A Mix of Emotions

By Marylyn Cork

Autumn is my favorite season. Nothing blesses my soul quite like crisp fall mornings, the tang of wood smoke in the air, golden days and blazing colors. It also brings the hunters out.

But I have mixed emotions about hunting season. Sometimes it seems that everyone in northern Idaho hunts except me. I gave it up when my children were very young. Somebody had to stay at home with the kids.

Hunting season was often a nuisance in various ways. For one thing, the weather is not always dry. I am picky about my house and I did not enjoy cleaning up the messes my hunters usually managed to track inside. Also, hunting can take a lot of time away from the family.

I worried, too, that I might wound and not cleanly kill my target, and I could not bear the thought of causing an animal to suffer.