My wife and hunting

My wife has little interest in hunting. She likes the meat in the freezer and is glad I enjoy it and that the kids enjoy it, but she doesn't really care to do it herself. That is kind of strange to me because she loves to hike, and climb trees and rocks, and get muddy, and fall in a creek, and all the outdoor kind of stuff like that. She loves to cook and eat animals, but would rather let someone else do the killing. BTW I don't mind cooking, but she is much better at it than I am. I can cook any ONE item and not do too badly, but when it comes to cooking two or more items at once and trying to get them all on the table at the same time I fail. Usually with smoke.

My wife's first hunting day is coming. My oldest is 9 and has taken 4 deer and 5 turkey in his short career. Number two is 7 and has taken his first deer and 3 turkey. So far, so good. I accompany one and my dad accompanies the other. Number three is going to go this fall (he may go turkey hunting this spring if I can get the time) and where does that leave us? It will be a few years before the oldest can hunt by himself.

One possibility is that I'll accompany two and my dad can take one. The other possibility is if my mom is up to taking care of number four, which means my better half could accompany one.

Option number two means getting my wife up to speed on recognizing the difference between whitetail deer and mule deer. Not a big deal during mule deer season - if it has antlers you can put it in the bag while ignoring antlerless deer - but during most of the season you have to make sure you shoot the right one. Twice last season I saw a whitetail doe with a herd of mule deer.

Maybe she can accompany the oldest because he's pretty good at sorting out the differences.