i had built a "bond" with a doe that year after year always seemed to "happen by" my stand after the shooting would get going. She'd come by in the late afternoon, not morning, like she could tell something wasn't right in the woods. She was never panicky, just meandering by, I think she might have been deaf-but I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on TV.

I guess the thing I liked about her was that, well I admit it, she was , well you might say "plump". Oh alright she was FAT. So I like 'em on the large side, it ain't a crime is it?

Well every year, year after year, she'd come by. Fatter and fatter. One day she came by and I saw a special kind of twinkle in her eyes that said to me, "You can share with me, I'm special. It's OK to share."

So as I shouldered my shotgun, I thought back to the day my Father had handed me that old Brenneke slug I had chambered. How he had said that the Germans were certainly some of the best enginerers in the world, and how their Rottweil slug would never disappoint a hunter if used properly. Then I stopped thinking and started "bonding", I created a special bond between her inner being, the hot lead and the brush behind where she had just stood. Yeah, we "bonded."

But once the smoke had cleared, the prayer was spoken and the meat was butchered the "bonding" began again. I bonded that meat with the BBQ grill, the oven, the chili in the crock pot. I "bonded" it during football games and at the races. I "bonded" it with Scotch Bonnet pepper sauces, BBQ sauces, some whiskeys and other assorted alcohol based tenderizers/marinades, Jamacian Jerk seasoning and even my boys "bonded" it with some KETCHUP! (YUK!)

Yeah, we "bonded" alright.

But the only real relevant question at this time is...........who's next?

I kinda like this bonding thing.

Uncle Matt (in IL)