End Of Season Chores

It was early Saturday morning and my wife and kids were still sleeping. I had been up for an hour at the kitchen table sharpening knives when my seven year old daughter Matti quietly came in, hugged me and sat at my side, trying to wake up. “Daddy, what are we going to do today?” she asked. The “to do list” on the wall read; sweep the patio, rake leaves, clean the garage, fix the faucet, hang the shelf, change the lightbulbs, and the list continued. “I’m not really sure, but we’ll be busy doing something,” I said. A few minutes later she told me “Mommy said she’s happy you’re home because you can get some things done around the house now that you’re done hunting.” I forced a fake smile and thought to myself, just because I’m not fishing or hunting doesn’t mean that it’s time to do chores.

Matti sat quietly, slowly waking up watching my every move without saying a word. I wondered what she was thinking. Meanwhile, I was trying to come up with a good excuse not to do the chores that had been piling up all deer season and I began to come up with some pretty good excuses. “As soon as Mommy gets up we’ll see,” I said.

January is typically a time of year that sportsmen are winding down their activities. Deer season is near its end and fishing won’t really turn on for about six weeks. But don’t get the impression that there’s a lot of time to do chores around the house, because there are still things to be done.

First off, if you have ever considered supplemental feeding your deer, now is the most critical time of year to do so. Although most parts of Texas have received lots of rain in the past six months and the habitat is in decent shape, deer need the proper nutrition right now. Bucks are run down from the rut and their body weights have dropped as much a 25%. It is this post rut time of year that takes the life of many a good buck due to the fact that they are run down or stressed. If you want your deer to be in the best shape they can be for next hunting season, start feeding now. The faster they actually put back on their body weight, the better.

Much has been written about supplemental feeding deer and still many questions remain. The folks with Legends Deer Feeds have a free brochure that will answer just about any question a person may have about supplemental feeding deer. To receive a free guide about supplemental feeding deer visit their website at www.legendsdeerfeeds.com.

Hunters may also want to take this time to do some needed repairs to the deer camp. Things always need repair and it’s a lot cooler now than it will be in July, when most of us make the time to do these chores.

Take advantage of the explosion in the wild hog population this time of year. Hogs are easily baited in January and February due to poor range conditions. They are fun to hunt and great to eat. For more detailed information on baiting, trapping and hunting hogs there is a videotape available called “Hog Hunting Tactics”. This 52 minute video is full of great information and is highly entertaining. For information on how to purchase this video visit our website at www.huntingandoutdoor.com.

I had just finished putting up the knife sharpening tools when my wife came in. Sheepishly I wondered what chore she wanted me to do first, hoping that I’d be able to come up with a legitimate excuse. About a half hour later she said, “what do you want to do today?” I was quick to reply, “anything you’d like me to do” with a smile, thinking to myself, don’t look at your list on the wall. She walked toward the long list and I knew I was in trouble. Suddenly she turned around and said, “lets go check the deer feeders, we don’t want them to go hungry. We can get started on the list later, but lets go have some fun”. It turned out to be a pretty good day, until we got back home. Then the work began.