Father & Son Got It Done!

[C-Money]

I haven't posted much the last few years, though I would share a little story. My son wrote an essay to SCI and was selected to hunt in Colville. Off we went Friday morning before the opener. Had to make a quick stop in Spokane to exchange some hockey gear, and soon enough we were checking into Bennys Colville Inn. Grabbed lunch and headed out near the hunt property seeing deer the entire way. My son asked if it was time to go about every hour that night, excitement did not allow for much sleep! Met the folks putting on the hunt the next morning, was great to see them again. They showed my Daughter and I a great time last year, and this year with my son would be no different. We set up in a blind on the edge of a field about 80 yards to the timber...it was COLD out that morning!

[C-Money]

Around 1030, Son happily whispered, "Dad! there's a deer!" Sure enough, a deer was on the edge of the field. We looked her over for a while confirming no antlers, and no buttons. My son said " I would like to try and make this my first deer". I saw no reason to say no, he steadied his .243 in the shooting stix. Bang! Flop! She was down where she stood. A big hug and maybe a joyful tear or two followed. The deer was down. We watched her for a moment, and we walked up the deer soaking in all the once in a lifetime feelings a father feels with his son taking his first deer.

[C-Money]

We had a nice drive home, going past Ft Spokane, wonderful fall colors the whole way. Hung the deer in the barn, and made plans to hunt public ground close to home in the morning. I took the week off from work for some much needed outdoor time, looking forward to taking the rifle for some good walks. Met up with my Brother in law, and old buddy Monty early Sunday morning. Lots of does around, but did not see any deer a foot on grounds we hunted that day. Monday went a bit better. We drove out to a spot that we had not hunted much, really never saw much on it. Monty and I went one way, the end I had never been on, BIL and my son went the other. BIL had a 2nd deer tag in his pocket, so my son was excited to go along to be apart of that. Monty and I got on a 2pt and 6 does a day break.  As we glassed these deer, I felt good about this spot, as it just looked good.  Deep draw, Ag fields around, and it was off out of the way. Just looked and felt good. Son and BIL had 19 doe come down through on them, but BIL passed on filling the doe tag, wanting to ensure a buck was not in tow. We met up and hiked out, and moved on to a few different areas. Saw a ton of great looking deer country. The land looked as if deer should be in every draw hiked to. Not to be, did not see another deer on foot that day. Tired and sore, we loaded up and headed home. Somehow I was delegated as the driver, and soon everyone was dozing off and I enjoyed a quite drive home.

[C-Money]

 Didn't hunt much Tuesday, got pulled into work Wednesday, Wild weather Thursday was not fun. Mid week turned into a bust, and not much was seen in the ways of deer, and way less time was committed to hunting than I originally planned. Plans were made for Friday morning with my BIL. Weather looked windy, but dry. We drove out to an area we felt that we had a good chance of finding a deer for the BIL to put his 2nd deer tag on, that would not require an all day pack out. Nothing. We hit an area mid morning that we knew had some steep bowls in scattered Ponderosa pine. It takes a while to get in there, but is really cool looking country once there. Beautiful fall colors would be all we saw here. Its long after noon when we got back to the parking area. Tired, and really sore, we decided to go back and hunt that piece of ground we saw the deer on while hunting Monday. 

[C-Money]

 We gathered up our gear, and started in down wind, diagonal to where that deep draw was.  We walked with the wind in our face, picking our way through the sage. As we approached the draw, I saw something out of place across that draw. I put up the binos, man, that looks like a deer....hmmm, appears pretty big...yearling cow...YIKE! Its got an antler! BIL had not seen it, but I said, we need to get to a better spot and glass this deer, It looked like a dandy! So I moved forward on hands an knees, where the sage would not effect a shot if the opportunity arose. BIL, for some reason stayed back...still glassing. I put up the binos again, deer was slowly making his way down into a small draw that came out of the big draw. 3 points on the right side, as he moves his head...yup! 3 on the left as well....Wow! He looks like a good one. His grey face and nose stuck out in the shadows. He looked to me to be a mature buck. Maybe not the oldest or have the prettiest rack, but he looked like a heavy weight bruiser that would surly have his share of does in the upcoming weeks. I glanced back at the BIL, he was still glassing. Its now getting pretty close to now or never, as in a few more steps, he would be down in that side draw. I settled in my .243 win, or tried to. The wind was pretty steady, and a few minor adjustments to the stix and rifle gave me a solid rest. The cross hairs settled in tight behind his left shoulder....Bang! Whop! Down!!

[C-Money]

Watched him for a moment, never twitched. We made our way over to him, what a dandy. We prayed, thanking Jesus for a good hunt, a swift kill, and a freezer of meat. The trip out was a painful kind of fun, smiling the whole way! What a brute. The size of the deer was pretty impressive. I am 6'3" 300lbs to compare. BIL filled that doe tag the next day.

[C-Money]

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[3dvapor]

Great story congrats.  I really enjoyed reading that one.

[Mallardmasher]

Great right up and a big congratulations on your son's first deer, now many more to follow

[jackelope]

Congrats c-money. Way to go and thanks for sharing!


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[Brushbuster]

Your son got his first deer & you have another hunting buddy for life. Congrats on this year's successes. 

[Timberstalker]

Awesome write up. Congrats to all 3 of you. 

[jkthomps]

Nice work! Congrats all around!

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[Smokepole]

Very cool.  Congrats to you both.   

[pianoman9701]

You sound like a great hunting duo. I hope you have many such years together. Well done, father.