It’s rabbit season. It’s duck season. It’s time for the fall hunt.

The Saturday before Thanksgiving at first light I will start hearing multiple rifle shots echoing from the woodland and fields surrounding our small village. For the past few weekends, hunters have been in the woods participating in the “bow” hunt or setting-up and preparing their tree-stands for the opening weekend of the “gun” deer season. To cull the heard, our area participates in the “earn a buck” program – before a hunter shoots a stag, he has to shoot an anterless deer.

I find it interesting that the hunt takes place just after the rut. Shoot them just after they have had sex. Something very warped there.

As I live on the last street of town before a wooded area, I often have deer bedded down in my backyard, or in the summer nibbling at the hosta plants around the house. The season sometimes is year around, when one of these deer decides to bold across the road, a state highway in early morning, and it taken out by an auto. Not a pleasant site to find a carcass on your sidewalk in the morning. Not pleasant for the owner of the car either, as often it leads to over $1,500. in damages - a very expensive venison experience.

I’ve been told that there are two kinds of drivers in Wisconsin, those that have hit a deer and those that will.

Numismatically, there have been two types of hunting commemoratives. The first Society of Medallists issue from 1930 is titled Steady, and is a tribute to the bird hunter. It was sculpted by Laura Gardner Fraser. The second type of commemorative is the religious medals which honor St. Hubert, bishop of Leige, patron saint of hunters. His vision story is that while hunting a majestic stag, as he was about to shoot it with an arrow, the stag turns and Hubert sees a vision of a cross between his antlers and hears a message from the Lord. Very exciting stuff.

As one who spent a lot of time in the woods camping as part of the scouting program, I found that story interesting. I’ve also made the leap of good vs. evil to the modern movies in that Harry Potter’s patronis animal (protection spell) image is that of the stag, and the event where it first appears happens at a wooded lake.

Have a safe hunt.

George