Will ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ catch buck fever, too?

I do not take part in hunting. And since Aaron took up hunting last year, Madeline and I are now the only ones who don’t hunt on my side of the family.

She has an excuse - she’s two.

I, on the other hand, just don’t want to. I’m not into it.

Being a country girl at TSC

But do I support it? Yes, I do.

I think hunting is a great activity for young and old and I actually hope my daughter gets into it someday. She can sit in the woods with her dad, or any number of family members who are anxiously awaiting the youth hunt of 2018.

By the time she’s 10, she certainly won’t be a stranger to hunting and the great outdoors. She’s already posed for a picture with her uncle and a big, fat turkey and she has also seen the excitement of pheasant hunting with dogs scurrying about.

Just yesterday, when I told her daddy was hunting after work, she said, “For deer?”

“Yes,” I said.

“He’s going to shoot ‘em,” she informed me.

“He is? Err... I mean, yes, he is,” I said.

“But he’s not going to hurt them,” she said.

“Uhh... right,” I said.

“They’re all friends,” she said.

I changed the subject to spaghetti.

The perspective of a 2-year-old tot never ceases to amaze me. Everybody is her “friend” and everything has a positive, happy result. She’s “Little Miss Sunshine” through and through.

Ready to roll

I’m not sure - and I have often wondered - what she’ll say when she sees a dead deer hanging in the garage. After all, it’s a sight she needs to get used to.

When I was little, I remember getting off the school bus several times and seeing a big deer hanging in the garage.

Gross? Maybe - but it also meant my mom would be making some venison pepper steak soon and that made the scene much more acceptable.

Hopefully, pepper steak has the same power of persuasion over my daughter as well.

As I write this, the family hasn’t yet bagged a buck during firearm deer season... or a doe, either. Perhaps that will change by the time the newspaper hits the stands.

That means I have a little more time before I find out how “Little Miss Sunshine” reacts to a big ol’ deer in the garage.

If I know her, she’ll be happy to pose for a picture with it. “Little Miss Sunshine” is always positive, but she also isn’t scared of much.