Whitney Williams: Family bonding

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, February 21st. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Up next, WORLD commentator Whitney Williams takes us along on a family hunting trip.

AUDIO: [DEER STAND CREAKING]

WHITNEY WILLIAMS, COMMENTATOR: Twas the last weekend of deer season and all up in the stand, three children were astir, scaring every whitetail in the land.

AUDIO: That’s probably that…

…my husband said, staring out the front window of the blind. In other words, the hunt was shot. A lost cause due to our noise level, and he was done shushing.

“We’re splitting up tonight,” he told me, a serious look in his eyes. That evening would be our last chance to fill the freezer, so we needed to increase our odds. Our eldest had shot a nice buck earlier in the season, and my husband had taken a doe, but it would take more than that to feed our family for the year. We basically live off of venison.

My husband took the twins to Papa’s stand and my nine-year-old son and I returned to ours, about 15 acres away, around 3 p.m.—crunch time. Mission: Meat. Could we rise up to the challenge? Did we have what it took to do this without Dad?

We sat for hours reading and watching. Spooked a few does early on, trying to get the gun up. Then … the cows came. It wasn’t looking good.

Approximately 30 minutes before things got dark and hopeless, I spotted a group of deer across the creek. “Don’t move,” I whispered. If things weren’t already serious in our stand, they got that way quickly. Eyes peeled, gun ready, we waited for the group to draw closer.

My son picked out the biggest doe and waited patiently for her to turn broadside. And waited. And waited.

Just as I worried that my son might miss our last opportunity for the evening, for the season, he took the shot.

“Did I get her?” “I think you got her,” we whispered, but it was hard to be sure. You must understand—it all happens so fast, the grass was knee-high, and there were at least a dozen deer scattering in all different directions the moment he shot. We jumped out of the stand and ran across the field in her general direction, hearts racing.

She’d dropped immediately right where she’d stood. “I’m proud of you,” I commented, wrapping my arm around my 9-year-old and giving him a tight squeeze.

Now, don’t get me wrong, we both had better hunts under our belts, but this time we’d gone it alone. Together. And we felt this confidence surging inside us like we were survivors! Pioneers! Living off of the land, providing for our family, just a mama and her boy. And it felt good.

AUDIO: [TRUCK/TRAILER APPROACHING]

About ten minutes later, we spotted my husband’s Chevy bouncing our way and our hearts filled with pride as his front headlights shined upon us in all of our camouflaged glory.

Just two strange looking trees smiling beneath the stars.

WHITNEY’S HUSBAND: Y’all got the blind all closed up?

WHITNEY: Yep.

HUSBAND TO ELDEST BROTHER: Good job, Bubba!

I’m Whitney Williams.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.