Great news if you're a male Heckendorn....

After waiting and talking and waiting and discussing and waiting........we finally found out yesterday that John drew for an elk hunt in September. Joshua is beside himself with excitement. He has been anxious since May when John applied for the hunt, so I thought we might have a respite from the hunting discussions. Not to be. Now, he is already planning what Momma needs to make for him - all in camo colors of course. :) It will be a bow hunt which means chances will be a bit slimmer of actually bagging an elk. John has explained that, but it has dampened the excitement one bit. This hunt is a cow or bull, but John has already told Joshua that he will only kill a bull. That is fine with him as he plans on breaking all hunting records for the largest elk, and then we will proudly mount the head over the fireplace. Not sure how that will fit, but I suppose we can solve that issue later. In a lot of ways, I hope they get an elk. One, I would like some sausage from the elk. Better for you than pork, but tastes better than deer. Second, John is really hoping that Joshua sees that hunting isn't all fun. Yes, it provides food for the family, but it is a lot of work. Mostly, though, we want him to fully realize that an animal dies when you hunt. That sounds funny, but I am so shocked and amazed at how many young people do not fully understand where that burger or those chicken nuggets come from. They don't realize what it takes to get that milk or those eggs to the store. As far as they're concerned, that food simply comes from the market. When we have friends over, their children are amazed that we can get milk from a cow, but they're even more amazed that we drink it (this is especially shocking if they have seen the calf enjoying a bit of momma before we milk her). Our children have talked about butchering so and so, only to find out their young friends have no idea that we would really kill that four legged critter in the corrals. One friend asked them why we don't just go to the store instead. My children said it's the same thing and explained the beef market plan of America to them. I shouldn't be surprised, though. The first time we fed corn on the cob to our children, one of them asked how they get the corn on there. John realized that we hadn't done a very good job explaining all those veggies we eat (I never can get the corn to produce in the garden, so I take full responsibility).

I suppose it's just a sign of the times. We have become such a specialized nation with each of us only doing that one thing that we're good at - mortgages, teaching, music, banking, business, engineering, etc, that we have forgotten so much of what takes place each day in other sectors. I'm just as guilty. That is why I do hope that Joshua can get a bigger picture on this hunting trip. It will be fun. We'll enjoy the meat, but I pray that he sees things a big differently after September and can keep things in perspective. Just one of the many things in life to learn.