Note: With the exception of the author, this will be a turkey-free column.
Tens of thousands of deer hunters took to the field yesterday under the skies we wish for when the Orioles first take the field.
The opening day of firearms season started frosty but quickly warmed to shirt-sleeves weather. After years of too hot and too cold (with the occasional snow flurry to give us something to whine about), the weather gods delivered the goods.
And hunters delivered, too.
At Austin's Deer Processing, a 10-point buck shot in Talbot County was dropped off before the butchers could finish their first cups of coffee. From then on, it was a steady stream of hunters, ranging from delighted first-timer Matt Preble of Glen Burnie to Joe Joisy of Dundalk, who killed an eight-point, 153-pound buck but was quick to say he had taken a bigger buck with a bow last week in Prince George's County.
After getting skunked last year on the family farm in Frederick County, Preble was sure early on he was headed for a repeat performance.
His two hunting buddies were seeing does everywhere from nearby stands, but Preble was seeing only his breath.
"I was thinking, 'Wow, this is going to be another one of those years,' " the young federal worker said. "Then I turned, and 25 yards to my left, he stopped and stared back at me."
The buck, a seven-pointer, wasn't huge, but it will provide a freezer full of roasts, steaks and tenderloins for Preble and his wife, Tammy.
"We hunt to eat," said Tammy, a part-time worker for the Anne Arundel Parks and Recreation Department who can't wait to make a Norwegian venison roast with goat cheese.
But she had another reason to give thanks: "I'm so excited because I thought we'd be out there all day long."
Matt Preble said he would spend the rest of the weekend watching football and polishing his hunting story for co-workers tomorrow morning.
"He'll be talking about it all day long," his wife said, before reconsidering. "No, he'll be talking about it for months."
Brian Eyler, the head of the Department of Natural Resources' deer management program, spent the morning taking tissue samples that will be tested to determine whether chronic wasting disease has invaded Maryland's herd of more than 225,000 deer.
