Speaker 1: the world as it awakens, the wonder of animals at play,

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Speaker 1: the adrenaline of seeing what you're after, the sadness of

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Speaker 1: a missed opportunity, the redemption of another chance, and the

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Speaker 1: realization of taking a life. That's a lot to soak

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Speaker 1: in for an adult even more so for a fourteen

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Speaker 1: year old girl who had only done it once. Now,

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Speaker 1: after we've prayed and talked about it, it seemed the

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Speaker 1: weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders.

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Speaker 1: Perspective can be a powerful thing, especially when viewed through

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Speaker 1: the diameter of a scope. It's only when you back

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Speaker 1: away that you truly see the totality of the situation

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Speaker 1: and bear will witness to the masterpiece had been a

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Speaker 1: part of creating. Now in our case, the woods with

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Speaker 1: the canvas, the deer hunt was the paint, we with

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Speaker 1: the brushes, and God was the artist. I think of

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Speaker 1: that day during the most random times throughout the year,

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Speaker 1: and have since it happened. Sometimes I call her text

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Speaker 1: amy about it, but nine in nine times out of

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Speaker 1: one hundred, I just sit and relive it all over again.

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Speaker 1: The thankfulness in her voice, the happiness in her eyes,

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Speaker 1: the feel of her arms squeezing my neck, and finally,

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Speaker 1: the relief and knowing that what she'd done was good

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Speaker 1: and pure, and whether she chose to do it again

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Speaker 1: or let that be the last time, she had nothing

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Speaker 1: to be ashamed of. And she could see it from

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Speaker 1: both sides now, and we've shared a lot of first

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Speaker 1: things and me and that girl. She was the first

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Speaker 1: to call me daddy, and her daughter was the first

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Speaker 1: to call me papau. Last weekend, my granddaughter Piper was

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Speaker 1: hunting with my son in law, Colin. Piper shot her

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Speaker 1: first deer, and, much like her mama twenty years before,

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Speaker 1: once they'd headed home, the reality of what she'd done

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Speaker 1: began to sink in. Amy contacted me this morning as

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Speaker 1: she and Colin were together and said she'd been thinking

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Speaker 1: about her first dear ever since Piper had gotten hers.

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Speaker 1: She told Colin how she'd gotten upset, and that after

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Speaker 1: she and I had prayed about it and I'd explained

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Speaker 1: it to her our responsibilities in the choice we make

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Speaker 1: to do these things, that it became an honor instead

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Speaker 1: of a burden. Then, as if right on cue, Colin

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Speaker 1: told her that he and Piper had had the very

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Speaker 1: same discussion with the very same results. These are the

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Speaker 1: good times, the times that take seconds to happen, in

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Speaker 1: two lifetimes to relive. That's good stuff. It's really really good.

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Speaker 1: There's a framed quote of unknown origin that hangs in

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Speaker 1: the Meat Eater studio right behind Steve's chair. I noticed

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Speaker 1: it for the first time. Last month when I was

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Speaker 1: there hosting Radio Life, I asked my friend Randa Williams

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Speaker 1: about it, and he couldn't find the source, but thought

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Speaker 1: it was possibly a portion of a forward to a book. Regardless,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to read it to you now as it

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Speaker 1: had quite an effect on me. And here it is.

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Speaker 1: In describing seeing his children newly born, he wrote, far

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Speaker 1: from being young, as young as a human being can be,

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Speaker 1: they seem immensely old. They're foreheads and features streamlined by time,

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Speaker 1: as archaic and smooth as the heads of pharaohs in

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Speaker 1: Egyptian sculpture, as if they had traveled an immense distance

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Speaker 1: to find their parents. Then in a second they became young.

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Speaker 1: I like to thank all of you for listening to

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Speaker 1: us here on the Beggaris Channel. Clay Lake and I

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Speaker 1: we really really appreciate it. Good luck to everyone out

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Speaker 1: chasing deer. If you're sitting in a tree, do yourself

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Speaker 1: and your family and friends of favor where a safety

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Speaker 1: right please, And there's a young and somewhere who would

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Speaker 1: like to go to disass Until next week. This is

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Speaker 1: Brent Reed signing off. Y'all be careful