by John Jefferson
This isn’t about broken vows or harsh words. No slamming doors and broken hearts.
Instead, it could lead to exactly the opposite, and might even make married life a little bit better for both partners. It’s about the unspoken benefits of men going with other men to hunting camp, and the occasional reluctance of their wives to bless the event. The only leaving home will be temporary and possibly to mutual satisfactions. Read on.
In addition to shooting a deer, it’s also often beginning of a learning curve for some men. More goes on than just hunting, and some of the erroneously imagined happenings may be what causes some wives to resent their mates venturing afield. But there is little of that, if any. It’s really all about hunting and camp life.
I was invited to join a group of wildlife biologists on a hunt near the border years ago. Cartel bloodshed has curtailed much of the tourist trade in Mexico, today, but border towns flourished in those days.
We were staying on a ranch only 15 miles from the river, across which awaited unspeakable activities. In deer camp, there was lively and spirited man-talk during every moment around the campfire, skinning pole, and kitchen table, but it all involved hilarious accounts of comical hunting trips past, legendary bucks bagged (like the Brady Buck and the Dilly Monster), and other hunting related sagas. Not one word was ever uttered about the illicit pleasures just minutes away to the south. We were there to hunt, and the newbies in the bunch may not have anticipated the value of campfire camaraderie. It’s rich. And deep.
Since then, tales have included the time “Javelina” Spahn shot the plastic bug guard off Al Brothers’ pickup truck’s radiator by not realizing his bullet would leave the barrel almost an inch lower than the view in his scope showed. And my insurance agent has tired of my telling about him shooting out the window in my truck. Other tales have included the two cases of guys claiming they had shot award-winning bucks and implanting antlers in deer skulls which later were proven fake.
Valuable hunting talk is also shared – tips on bullet weights, calibers, firearms care, and techniques. I wasn’t much help in the kitchen, back then, so I washed dishes to do my part. I later graduated to doing some of the cooking. I also learned to keep my gear off the floor. And discovered that mops and brooms fit my hands – skills that some husbands still lack.
So, wives shouldn’t dread husbands going hunting. It may be the first time they learn they can do household chores, too.
Besides that, most wives also enjoy a little respite, themselves. And it gets him out of your hair long enough to get it colored, if you want to do that, or anything else that maybe you’ve been wanting to do by yourself or with other women.
After all, absence really can make the heart grow fonder.
JJ
