In the bleak midwinter
Irealize, for the perfectionists among us, that we are not yet into mid-winter, but if this past weekend was any indication, we are close enough to it to suit me. Gosh, we have had a few bitter days. I still love living in a place where we get to enjoy all the seasons, but I am beginning to like the warmer seasons a bit better than the cold ones.
My roommate is happy that deer season is over. I talked to Frank Huff the other day at the post office. He said that morning he was having breakfast at the Country Café and there were eight hunters in there, who had been hunting that morning, and not one of them had even seen a deer.
My personal experience is much the same. I hunted hard enough and long enough to get some meat in the freezer, but in all the times I went out, I saw only one yearling. That’s crazy. Normally, you see a mature doe and one, two or three little ones following her around. Not this year. I can’t honestly say that it is the coyotes or the required killing of does that the Board of Supervisors put on the hunters for the last two years, but something has taken a mighty toll.
We need to ask the Board how they are monitoring the Earn-A-Buck provision they put in place. What sort of measurement criteria do they have in place to know if they have succeeded or failed? Who is following that, and what have been the results so far? I’m sure they wouldn’t just put a regulation in place and forget about it. Would they?
My suspicion and fear is that they have done absolutely nothing to track the results of the regulation that requires killing a doe for every antlered deer you harvest. I hope I’m wrong. And, if they put the regulation in place because of the comments of one citizen, who was planting a huge vineyard, who may or may not even live in the county, then how many citizens do they need to tell them they made a mistake and they ought to remove it?
Anyway, I hope you had a wonderful holiday. Our Christmas couldn’t have been much better. No, I didn’t get the little two-seat BMW convertible I asked Santa for, but I guess it was too much to get down the chimney. But, our children and the grandkids, now aged 2, 4, 6 and 8, seemed to have enjoyed the season. I have eaten so much good stuff, from oysters to old ham to turkey and all sorts of pies and cakes, that now all I want to wear are my baggy, stretchy work-out pants. I guess I should have made my standard New Years’ resolution to exercise more and eat healthier, but it doesn’t do much good just to make the resolution and then forget about it. And that is what I usually do.
Here’s hoping you have better luck with your resolutions and the New Year brings you good health and happiness. I would wish you wealth, but you already live in Rappahannock County. That’s the biggest blessing I could wish for you. Take care of it, and God bless you and yours in the coming year.