have i mentioned it is hunting season?

On the very morning my beloved and I were leaving for our trip to Ireland this past spring, the very first words he said to me when he awoke were:

"I drew a mountain goat tag!"

What?  No, "Darling, I can't wait to go on this once-in-a-lifetime vacation with you!"

His focus was completely on this once-in-a-lifetime tag for a mountain goat that he received an email about late the night before.  You see, Utah has a lottery system for the hunters who would like to hunt some of the more rare big game such as moose, bison, big horn sheep, and mountain goats.

These are true once in a lifetime tags, for each hunter can only pull the tag once.  Unless, say, perhaps, that said hunter puts a wife's son's name in the lottery at a later date!

So, after a successful deer hunt and an intermittent and often revisited pursuit of an elk, the day of the big goat hunt arrived and my husband and eldest son were off to the mountain tops where these placid white goats dwell.

And a quick look from me that shouts, "Really?  You're going hunting again?"

My Beloved often reminds me that we are raising men, and not girls.  So, the "man time" that these hunting trips provides just can't be replicated by all the time and attention in the world from Mom.

Exhibit A:

So these goats were given the first name "mountain" for a reason.  Check out where my men went to find them.

 

 

And at the end of four long days of stalking these herds of billy goats,
TA-DA!!:

You can see above that my man is elated and looks ten years younger than his age.  His little hunting buddy, however, is exhausted and can't muster a smile.  Only a "number one" for that once-in-a-lifetime hunt.

He wasn't flipping us off.

Anyone have any yummy goat stew recipes out there?  Kenyon will make room of his office wall for this guy in a few months, but he will be in our tummies in just a couple of weeks.