A BUCK FOR PAPAW
Any first deer , regardless of size , should be celebrated as a trophy .
I ’ d all but written the morning hunt off as a deer sighting-less outing . Nonetheless , my 77-year-old Papawin-law kept his hands steady and ready on the gun . You see , he ’ d never shot a buck before , and I was trying to help him join the brotherhood . We ’ d enjoyed days of hunting , but by Nov . 23 , 2020 , no antlered deer presented an opportunity .
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Then , a buck materialized 40 yards in front of our brush blind . Once a fine 9-pointer , it had broken off four tines . Still , it stood tall and proud under the cloudy mid-morning skies . It stared straight through our faces thanks to an errant but subtle movement of my hands and video camera as I tried to capture the scene . |
The author ' s first buck opened a lifetime , and a career , in the outdoors .
Fortunately , the buck let Papaw ease down onto his gun as it slowly turned to reenter the timber where it had emerged just a short time earlier . But it was too late . Papaw touched off the shot and sent a round through the buck ’ s ribcage .
He was immediately excited about the unfolding of the hunt . “ I don ’ t know if I got him or not ,” Papaw said . “ He was a nice one , though . He was a nice buck . That ’ ll be my first buck , if I got him .”
Get him , he did . The buck sprinted just inside the timber and expired . A minute or two of tracking revealed a happy ending at the end of the blood trail . A peek over the ridgeline produced one of the toothiest grins I ’ d ever seen . “ I see him right there ,” Papaw said . “ Right there he lays . I like that . I like that real good .”
HONEYCUTT CREATIVE ( ALL )
Lane Bartley soaks in all the emotions that come with harvesting a deer .
At 77 years old , Guy Cole knelt , grabbed that pearly rack , and admired his first buck . It ’ s a memory he and I will carry the rest of our days .
WINTER 2023 33