Hunters Beware

My eldest is an inquisitive child, which is a good thing.  Actually, it's a great thing, but quite honestly sometimes I don't know how to answer his questions.  I don't know if I should answer him honestly or if I should shield him from the truth.  He is still little after all.  However, sometimes he seems much older than his age.  The other afternoon, the four of us were in the car together and he asked something about he and his sister dying first and whether or not we would be sad.  Good grief!  Talk about a depressing conversation.  I started to answer, but Mark stopped me.  I guess he could tell I was about to tell him how I hoped that I was the one to go first.  I guess in that moment, Mark thought that he was in fact too little for the truth.  See, I told you we just fit.  So today, we have a conversation about animal heads.  You know, the ones that people  hang on the wall as trophies?  That is so strange to me, but then again I'm not a hunter.  I do find the whole idea of a dead carcass hanging on the wall to be a little creepy, but hey everyone has different tastes.  Ok, so our conversation went a little something like this:

"Mommy, are those animals heads that hang on the wall in ranchrants real?"  (ranchrant = restaurant)

"What heads are you talking about Jack?"

"You know, the ones that are hanging on the wall in ranchrants sometimes.  Are those real animals?"

I am thinking to myself, "what the heck?  why in the world is he thinking about dead animals hanging on the wall?"

"Well, Jack yes sometimes they are real.  Seems kind of strange huh?"

"Yeah, it really is strange, but I just know that someone just found a dead animal and then hung it's head up there.  No one would go out and kill an animal just to hang in on the wall.  No one would do that."

I decided that I would just be quiet and see if he continued or if he would let it go.  Thank goodness he dropped it because I wasn't sure that I cared to get into the whole hunting discussion.  I realize that people need to eat and there is the whole population control thing, but considering the fact that I don't eat a lot of meat myself, nor do I hunt, I probably wasn't the best person for him to ask.

So for all you hunters out there, always tell my child that you just happened upon a dead animal that you wanted to hang up on your wall.  It is just better that way.