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My Son's First Buck with his Remington 770
523 Wednesday, November 11, 2009
After six months of working on the C.M. Taylor lease (Crockett, Texas) building fences, buying feeders, repairing fences after the cows found the feeders, building a new blind with my son, and all the miscellaneous work that goes into preparing a lease for the opening day hunt, it was finally the opening day of youth weekend. My son Garrett (age 10) and I went to the lease on Friday after removing him from school a little early for the annual "Doctor's appointment". After a fantastic meal of ribs and slaw with friends, it was off to bed. Garrett has been hunting with me for over 3 years, but this was the first time he was to pull the trigger. We both awoke before the alarm and got dressed. We took time to offer a thank you to God for being so great and such an influence in our life, loaded into the new Ranger, and headed out to the lease. We parked what seemed like miles away and quietly walked to the blind. After settling in, we loaded the Remington 770 .243 with Nikon Buckmaster scope, and waited for the sun to rise. We first saw a medley of small bucks that we'd been watching on the camera since August. About 9:00am, we saw the two small bucks in the feeder pen turn towards the forest and look attentively towards something. Then like the hand of God placed him there, a beautiful 10-point buck I appeared on the corner of the feeder. We both gasped, and with hearts racing and barely able to speak, Garrett clicked off the safety and began tracking this new buck. He walked to the front of the feeder pen and turned broadside for the perfect 95-yard shot. Garrett waited patiently and calmly (while Dad is having a mild heart-attack / stroke / seizure combination watching through the binoculars), and the third time the buck turned broadside to him, he pulled the trigger. His Remington dropped that buck like a rock and we began the celebration. It was an unbelievable time for us both, but as the Dad it was magical to watch him create a memory that I know he will have forever and hopefully pass on to his kids through the great sport of hunting.
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