Why is this Pen so Special to me?

 

My family has a tradition of hunting every spring—for shed. Shed is the antlers that drop from the local mule deer bucks every spring. They are usually found first by small rodents who gnaw on them for the calcium and minerals and to sharpen their teeth. 

One spring day I was walking my son’s beagle mix in my neighborhood. I spotted movement to my right up a small hill in the forest. There he was. A one-antlered buck was concentrating on something in front of him and did not notice we were watching him. Abruptly he snorted, sprinted forward, and tossed his head into the air under a low hanging pine tree branch. Smack! And Wow!  He sprinted away and we walked over to see what he had been doing to make such noise.  What we found was an antler complete with small dots of blood where it had been attached to his skull.  As the blood supply to their antlers diminishes, the skin underneath begins to itch. This triggers the deer to rub their antlers on trees to rid themselves of the old set. This deer had taken a more drastic action and I got to witness it!  I always knew that they shed their antlers every year and we were always excited to find one or two in the wild. This time, however, I witnessed it falling. What a gift.

Fast forward several months. My father-in-law had purchased a pen-making kit and was enjoying his new hobby. He first mastered wooden pens and then wanted to branch out to make antler pens.  Before the holidays he asked us to buy or find some antlers for him to use. Well, I had an antler for him!  I gave him my antler and told him the story of witnessing it being shed.  When I opened my Christmas gift from him there it was!  He made me a pen from my very special antler.

 

Today it is doubly special to me. The pen is a reminder of that amazing day when it was gifted to me by the mule deer AND it is a reminder of the love gifted to me by my father-in-law who has passed.