I have known many happy times in my life, but never have I dared to rank them. Each one is as special as the other depending on the situation. I had another of those moments tonight. As most of you know, hunting is a family heritage and I have tried to pass that along to my sons, Evan and McCoy. McCoy has had some success hunting but has never taken a buck. Tonight, that changed. He had asked to go still hunting one day this week but we could not go Monday so today I went by to get him from school on my way home. We hurried home, packed up and left for the woods. A friend of mine, Jody, had told us that we could hunt a spot that he had picked out and cleared. Now, that is a good friend. We got settled down and waited….and waited…and waited. We killed time thumb wrestling, of which I won all, but it is getting harder and harder. We watched squirrels and laughed about nothing at all.
About 6:05 or so, McCoy saw a deer in the shooting lane and said “Daddy, it’s a doe.” I looked at it and told him that it was not, that it was a buck and to get ready to shoot him. I told him to relax and put the cross hairs behind his shoulder, although I am not sure if I was trying to calm him down or me! He fired his shot and I saw the deer buckle and leave the lane. I knew he was hit, but did not know how bad. I usually would want to give a deer about 30 or 45 minutes before I go to look for him, but the sun was setting and I had to go find him. We found the blood trail and tracked him through the woods for a short while by flashlight. We stopped once and McCoy told me he smelled something and then told me to turn around and the deer was lying not 15 yards from us. What followed afterwards is unexplainable. We high fived, fist pumped and knuckle hit while I laughed with excitement…again I think more so than he. I got the four-wheeler and brought the deer home to show off to everyone I had not already sent a picture message to!
I can not thank my friend, Jody, enough for allowing us to take advantage of all his hard work. Only those fathers that have gone through this can identify with my feeling of pride tonight.
