I’ve snacked on venison and I’m not afraid of live bait

For the most part, I grew up in the country. Rural southern Illinois to be exact. Each year my high school boasted “Drive your Tractor to School Day,” sponsored by the FFA (Future Farmers of America). Some of the smaller local schools canceled classes on the first day of deer hunting season. I remember going to my friends’ farm houses and riding pigs and horses, and even jumping off barn rafters into piles of hay. Fishing was a staple of my summers. Venison was its own food group during deer hunting season. And it was common to see pickup trucks with a dead deer hanging out the black and blood dripping down the road during the killing season.

So I had to smile when I read about the upcoming Dixie Deer Classic outdoor show scheduled this weekend at the N.C. State Fairgrounds. The 28th annual event features seminars on “Cooking Venison,” “Preparing your trophy for the Taxidermist,” and even something for the ladies: “Becoming an Outdoor Woman.”

Perhaps the highlight of the event will be the “bragging boards:”

Of course a visit to the Dixie Deer Classic would not be complete without seeing all the deer that are scored placed on display around the scoring room.

And I would be remiss in not sharing the details of how you too can have your deer head judged:

Getting your deer head scored at the Dixie Deer Classic is really simple; you just bring it with you. The price of admission includes scoring one deer head, so all you have to do buy your ticket to get in the show, and then take the deer head to Building Three, The Exposition Center. There you will find in the middle of the floor the “Fortress” or scoring room. The east side of which is the Check-In Counter, where you check in your trophy. This is also where you go to claim it when you are ready to return home. That’s it. Your trophy does not have to be a taxidermy prepared mount, we will score just the antlers on a skull or skull plate. We will NOT score sheds.

The event is sponsored by the Wake County Wildlife Club, a non-profit that promotes conservation and education and fund raising for hunter education, safety classes, wildlife research and more.

Anyone else ever live in a town where deer hunting season led to canceled classes and playing with pigs didn’t seem strange?