Moms gift
Well its another fall and my heart starts to beat faster and my mind wanders to the woods again. I find myself thinking of him. That Buck who keeps showing up in my mind and has for many years. He first showed up early on in my hunting life. I was in my stand and my fingers and toes were so cold I couldn’t feel them. I thought to myself what am I doing out here? This is crazy I should go in and warm up. Then as I was about to get down from the tree I thought if I do, what will I miss? That’s the first time he showed up.
The fall deer hunt of 2008 was approaching fast and just like all the others before was consuming all my thoughts. This year had an extra feeling of anticipation. After most of my 30 years of deer hunting, this year would be different. My hunting party had spent most of those years camping in a old army tent.(picture #1) Quite the experience but after building a small cabin on our property this summer.(picture #2) I looked forward to not waking up frozen after the woodstove had burned out. This fall also brought other excitement to our camp. New members to our group, A very good friend of mine Shawn and his son Sam.(picture #3) Neither had ever hunted before in their lives. I was very happy after many years of invites that they decided this was the year.
My family has hunted in the same area for about fifty years. Its the big woods in northwestern MN far from any agriculture or food plots. We have a saying in our camp if you see a buck in a week you’ve had a good year. The deer herd is small but when you get a deer it is earned and cherished.
Weeks before opening day I find myself in the ritual of washing my hunting clothes and packing my gear. My thoughts turn to him again. “Would this be the year I see him in more then just a glimpse in my mind?”
I feel compelled to explain myself. See that time in the stand when he first showed himself only in my mind. He was the reason and the extra will power I spent so many hours in the stand. Telling myself if I get down now he will surely walk by. The vision of him in my mind was so clear. Lots of points, incredible mass and, yes, even a forked g2.
Opening day just a day away and after arriving at camp and jumping out of the truck and racing my brother to the meat rack. And in the tradition my father started, yelling “WHAT WILL THE HISTORY OF THIS MEAT RACK BE THIS YEAR”. Having no clue that this year would be like no other! We unpacked and talked about years passed and thanked my late father Bill for starting all this.(picture #4) As we stood around the fire I looked at each of my friends and family and told them how honored I am to share this with them! Morning couldn’t come fast enough! My brother Brian had decided to hunt a small opening near my favorite stand and the one I had hunted so many years in the past. We have named it, “THE MEAT MARKET”. That stand has produced nice bucks for me and a number of my hunting buddies have shot their largest whitetails there. Its very hard to get to and I’m about the only one who will go back there anymore. We parked by the road and started our nearly mile walk to the stand. The night before brought a very sticky snow.(picture #5) Everything covered in white as we slowly made our way to the small opening. Brian brought a ground blind with him and as he set it up, I waited for him to get settled. He was ready and I said good luck and headed towards my stand. It was slow going and as I got to the edge of the swamp where the stand is located I discovered that the swamp water was so high that my normal route into and across the grass opening, would fill my knee high rubber boots with water. I circled to the west and found another route in. I had to walk across the top of grass humps and still the water was just below the top of my boots. Finally I reached the tree, shooting light already, oh well. I was careful as I climbed up, each rung covered with snow. When my shoulders reached above the base of the stand. I reached in and wiped off as much of the base as I could. The snow falling between my body and the tree to the water below. I climbed up and into the stand. I took my rifle off my shoulder and hung it up. I decided before I took my pack off that I would wipe off the rest of the snow. I bent down on one knee and heard something. I stood up and saw one of the largest does, I had ever seen up there bounding broadside thirty yards away. I grabbed my rifle and took aim on her. Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement to her left. I swung my lever action 30-30 towards the movement. I saw a deer in the brush and behind some trees. Then I saw a glimpse of tine. The buck didn’t follow her into the opening. He went straight away from me. I was on auto pilot in some ways just like my dad had taught me so many years ago. I can still hear his voice saying “once you decide to shoot the buck don’t look at his rack”. I’m glad he taught me that! The buck stopped at about 100 yards away. I could see him standing in front of a large chunk of elder brush. He stood looking back in my direction. He was quartering away and I put my crosshairs a little back of his front shoulder. I squeezed the trigger and he began to run. He came around that elder brush and was now a 140 yards away. He came into an opening bounding. It was like slow motion. I found him in the scope and followed him through the first and then the second bound and pulled the crosshairs in front of him and at the top of his third bound put them right in front of his neck and pulled the trigger. The recoil of the gun took my eyes off of him for a split second and he was gone. I thought, “What happened?” I couldn’t wait like I normally would – I needed to know what happened. I could tell he had a rack but was he an eight or maybe a ten pointer? It all happened so fast! 60 seconds in the stand and I think I just filled my tag.
