As we stood at the pizza counter picking out our toppings, Jack looked over at me in my insulated camo jacket and asked if I might not want venison on my slice. He has pointed out that, after only 14 months in the state, I am now probably more Missouri than he is. 
... 17-year-old Megan Perotti texts the news of her successful hunt to her friends while her father, Brad Perotti, prepares to field dress her 8-point buck, near Paris, Mo., November 14, 2009.
I did, of course, grow up in a hunting state, so all this talk of deer and ducks isn't completely foreign to me, but the last month or so has definitely provided me with far more hunting experience than I'd ever been exposed to before. My ultimate conclusion is that the sport is primarily about sitting around and waiting for something to happen. As one of my subjects observed, that is why it is called "hunting" and not "killing".
I'm nearly done with the actual picture-taking for both my picture story and electronic photojournalism (EPJ) classes, though I'm still hoping to get in one more element with a father and daughter at a local handgun shooting range. I'd also like to print out some of the images and sit down for a little photo-elicitation with each of my father/daughter pairs for the picture story project. I wish I'd figured out earlier on what my focus for that project was going to be, but this is after all a learning process, so I'm trying to not be too hard on myself. I'm still a little fuzzy on what the EPJ final project will look like, but as in each semester thus far, these things have a way of working themselves out just in the nick of time.
.... Shawna, left, and Brenna Scott participate in a Missouri Department of Conservation youth duck hunt, Oct. 31, 2009.
... Missouri Department of Conservation youth guide Jarrod Pantaleo checks the time while 12-year-old Kasay McNail waits patiently in a deer blind in hopes of seeing a deer, Oct. 31, 2009. After nearly four hours, a doe stepped into the clearing and she was able to make a clean shot.
