The Check Stations are gone, but. . .

With the Telecheck system in place, the deer processor has replaced the check station for the place to hang out and watch deer come in. The spectacle at Meyer's in Lennoxburg is every bit the way it used to be-- crowds of people, lot's of deer. Ditto for the Farm Store in Willow.

If'n y'all are missing the check station, you ought to figure out some sort of event. Have a big buck contest at the old check station. Have the church bake sale, or the fireman's chili cookoff or something. Y'all have car shows in the summer, right? How 'bout a truck-with-a-dead-deer-in-it-show. All it would take would be:

1) The local paper donating an ad announcing it
2) A local park, a local store, or the old check station itself.
3) A few interested groups that would dovetail their fund raisers to coincide
4) Lots of trucks with dead deer in 'em
5) A few prizes to throw at the deer hunters, donated by local businesses.

I know places where the entire town turns out for Opening Day activities.
In one place, the town square gets filled. Women spend all morning cooking soup and baking pies for hungry hunters coming in. Rain or shine, warm or cold they do this-- the bad weather sort of adds to the occasion.

As Saint Meatoaf said, "And if the thrill is gone, then it's time to take it back! "


This isn't exactly deer related, but it just so happens that one of the big old catholic churches in Cincinnati had their big Italian dinner on the weekend of the KY Rifle Opener. For years, I used to come back from deer hunting, go down with wife #1, and bring home a big sack of Italian food-- best I ever ate. Italian food and deer hunting got to be a ritual in our house. I can assure you, that one church, doing its big fund raiser dinner on Opening Weekend WILL draw a tired, cold, wet, deer hunter out of the woods.

The other big event I can draw your attention to is the annual Turkey Festival in MacArthur, Ohio that coincides with the Ohio Spring Gobbler Season. All the years I hunted turkey in Ohio, it was a not-to-be-missed event. Events included a turkey calling contest and a turkey leg contest. In the latter, all the local politicians and businessmen stood behind a blind, and hiked up their pants so the judges could vote on the best set of turkey legs. There was even a Turkey Queen.