I didn’t see him go down but he must have. There was too much of an opening left for him to just vanish. I had to get down and see what happened. I climbed down and walked slowly to the edge of the swamp grass. I could clearly see the path the doe took. She had knocked all the snow off the grass and the brown trail she left was very easy to see. I walked over to where I first saw the buck and could see his trail as if it was lit with spot lights. As I started following his trail the water began to get deeper and filled my boots. I thought, “Well, I’m finding my deer or I better get back to camp as soon as possible.” I made my way slowly to the spot I first shot at him. I found hair but no blood. As I walked around the elder brush, the water was thigh high and numbing cold. I cleared the brush and could see the brown trail end about thirty yards away. With white all around in all directions I knew my buck was right there. I approached slowly not knowing if he was dead or just wounded. The cold water now not even a bother. My heart pounding with anticipation. At about 15 yards I could see one half of his hind quarters. I took a few more steps and could see that he was mostly submerged in the cold water. The left side of his rack sticking up out of the water with his head underwater. My first thought was wow that’s a nice buck and what mass. I walked up and knew he was dead. I grabbed the rack and pulled his head out of the water. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I started counting points 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17 then I started laughing out loud. My second shot had hit him dead center of his neck. My first shot had hit too far back and strangely was only a flesh wound on his hind quarter. Sixty seconds in the stand and I just shot the buck of a lifetime.
I was so happy and couldn’t wait to share this with my hunting party. I made my way out and went to tell my brother. I don’t think he really believed what I was telling him. He went to sit in the Meat market until I came back with help. When I reached the road I saw two of my friends, Greg and Mike by the truck. I started skipping down the road like a little boy. When I made it to the truck they said what now? See, they have given me a nickname, “He who hunts with horseshoe up [censored]”. Lets just say I’m a very lucky hunter! With a big smile on my face I said, “I just shot the buck of a lifetime!” Mike said, “How many bucks of a lifetime are you going to shoot?” I responded by saying, “Know you don’t understand. I just shot the largest buck I’ve ever seen, it has 17 points.” They just stared and had looks of disbelief.
I headed back to camp and changed my clothing and grabbed the deer cart. Greg met me back at the parking spot and we went in to get the buck. When we made it back to camp everyone was there. We all were so happy and were enjoying this awesome buck! Mike had also killed a deer and it was a great start to the season!(picture #6) Everyone taking pictures and laughing that my horseshoe now was certainly made of gold. We all talked about this buck being the biggest buck in the fifty years my family has hunted there. The previous being a very nice 13 pointer scoring in the high 150s my Dad had taken in the 80s. I kept saying he didn’t belong there – he was a freak!
I went to my truck to grab my camera and as I reached in to grab it my phones text sounded. I thought to myself how strange my phone has never had a signal there. What I read in the message had about dropped me to my knees. It was from my niece telling me that my mother had passed away the night before. I felt frozen and with eyes filled with tears I returned to the group and told them of the news. The joy now turned to sorrow and my heart was hurting. I returned to the buck and then it hit me. Why hadn’t I realized it sooner? The buck in front of me was Him, the buck of my dreams. I was so overcome with emotion and told everyone that this great buck was definitely a gift from my mom. As I looked at him it was the buck that I had seen in my mind so many years ago. He was real and right in front of me.
What a bitter sweet moment! My heart filled with so much joy and sorrow at the same time. I believe in my heart that my story is true and I feel truly blessed to have taken such a beautiful buck. My mother was such a wonderful person and its just like her to want all my dreams to come true!
Thanks Mom, I love you and will always cherish your wonderful gift. This hunt will be talked about for many years to come.
Later, an hour before sunset I told Shawn and Sam to go to the end of a meadow near by. With great confidence I told Sam to look at a certain section of woods and told him his buck would come out right there. Fifteen minutes later Sam shot his first deer a very nice 8 pointer.(picture #7) Sam made a great shot and I’m very proud of him. Hmmm maybe another gift from Mom?
And last but not least a few days later my nephew BJ made a great shot on his first 8 point buck at 175 yards. Peep sites, unreal shot BJ.(picture #8) My mother had made many dreams come true on this trip! Once again thank you for your very special gift Mom!(picture #9)
As you already know, it’s a very emotional event when the buck of your dreams becomes a reality. Combine that with your mother’s death, I can’t imagine the emotional roller coaster that you felt on that unforgettable day. However, I guess the beauty of it all is that every time you now look at your buck, you won’t be remembering it because of the size of its rack. You will remember it because of your mother.
