Oh Deer! Hunting Memories

 

The Westra siblings and other Norman Grandchildren remember the antlers hung up in the home on Spring Hollow Drive (in the basement family room, in the garage). We knew Grandpa Norman had been a hunter, although we weren't as familiar with that as we were his fishing.  There are a few photos of Grandpa Rex and some successful hunts. Chris shared these pictures in May2020 and it brought up some memories ...

Mom/Margie: My dad's side of the family was big into hunting. He looks maybe young married years. I don't remember them ever using horses. I think my Mom's side of the family were hunters also?? But my dad went with the Norman side. I remember being up the mountain sitting in the car with Aunt Norma and her girls, while the men and boys hunted on the mountain. We would eat the giant Hershey bars. And when one of the gals needed to go to the bathroom, the others would hold up a blanket around them because you never dared go off into the trees because hunters might be there and see you or shoot you thinking you were a deer! he guys would try to shoot bucks, rather than does. They loved getting a "4 pointer" (better than a 2-pointer)---that meant the number of antlers on each side. This photo with the horse looks like the deer was a "3 pointer." I remember they would hang the dead deer upside down from a tree at Herb and Louella's place, where they would skin in. And then have to cut it into pieces and wrap them in white butcher paper and label them to freeze the venison. He also hunted pheasant and ducks and geese. With the game birds, I remember in back of our Murray house, Dad would pluck the feathers from the bird, then singe it over a fire and it smelled terrible. Since they were killed with shotguns, they would have to pick out all the shot in the bird. Seems like a great deal of work for both the venison and the game birds! When it came to fishing, we went with mom's side of the family. I remember the fun times camping with cousins in the mountains. I preferred the fishing to the hunting.

Merrill: I can shed some light on the photo with the horse, as I once discussed it with dad. Antlers from this deer were prized by dad as one of the largest he ever shot. He saved them and passed them on to me. I can’t explain why, but I have saved them and they are in our basement in storage. I believe this picture was taken shortly after I was born and dad had returned from the military – I would guess it was taken between 1945 and 1947. He was hunting with his father and brothers when they still had access to horses to help extract deer from difficult to retrieve from locations. I think this one was taken in the mountains above Mt. Pleasant. Dad was also very complimentary of his father’s strength. He has told me that his father was extremely strong for his height. He described his father placing a heavy deer on his back and carrying it long distances to where they had left their vehicles.

Nelva: Mom/Zada was probably still in her twenties in that photo. I remember my dad bringing home a deer and hanging it from a tree in front of my Norman grandparents house where they skinned it. I helped and thought it was pretty cool.

Any additional hunting memories or photos?