Katie's Hunting Adventure

So to start out this little blog, I'm gonna tell a story that my brother told me yesterday.

My niece, Katie, is about 11 years old and a few days ago, she went on her first hunting trip with her father. They climbed up a tree stand and sat in the dark quietly, listening to the silence of the woods and fields. After a few minutes, she whispers "Daddy, I'm hungry." to which my brother whispers a reply, "Katie, we just got here. You've got to be quiet." Another minute or two passes, when Katie says again, "Daddy, I'm hungry. Can I have a Pop-Tart?" "Ok, they're in the backpack." The sound of muffled and not-so-muffled rustlings came from next to him, then he heard the foil wrapper of the Pop-Tart - crinkle, crinkle, crinkle. "Here, let me have that," he whispers over to her. As quietly as he could, he ripped the foil open with his teeth and handed her the Pop-Tart. A few minutes later, after happily munching on the treat, Katie whispers, "Daddy, can I have the binoculars?" "No, Katie, it's too dark. You can't see anything." A few more minutes pass in silence. "Can I have the binoculars?" she whispers patiently. "Ok, they're in the backpack. Here." And my ever patient brother hands the binoculars over to her. After a few minutes, she sets the binoculars between them. "

"Can I have the antlers?" "Katie, they're for bow season. You can't use them now." "Can have the antlers, though?" she whispers back at him. "Ok, here they are. Rub them gently together and the bucks will think it's another buck and that there's a female here." Clack, crash, bash. "Katie, that's too loud. Here, let me put them away." And then Katie knocks the binoculars off the platform as she hands the antlers over. My brother climbs down, gets the binoculars, and places them back between them on the platform. Another minute or two of silence.

"Daddy, can I have the grunt call?" "Katie, that's for bow season. That won't work now." "But can I try it, Daddy?" "Ok, here it is. Blow softly on it." A loud mooing, like a sick moose can be heard all throughout the distance. All chances of seeing a deer now long past, he takes the call from her when she's finished and puts it away. "Daddy, I'm gonna sneeze." "Ah, Ah, Ah..." "See, Daddy, I didn't sneeze." she whispers as she knocks the binoculars over again.

To which he quietly replied, "Katie, I think it would've been quieter if you had."