I can still see the cars parked on the street in front of Sawyer's Recreation in Fessenden. Many of the cars had dead deer straddled across the front fenders and tied in place while the hunters were in the bar telling tales of the big hunt.

I've thought of that many times since, and have witnessed similar scenes countless times. Deer are no longer tied to the front fenders of cars. For one thing, cars today don't have substantial fenders on which a deer could be tied. Secondly, nobody hunts deer in cars any more. Today they use four-wheel drive pickups. The poorest people use two-wheel drive pickups. These days many a pickup has been seen parked in front of the bar with dead deer in the back. It's a lot more handy than tying a deer to a fender, right near the engine which gives off significant amounts of heat. If you want the meat to be of the best quality, you want the deer to lose its natural body heat fast -- to cool down.

Back in the 1940s and 1950s roads in this area weren't anything like the roads we have today. They were muddy and many were merely trails.

Nevertheless, cars managed to get through. It would've been wonderful to have a four-wheel drive pickup back in those days. Nobody I can remember had one. If I remember right, the only auto manufacturer (other than Jeep) that made a four-wheel drive pickup was Chrysler Corp., which made the formidable Dodge Power Wagon. They were rare. I don't remember any farmers owning one. They were pretty much reserved for service station tow trucks and power company vehicles, which had to operate off the roads, such as they were.

Today the roads are excellent and four-wheel drive vehicles are everywhere now that they're not really needed.

Another thing that's changed is that there are many more deer today.

Deer were far fewer in numbers in this area before farmers began producing sunflowers. The deer found great feed and places to hide in the sunflower fields. The past year there's been a lot of corn planted around here and the deer love that, as well. Winters have been relatively mild the past 10 years, so there's been an explosion in the deer population.

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I used to hunt deer and slayed a good many of them. I always cut them up myself. One year when the boys were still at home I cut up and packaged five deer. It took me every weekend until Christmas to get the job done. That was the last year I hunted, probably about 20 years ago.

That was far more work than I wanted to endure again. Besides, I completely lost my desire to kill anything but flies and mosquitoes.

That's all the hunting I do these days.

But I'm glad someone's out there shooting the deer. There are far too many of them. I hope the hunters get every one of those rotten bastards that raided my garden over and over again this past summer.

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Here are some one liners of homespun theology that came in an e-mail:

Don't let your worries get the best of you; remember, Moses started out as a basket case.

Some people are kind, polite, and sweet-spirited until you try to sit in their pews.

Many folks want to serve God, but only as advisors.

It is easier to preach ten sermons than it is to live one.

The good Lord didn't create anything without a purpose, but mosquitoes come close.

People are funny; they want the front of the bus, the middle of the road and the back of the church.

Opportunity may knock once, but temptation bangs on your front door forever.

Quit griping about your church; if it were perfect, you couldn't belong.

If church members want a better pastor, they only need to pray for the one they have.

God Himself does not propose to judge a man until he is dead, so why should you?

Some minds are like concrete: thoroughly mixed up and permanently set.

I don't know why some people change churches; what difference does it make which one you stay home from?!

We were called to be witnesses, not lawyers or judges.

Don't wait for six strong men to take you to church.

Forbidden fruits create many jams.

God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

God grades on the cross, not the curve.

God loves everyone, but probably prefers "fruits of the spirit" over "religious nuts!"

God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage.

He who angers you, controls you!

If God is your co-pilot -- swap seats!

The task ahead of us is never as great as the Power behind us.

We don't change the message, the message changes us.

You can tell how big a person is by what it takes to discourage him.