Putting food on the table.
Via Clarion Ledger:
Like any good southern hostess, Bertha Vickers of Morgantown greets her guest with a pot of coffee and home-baked cake. She offers me a seat at the heart of most homes, the kitchen table.
As we sit and talk I can’t help but think how strange our conversation is becoming. After all, it’s not every day I talk with women about Browning shotguns, deer hunting and wading in rivers while fishing. It’s also the first time I’ve had that conversation with a woman who will celebrate her 100th birthday in a few days and harvested her most recent deer only a couple of weeks ago.
“It’s just over here across the creek about three or four miles,” Vickers said. “One of my neighbors invited me to come sit in a (shooting) house.
“I got to watch birds and squirrels until nearly dark. The first evening the deer came out and I was getting the cross-hairs on the deer and his dog barked. He let out a howl and the deer took off.”
But Vickers was in the stand the following afternoon.
“The next evening two came out,” Vickers said. “They were getting close to where I wanted to shoot.
“I was sort of shaking until I got ready to shoot. I didn’t think it was all going to go right.”
Fortunately, everything did go right. Vickers touched off her .243 Winchester rifle and her shot was perfect.
More than just a doeIt was also a shot that was heard around Facebook. A photo was posted of her with the doe and messages of congratulations to the centenarian poured in. Although she has little knowledge of computers and social media, family members showed her the reactions on Facebook. They were reactions that only a woman like Vickers would not be able to understand.
“I don’t know why everybody is making such a big deal about it,” Vickers said. “If I’d killed a big buck I could see it, but it was just a doe.”