American-Hunter.com

Opening morning!! I look forward to it every year. My wife says she becomes a single mother for the month of November. This year would be no different , except that I would be accompanied by my son Aaron, who is now 10 and soon to be hunting right along side of me . I was very excited this year that he had shown so much interest in hunting with me . I took him out a few of times bow and pheasant hunting. This year would be different, we would surly remember this one for the rest of our lives. The alarm awoke me at 5:00 am on November 20, and as I crept up the stairs to try not to wake my 6 year old daughter Kayla, I thought what a great day it is going to be. It took a little less than a shake to wake my son from a dead sleep and without saying a word he rose from his bed eager to find his hunting clothes. He quickly dressed himself and met me at the bottom of the stairs. As I grabbed our things, and loaded the truck Aaron opened the garage door only to find a 20 mph wind out of the West and to top it off, it was raining. I remember thinking O great this is going to be pointless. Being a extremist in all aspects of my outdoor hobbies I was not about to go back in the house and the thought never crossed Aaron’s mind either. As soon as my hunting partner Fred showed up, we hurried off to the farm.

As we pulled down the lane at the entrance of the farm and parked, I looked at Aaron and said "Are you ready to go get the big one?" He nodded yes and we gathered our things and set off down the farm drive to the marsh, Fred Aaron and I. As we made the trek around the marsh, Fred went off to the North and Aaron and I went to the South, to the stand I had prepared for us a week earlier. As day broke the wind and rain became relentless. Around 8 o’clock I strapped my hunting umbrella to a tree limb in front of Aaron to break the wind which was pounding him in the face all morning. I continued scanning the tall marsh grass when I noticed what looked like a small bush moving straight in front of me about 300 yards away. I quickly gathered my field glasses and brought what was the most amazing whitetail I had ever seen into view. I turned to Aaron and said "Don’t move, there’s a monster of a buck in the marsh and it is coming right for us!" I handed Aaron my binoculars, slowly positioned myself for a shot, and brought my Browning Gold 12 gauge slug gun into position. We watched in amazement as the massive rack bedded down about 200 yards in front of us. Around 9:30 Aaron had sat as long as he could and we began to discuss the route he would take back to the truck I began to gather Aaron’s things and unstrapped him from his safety harness. As Aaron stood to climb down from the stand, the buck stood up and looked around. I told Aaron to be still as I repositioned for a shot and clicked the safety off. " I am going to take a shot" I said, as I dropped the cross hairs on his shoulder and gently squeezed the trigger "Bang" he didn’t even flinch I repositioned and squeezed again "bang " he never even looked at me! I realized the wind was so strong it had practically carried my bullets and the sound into the next county. Unsure of what to do next, I watched in amazement as the buck bedded back down. After a few minutes Aaron slipped out of the tree stand and scurried across the picked corn field back to the truck.

I began to plot an ambush. I gathered my things slipped out of the stand and began to make my way to a stand directly up wind of him, relying on lots of luck and my scent blocker clothing I realized if the buck rose from the grass again he would surly see me in the open short grass that borders the marsh. About half way to the stand I jumped seven pheasants from the edge of the grass and they flew directly over the bedded buck. I hit the ground like a soldier in a gun battle. I watched for the buck to stand up and I thought I blew it, I am busted . After a minute or two, I slowly rose to my feet to find the buck hadn’t even moved. I hurried to my stand and climbed the tree and waited. Using my pack as a rest I positioned myself for a shot and waited. By this time, it was about 10:30 or 11:00! I was unsure of the bucks exact location, but I was sure he would rise again. As I scanned the grass I noticed a smaller buck getting closer and closer to the sleeping giant and I knew that something was about to unfold. Suddenly, Sleeping Beauty arose from the tall grass and began to move his massive rack toward the smaller buck which immediately exited the area. As the massive neck, head and rack emerged from the grass and began to move back out into the marsh, I decided it is now or never . I waited for a shot, clicked my safety off and watched him get further and further away. Keeping my crosshair’s on his shoulder, he finally turned and stopped exposing his shoulder to me. I aimed steady, as the words of my brother echoed in my head "you can’t get them if you don’t shoot." Exhale, squeeze "Bang" he busted out like he was on fire and I shot two more times in small openings on the trail as he headed deep into the marsh. Knowing the area and patterning the deer here before, I knew I had one last shot at him just before he would reach the willow trees. I aimed into a clearing just before the willows and waited. As I seen him enter the scope I squeezed again"bang" he disappeared behind the willows and reappeared on the trail. Then I watched him as he slowed, hunched, and disappeared into the grass at the edge of the cattails. Unsure of my shots, I radioed Fred and told him of my situation. We agreed it would be best to give him at least an hour to be sure we would not end up in a foot chase across the swampy marsh. It was the longest hour of my life!! The moment arrived and Fred met me at the edge of the grass not far from where I took the shots and we began to comb the runways in the marsh grass for blood . I found some right away, a very good sign from my point of view. As we neared the willows the blood trail got better and better and we stopped to reevaluate the situation. Fred suggested I climb as high as I could in the nearest willow and position myself for a shot in case he jumped the massive animal and I agreed. Fred continued on the trail stopping just 30 yards in front of me and motioning he was down but unsure if he was still alive . As Fred got closer his confidence grew better and he turned and said you got him. In disbelief, I yelled "Show me the horns" and Fred lifted the massive rack from the grass. "Unbelievable" he said. "How many points" I asked. "You got a few minutes" he replied . "Twenty one points!". No way I thought, as I unloaded my gun and climbed down to get a look. I had no Idea how many points and the how massive the animal was until then.

After tagging the prize, we left the marsh and returned to our vehicles to get the quad and my son Aaron. We then returned to retrieve him from the marsh. I am still unsure if the smile on Aaron’s face is from the massive animal or the ride out on Fred’s ATV but he did admit that driving the quad back with the buck on the back was as exciting to him as the whole hunt was to me. One thing is for sure we both made lifetime memories that morning and that is something you can’t put a price on. These are the moments we will cherish for the rest of our lives so take a chance and take a kid hunting it could be the best hunt of your life, and how great it is to have someone to share it with.