We raked in the Christmas gift cards this year.  On Saturday we took the stack and made the trek into “the big city” to see what we could find.

Our first stop was Barnes and Noble where we spent a good hour and came out with a stack of new reads to last us all at least  a month.

Macy’s would have been our second stop but we decided to forgo the mall on a busy Saturday afternoon.

Instead we stopped at  Cabela’s.

If you’re not familiar with it, it’s an outdoorsman’s dream store (read: lots of hunting and fishing gear).  As we are neither hunters nor fishers, we seldom find ourselves in Cabelas.  But Jack won a gift card at our Christmas Eve white elephant auction and we thought we’d see if he could find something to spend it on.

I run the risk of offending someone out there with this post.  (A few that I know well, in fact. ) So, if you are a serious hunter, STOP READING.

If you’ve read this blog for very long you know I’m a city girl at heart as are the rest of us.  We’ve lived here in Idaho for about 8 months. Certainly not long enough to develop an appropriate appreciation for the “art” of killing animals for sport.  For necessity, I can understand.  But I don’t think I’ll ever appreciate hunting for sport.  Ever.  Did I say ever?

As a family we love to watch Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel together.  The death of Steve Erwin elicited a period of mourning at our house.  The zoo is a favorite destination as is any natural history museum.  Jack started collecting animal figures at a young age and has hundreds of them now.  His favorite books since he started  reading, at age 4, have been animal encyclopedias.  His knowledge of the animal world is astounding. He can spout off the status of any rare or endangered species on the spot. In short, we love animals of every kind.

So here we stood in Cabelas, gift card in hand, surrounded by the art of taxidermy, middle aged rotund men with goatees and flannel shirts pushing camoflage-laden carts , with the sounds of random duck calls overhead.   A fish out of water was the term I’d use to describe how I felt (Although being a fish in or out of water in that store would get me skinned alive and eaten or stuffed and mounted, neither of which I’d prefer). So let’s just say we were out of our element.

But we had to spend that gift card so off we went  to “hunt” for something unhunting-ish.

Here is just a sampling of what we found to choose from:

Who wouldn’t love a beautiful Black Hills Gold pendant of the food source you’re looking to hunt, kill, and eat?  I guess it makes sense.  I’d probably wear a pendant of an adorable Sprinkles cupcake.  I guess it could also pass for Rudolf at Christmas time.  But Jack passed on it anyhow.

We actually all tried on one of these coonskin caps.  Visions of next year’s family Christmas card picture danced in our heads.  But just for a moment. Then we continued on our “hunt” for something unhunting-ish.

What an adorable baby doll all dressed in camoflage so he doesn’t scare away the target when you take him up in the mountains on your next hunting trip.  Good thinking!  Not being “into” dolls, Jack passed on this as well.

It’s true.  Our Netflix queue has been sparse lately but not sparse enough to watch 18 thrilling bowhunts! ( As bad to the bone as they may be)

OK, Jack.  If you’re not into dolls, how about action figures? This would go perfect with Jack’s collection of common and exotic animals.  Just stick this guy in the animal bucket and when he’s finished we’ll have a little more space in the playroom for other toys.  (Wouldn’t the orange vest give him away though?  I don’t get it).

I believe this is a Cabelas exclusive item.  Mounted Jackalope Fighting Bucks.  Jack’s got some extra wall space in his room.  It could even double as a towel rack for practical purposes.  But Jack informed us that Jackalopes are not real animals.  So that was a no go.

I lost interest in our “hunt” for something unhunting-ish after that and took the little boys to the aquarium to watch them feed the bass.  I thought that’d be a fun and educational experience.  Little did I know that  in addition to feeding the fish fish food and worms, they release live goldfish as well.  We watched those lumbering mean bass taunt and chase  the cute little goldfish around the aquarium until finally catching them and swallowing them whole.  I was ready to go home.

Wanna know what Jack finally spent his gift card on?

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This:

He bought a turkey decoy to “put out in the pasture to attract other turkeys, foxes, and wildlife so we can watch them”.    I’d say we accomplished our goal of hunting for something unhunting-ish at Cabelas.

Even though he scares me every time I pull into the driveway, he’s kinda cute.  I think we should name him.

Happy Wednesday!