Deer Hunt 2019

I am 63 years old and have been richly blessed during my entire life. Part of the blessing is a ‘savings account’ of wonderful memories. On Sunday, November 6, 2005, at approximately 10:30am, I had one more wonderful memory to place on deposit in my savings account of memories.

CONNOR GOT A DEER!

I decided to place this experience in writing for two reasons. The first reason is the simple fact that you were so excited I am not certain that you even remember what happened. The second reason is the fact that you are ¼ Norwegian and that could lead you to such exaggerations that no one would recognize the story in comparison to what really happened. I am going to simply share with you what I remember about your moment in history.

On the Sunday morning in question, we hunted the South Farm. Mike, David and Andy were going to make a long drive and the rest of us were going to post. I took you with me as my ‘gun bearer’. We were going to follow along with the drivers until we found a good spot. Before we found a good spot you actually had a shot at a buck that the drivers kicked out. I still think you hit it but it would be difficult to prove. Finally, we found the ideal spot. The river was on our right; a large open field was on our left; and, the woods were about 150 yards in front of us.

You were sitting on a stump with ‘Black Death’ and I was standing directly behind you. About the time you were distracted by a red squirrel down by the river, I saw a deer come out of the woods in front of us and slowly began walking towards us. I whispered to you “Connor, there is a deer in front of you!”. You promptly replied, ‘Where! Where! Where!”. With my hands, I steered and aimed your head in the right direction. As soon as you saw the deer, your elbows and arms started flying as you clicked off the safe and brought the gun to your shoulder. At this time the deer was over 80 yards away and I knew it would get closer. I told you “Settle down! Be quiet! Do not move!”. The deer walked into a deep ravine. I told you “When the deer comes up from the ravine, it will stop broadside to you at about 15 yards. When it stops, put the crosshairs of the scope right behind the front shoulder and shoot!” In just seconds the deer was where I thought it would be. My instructions were simple “Shoot!”. I thought the deer was going to die of old age before you finally shot. BANG! The deer lunged ahead and fell. It immediately got up and ran. As the deer floundered ahead, it was accompanied by you yelling “I got it! I got it!” “I shot a deer!” I shot a deer!” The deer went about 35 yards before it dropped dead. Your immediate response was “Grandpa, I have to go and shoot it again!” My response was to take the shotgun away from you and be certain the safety was on. You had observed good safety precautions and had placed the safety back on. I told you that we could go and see your deer but I would carry the shotgun because of your extreme excitement. As we got close, you thought it was still breathing and needed one more shot. I told you “Kick the deer and if it reacted you could shoot it again!” You missed with the first kick but when you finally connected we agreed that it was dead. It was a good shot through the shoulder. Your first deer was a ‘Button Buck”. It was similar in maturity to you (i.e. adolescent buck).

As we went over to see your deer you said “Grandpa, there’s something wrong with my legs. They don’t want to work and my knees are squishy!” You were finally experiencing buck fever. You did well!! As you shot, I recall that the recoil bounced your head around so you looked like a bobble doll!

Your next reaction was “I have to run and tell Dad!”. I was finally able to convince that we must return to where we were posting until the drive was over. As soon as we got back on our stand, another deer appeared behind us. We were not able to take a shot. As we were waiting for Mike, David and Andy to complete the drive you asked “Can I gut the deer?” My obvious answer was “Yes!”

Finally, the drive was over. You were able to inform your Dad of your success. Then the cleaning process began. I had to leave before you were completely done to find deer tags. Dave Kock became your instructor and assistant. I know you did some hard swallowing to keep the puke down but you got the job done.

The unfortunate thing about a written rendition of this experience is that words can not describe the grin and look on your face!

I witnessed Andy shooting his first deer and was with your Dad when he shot his first Thank you for adding to my deposit of memories.

November 14, 2005

Grandpa (Boompa)