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| bigmacc:
Im thinking it was 1980 or 81 :dunno:, I didn't write a date on the back of the picture. My buddy who had moved up from Arizona years prior is a great guy and good people, he would basically give you the shirt off his back. Leon is the guy who has a family photo album kind of like ours only all Arizona stuff going back to the 1930,s. He's the fella I told the story of who purchased a special tag to hunt domestic pigs that had turned feral AND reproduced to the point they were destroying key winter range for elk and deer in northern Arizona. A livestock truck had turned on its side and a couple hundred pigs got loose, after a few years our so they were wreaking havoc on the winter range, they figured they would die of or get picked off by cats and other predators but no, their numbers grew and so did the pigs, Leon showed me pictures of 2 pigs weighing more than 2000 lbs total(I want to say 2200 or 2300 :dunno:), they squatted his half ton Chevy pretty good, lets just say that :chuckle: There was another fella in camp (we,ll call him Fred) who didn't get along with everybody lets just say, Leon was one of those. We never could figure out why, Leon is still one of the most friendly, giving people I have ever known or will know for that matter, he's just one of those kind of guys. One day myself, Fred, Leon and another pard went into an area that we figured we could knock down a couple migrators, the deer had been moving for a few days and we figured this spot would be ripe. We got in there well before sunup so we could get spread out and let things settle for awhile before shooting time. We were all watching different routes and turf but were all within sight of each other, only being 50-100 yards apart. Leon and Fred were maybe 50 yards apart, Fred watching one direction while Leon watched totally different turf in the complete opposite direction. It wasn't more than 5 minutes after shooting time when I heard a BOOM, sounded like Leons 300 Weatherby, I've heard it many times. I look in his direction to see him in the prone position looking down hill like he was gonna shoot again, he instead layed his rifle down and backed away from the ledge as to not silhouette himself, he then motioned for Fred to "get there quick", Fred beat feet and got to the spot, I'm watching this whole deal through my binos, when I see Fred sneak up to the ledge, get prone and BOOM, this whole thing transpired over about a 4-5 minute chunk of time. No more shooting. The two of them sat there for a few minutes, I seen them shake hands and then Leon motioned for me to come over, I made my way over to the two of them. When I got there Fred kind of pulled me to the side as Leon started making his way down the old chute, we knew it would take him awhile because of the rough terrain, Fred stayed at the top for a bit so as to guide us to where the bucks were. Before I headed down Fred made a cheap shot comment sayin "that buck I just killed was a dandy, I'm sure Leons is bigger, he wouldn't have left that thing for me", I took it with a grain of salt and headed down the hill, I eventually caught up with Leon and we followed Freds hand signals to the bucks. The first buck we got to(about 400 yards or so down the hill) was Freds, an absolute beautiful 4 by 4 that we tapped later at 31 and a half inches wide! Just a beautiful buck, almost pretty, still to this day one of my favorite bucks. We then went about 30-40 yards to the left and slightly up hill a tad and we came upon Leons buck! Oh boy! Leon looked at me and said "do you think this might sway that sourpuss to maybe like me a little :chuckle:" Leon then bent over and started gutting his 2 by 2 with a whopping 9 inch spread, outside :chuckle:. I said Leon, that was pretty cool of you to do that for him, he said "lets see what Fred says". We motioned for Fred and our other pardner that we had located both bucks and signaled for them to head on down. They got to us first, you should have seen the look on Freds face when he seen Leons buck laying there. We then walked over to Freds monster. He shook Leons hand and said "why the hell didn't you shoot this guy?", Leon looked at him and said, " I never thought twice about it". Fred is no longer with us but that day a fence was mended that let Fred see the real person Leon was, he is the kind of guy who walked that talk through his whole life, "he never thought twice" about doing a good deed. |
| HntnFsh:
Another incredible story. Leon is the kind of friend everbody should be, and needs to have! |
| Skyvalhunter:
I need me a few Leon's in my hunting party I seem to have too many Fred's. |
| bigmacc:
--- Quote from: Skyvalhunter on February 08, 2022, 06:30:57 AM ---I need me a few Leon's in my hunting party I seem to have too many Fred's. --- End quote --- :chuckle: :chuckle: :chuckle: :tup:.......Yep, "dont be a Fred" :chuckle: |
| MADMAX:
Bigmacc You really should write a book The glory days of the Methow Awesome story Thank you again RIP Fred M from the valley |
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