Fall Hunt

It won't be long until deer hunting season is in full swing here in Wisconsin. I know the herd must be culled, but a sight I glimpsed a year back left me with mixed feelings.

Fall Hunt

A glut of does, eyes vacant,

strung up by their necks,

hang shoulder to shoulder

like a scene captured in sepia

of hunting prowess circa 1880.

Only a rusty pickup in the yard

and piecemeal building wrap tacked

on a tired looking homestead

betray today's time frame.

Gutted and butchered this bounty

would more than feed a multitude

of families for the winter.

Machismo sanctioned

by the State in northern forests.

On the plains buffalo, also, roamed

too numerous to count, once.

Marilyn Aschoff Mellor