Posted By: mcninja
Hunt of a lifetime (long and late post) - 12/17/13 10:24 PM
...And that is no exaggeration. On Sunday, my three-year old son Elijah and I slipped away to the farm for an afternoon hunt. Back-story: It was our fourth hunt of the season. The first two trips we saw multiple deer and a coyote (which I am ashamed to say I missed). The third trip my good buddy "El Matador" killed a nice doe right at dawn, so Eli got to experience his first kill, but we still hadn't had "success" in terms of putting a deer on the ground.
Sunday we got settled into a cozy box blind that El Matador and I built. Eli hadn't had a nap, promptly went to sleep on my lap, and started snoring like a freight train (he's been a little congested). Anyway, I started getting aggravated by the noise he was making, and kept stewing and stressing about work issues. It got to the point that I was actually pissed off while hunting with my son over a beautiful field on a gorgeous day.
While sitting there angry like an idiot, I had an epiphany (fancy word for the Good Lord clearing my simple mind). I said to myself, "Self, you are being retarded. You have a beautiful family, a great life, and are too wrapped up in selfish worries to see and appreciate all you have." So I started praying. I thanked God for the ability to provide for my family. I thanked him for the land to hunt on, and the food it provides. I mostly thanked him for my family and our health. (Without going into another long story, my wife was on her death bed less than a year ago. Today she is 100%). Our God is a God of miracles. After praying and thinking on these things, my whole attitude changed. I was blown away by the beauty of the stillness and quiet (minus the snoring) we were sitting in, and was just happy to be out hunting with my son.
Eli woke up after a spell, and said he had to pee. Figuring that his snoring had scared off every deer in the county anyway (but WITHOUT getting angry this time), I let him just pee in the corner of the blind (No, it doesn't have a floor). He finished, ploopped on my lap, and we just chatted about whatever came to mind. He was in that half-awake, peaceful, happy state that is perfect for cuddling with a toddler.
While sitting there whispering I saw a deer slipping through the trees on the hillside across the field. I didn't get my hopes up because it was going across the hill, not down towards the field. I pointed it out to Elijah and while we were watching, the deer changed direction and started coming straight down towards us. At this point my heart started pounding. The doe popped out at the treeline, hesitated a moment, then started across the field. She was followed by maybe eight or nine others. I waited until the lead doe was stopped broadside in the middle of the field, breathed, said a quick prayer, and squeezed off the shot. The deer scattered. I kept her in my scope (I thought), following her to the treeline, where she wavered as if about to fall. Not wanting to let her get away, I went ahead and squeezed off a finishing shot, and she dropped where she stood. Eli and I got out of the blind, went over to her, and began to celebrate. In the midst of our hugs and high-five's, Eli goes "Daddy we got two!!!" What the??? I look where he is pointing and lying not ten feet away is another doe, stone dead. It seems that when the deer scattered I got mixed up, and my "finishing shot" was actually a shot at an entirely different deer. ...Not exactly the way I would have planned it, but hey, it is meat in the freezer. God provides.
While dropping our deer off at the processor (insert shameless plug for Backwater Outdoors here), another fellow who had scored pulled up to drop off his deer. We started talking, and he mentioned that he had just killed his first deer at age fifty-one. My ears perked up at that. Yep, it was Rocket62, high off his first ever deer kill. I told him that I'd been following his new hunting career on the forum, and and was tickled to death that we got to play a small part in it.
I've killed a few decent bucks in the 6 years that I've been hunting, but this was by far the best hunt I've experienced. Money cannot buy the memory of Sunday's hunt; I wouldn't trade it for any trophy in the world.
Eli keeps telling anyone who will listen about his "first two deer." To hear him tell the story makes me smile. And the longer I sit and smile and remember our hunt, the more it seems I've got something stuck in my eye.
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Sunday we got settled into a cozy box blind that El Matador and I built. Eli hadn't had a nap, promptly went to sleep on my lap, and started snoring like a freight train (he's been a little congested). Anyway, I started getting aggravated by the noise he was making, and kept stewing and stressing about work issues. It got to the point that I was actually pissed off while hunting with my son over a beautiful field on a gorgeous day.
While sitting there angry like an idiot, I had an epiphany (fancy word for the Good Lord clearing my simple mind). I said to myself, "Self, you are being retarded. You have a beautiful family, a great life, and are too wrapped up in selfish worries to see and appreciate all you have." So I started praying. I thanked God for the ability to provide for my family. I thanked him for the land to hunt on, and the food it provides. I mostly thanked him for my family and our health. (Without going into another long story, my wife was on her death bed less than a year ago. Today she is 100%). Our God is a God of miracles. After praying and thinking on these things, my whole attitude changed. I was blown away by the beauty of the stillness and quiet (minus the snoring) we were sitting in, and was just happy to be out hunting with my son.
Eli woke up after a spell, and said he had to pee. Figuring that his snoring had scared off every deer in the county anyway (but WITHOUT getting angry this time), I let him just pee in the corner of the blind (No, it doesn't have a floor). He finished, ploopped on my lap, and we just chatted about whatever came to mind. He was in that half-awake, peaceful, happy state that is perfect for cuddling with a toddler.
While sitting there whispering I saw a deer slipping through the trees on the hillside across the field. I didn't get my hopes up because it was going across the hill, not down towards the field. I pointed it out to Elijah and while we were watching, the deer changed direction and started coming straight down towards us. At this point my heart started pounding. The doe popped out at the treeline, hesitated a moment, then started across the field. She was followed by maybe eight or nine others. I waited until the lead doe was stopped broadside in the middle of the field, breathed, said a quick prayer, and squeezed off the shot. The deer scattered. I kept her in my scope (I thought), following her to the treeline, where she wavered as if about to fall. Not wanting to let her get away, I went ahead and squeezed off a finishing shot, and she dropped where she stood. Eli and I got out of the blind, went over to her, and began to celebrate. In the midst of our hugs and high-five's, Eli goes "Daddy we got two!!!" What the??? I look where he is pointing and lying not ten feet away is another doe, stone dead. It seems that when the deer scattered I got mixed up, and my "finishing shot" was actually a shot at an entirely different deer. ...Not exactly the way I would have planned it, but hey, it is meat in the freezer. God provides.
While dropping our deer off at the processor (insert shameless plug for Backwater Outdoors here), another fellow who had scored pulled up to drop off his deer. We started talking, and he mentioned that he had just killed his first deer at age fifty-one. My ears perked up at that. Yep, it was Rocket62, high off his first ever deer kill. I told him that I'd been following his new hunting career on the forum, and and was tickled to death that we got to play a small part in it.
I've killed a few decent bucks in the 6 years that I've been hunting, but this was by far the best hunt I've experienced. Money cannot buy the memory of Sunday's hunt; I wouldn't trade it for any trophy in the world.
Eli keeps telling anyone who will listen about his "first two deer." To hear him tell the story makes me smile. And the longer I sit and smile and remember our hunt, the more it seems I've got something stuck in my eye.
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