Rural Missouri - November 2022 - 48

RM | OUTDOORS
T h e F a m i l y
t h a t h u n t s
t o g e t h e r
Deer season is family time
for many Missourians
photos courtesy Dave Deihl
by Jim McCarty | jmccarty@ruralmissouri.coop
o say Dave Deihl is a busy man would be an understatement.
As CEO of Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative,
he balances his time keeping the power reliable
and the rates affordable at the Kearney-based co-op
with the busy schedule of his wife, Christine, and teenagers,
Delaney and Dawson.
That's why the fall puts a smile on his face. He knows
deer season is coming soon, and with it family time at their
cabin in Slater on land that has been in his wife's family
for generations.
He says it's the camaraderie that drew him to hunting
at an early age and made him want to hang on to the old
cabin when his father-in-law passed away.
" The guys used to go out there and call it choir practice, "
he says with a grin. " And they would meet there and
cook a meal and smoke cigars and drink whiskey and tell
lies and, you know, all that good stuff. "
Dave, who grew up in Slater, learned to hunt from his
father at age 6. Since that time, he's only missed one season
in his 52 years. It was only natural that he would lead
his kids into the woods as soon as they were old enough.
" Life is really just about the memories you make, " he says.
" And, you know, it doesn't matter how much money you
have, or what you have. It's just the memories. "
Whether building deer stands, planting food plots or
just hanging out at the cabin, the family makes the most
48 RURAL MISSOURI | NOVEMBER 2022
T
The Deihl family - Dave, Delaney and Dawson - have been bonding
in blaze orange since the kids were old enough to carry rifl es. While
mom, Christine, doesn't hunt, she too spends time at the cabin.
of their days together, knowing that time is short and kids
grow up. Delaney is a member of the Smithville Dazzlers
dance team, while Dawson hopes to sometime help bring
Smithville another state championship as a center on the
football team.
" My daughter hunted with us early on, " Dave says. " And
of course, as she got older, she got busier, and couldn't
participate as much. But my son, he's foregoing a birthday
get-together because his birthday is the 30th of October.
And that's youth deer season. He never misses youth
season. We're able to take a bunch of his buddies down
and teach them how to hunt because they've never had the
opportunity. "
The cabin technically belongs to Dawson, age 13. " When
Christine's dad got ill, and they were trying to get the farm
all squared away, it was between him and his brother on
how to split the land. And Christine's dad asked if Dawson
would want the cabin, " Dave says.
If one good thing came out of the COVID-19 pandemic,
it was more family bonding time turning the cabin from a
shack into an outdoor oasis. What was once a rustic tworoom
cabin is now a comfortable abode, with a large addition,
metal siding, artistic porch rails and an outdoor living
room with a fi re pit. A pond refl ects the frequent beauty of
Rural Missouri - November 2022

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