The next 9 days, especially the weekends that "bookend" it, are a sort of official/unofficial holiday in Minnesota. Rifle season for deer will be in full swing 30 minutes before the official sunrise on Saturday and the menfolk from my family will be wearing their blaze-orange best and creeping out to their stands an hour early so as not to spook the deer away from their stands. With some good luck, there will be a few less Bambis running in front of cars and ready to go to the meat market for our winter suppers by sundown. Hunting is good for a number of reasons:
Many hunters suffer from what is affectionally known as Buck Fever. They get pretty excited to shoot a deer and don't always think as clearly as they should. For this reason, runners, walkers and bikers need to be very cautious during rifle season. Until the season is finished, I will avoid running outside of city limits and always in bright clothing. I don't having anything brown that I normally wear running, but the fluffy ponytail could even be a danger. It's easy to run in city limits at home, but on the day of staff running club (still only 2 people), we usually head out on a wooded trail for part of our run. This week, we will stick to the city streets which is not as scenic, but definitely free of hunting activity. I won't be skipping any runs during deer season, just being smart about them. I'm meeting up with two friends very early Friday morning to squeeze in our long run before the opener so that I can run shorter on Saturday while the guys hunt. In addition to the made-up holiday of deer hunting, we also celebrate another DNR sponsored holiday known as walleye opener which almost always falls on Mother's Day. I suppose Marathon Monday (the Boston Marathon) is also a made-up holiday that I've celebrated before. Here are a few pics of deer the guys have tagged over the last few years. I always enjoy a good reason to celebrate holidays, even if it's kind of made up. What special days do you celebrate that Hallmark or the US Postal Service doesn't recognize? Share in the comments! Happy running--Missee
1 Comment
Sandie
11/2/2018 06:41:31 am
Good luck to all the hunters. Can’t wait to see the company coming. Any excuse to have company I embrace
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorMissee and Stephanie are two Minnesota sisters and moms who love to run. We are not experts in running, parenting or anything else, but we do have years of experiences that may be helpful or entertaining to others. Archives
May 2020
Categories |