A hunting we will go

Hey son, stop ice fishing and come over here.

I took my boy hunting today for fox and deer. He decided he wanted to try ice fishing since the lake was frozen so we found a good stick (his choice) and made an attempt. It did prove difficult for him however so he gave up and shouted so he could hear his echo instead.

Hello...hello...hello...hello

Daddy...daddy...daddy...daddy

"Now that's enough of that." said I.

"Yes, that is enough of that." said the boy.

"You sound like an echo!" I cried.

"I know!" he exclaimed.

"Lets go hunting deer." I said.

We soon found tracks.

We followed them closely. 

They led us into the woods through the bracken which lay underfoot in the snow.

We thought we found a den.

But we reckon this is just a shelter, probably bird cover for pheasants.

But then the boy had a notion we should follow a certain path. Trusting his instincts I followed him. He wanted to go and look at a fallen tree so off we went. As we approached the tree, an oak tree, blown over in the wind long ago, we noticed a lot of bracken wrapped around the stump. Then, suddenly a deer, Muntjak by the look of it, jumped out from behind the stump and leapt into a bounding run. It ran in an arc to our left, too fast for my camera. The boy and I watched excitedly as it ran to safety.

"Come on," I said eagerly,"let's go and see if its house is there."

"WOW," we both gasped, "a real deer den."

Then afterwards, once the excitement had died down, we edged away so as not to disturb too much of the ground round about the deer's range and I followed the boy once again to the frozen lake for a spot of echo shouting and some ice fishing.