Wildlife Game Masters

just something i wanted to share. this is the time of year that we think about the ones that cant be hunting with us anymore here is mine. good luck to all.

the 2008 deer season started pretty bad for me archery was a bust and i didnt see a legal deer in gun season. it was also the first season that my dad wasnt with me. he had not hunted for a few years but i could always take my deer to show him(he passed away late december 2007). he had seen every deer i have ever shot up to that point. there wasnt a night i wasnt sitting in my stand that i thought if i get one he wont be there for the pics. well i trudged on. with archery and gun season gone i thought well i can try and take a doe with my flinter. i had not had much sucess with it but i thought oh well. on christmas morning i opened up my gifts with my family and the last one i opened was a brand new muzzle loader a hawken. man was i surprised you couldnt get the smile off my face with a wire brush. with not much time to fool with loads and bullets i took it out back and used the same load and bullet i had been using in the old gun that i couldnt hit the broad side of a barn with. well the first shot at 75 yds was high and right 1.5 inches. i thought no way i did that so i fired again. it hit just beside it. i adjusted the site and i was high an inch and dead center so i was ready for the next morning. i found myself sitting in a tree i had hunted many times and was waiting for a deer. well at daylight a doe came out at 15 yds i pulled up and something said dont shoot. a second later a buck came into view it wasnt legal. i thought oh well at least i saw a buck in the late season. a minute later another buck appeared it was legal and a small 7 pt. it came to within 10 yds and stopped right where i needed it to. i shot it ran a short distance and was down. now im not a religious man but i believe in the hunting world there are spirits that help you and my dads spirit was with me that day. it was him that did that one last push to get his little boy a buck on one of the most improbable days of the season. i am man enough to tell you that i shed a tear that day and said a special thanks to my dad for teaching what he knew and letting me become the hunter and father that he always was in my eyes.

nice story!

Well treestand, I am man enough to say that I am a little teary eyed myself after reading your story.  It brings back memories of all the hunts I shared with my father and grandfather who is no longer with us.  Tomorrow morning I will be heading to the same stand that I started hunting in 24 years ago with my Grandad and my Father.  This time it will be with my two oldest sons.  Two years ago when my oldest son Reice took his first deer from the same stand that I took my first deer, I know people didn't see it on camera, but there were some tears of joy that day.  I know my grandad was somewhere looking down smiling and all I could think about was how proud he would have been.  I am sure he would have had a little comment something to the effect of " It took your dad a hell of lot more shots than that before he got one!"  I had a nack for missing when I was younger.  Still do for that matter.  But grandad would head to the next patch of woods and try to push another one to me.  That is what hunting is all about.  Spending the time with our family and friends and remembering the ones who are no longer with us.  We take their spirit and the knowledge they gave us with us everytime we head outdoors.  It is our job to pass that knowledge on, while adding to it, to our children.   Good luck to you tomorrow treestand and to all those taking to the woods.  Enjoy the day and create memories.  

great story