The Deer Hunt

[Slick]

True story.

I used to be married to a woman that had three teenage sons (not mine). When deer season came along that first year the middle boy wanted me to take him deer hunting. His name was Scott. He was 17 and had never been before. I was happy to show him how to do it so I pulled the old 30-30 lever action down from the rack and we went out to do some target practice. It only had open sights but he got to where he could hit pretty good with it.

The next morning we headed out but I before I could get to the truck I could see that I had a low tire. I knew there was a slow leak in the right front tire but I had been putting it off for a few days, just airing it up. My hunting rig was a Toyota extended cab 4X4 with a huge lift and huge tires. I had a boat rack and a winch on it too so I was set up to go most places. I stopped at the first suk-a-buck store that I came to and aired it up and we filled up on some sausage and biscuits and coffee for me. There was only one other little store between there and where we going hunting, which was about 35 miles away.

We drove through the dark and finally got to the stands. Everyone hunts out of stands down south and we were hunting on 180 acres that belonged to my family. The best stand was built on a pipeline that ran across the place. The gas company kept it cleared off and you could see for 100 yards in either direction. It was maybe 30 yards wide. I drove my truck up to the stand and dropped off Scott. If a deer crossed over he would have a good chance at a buck. It‘s hard for a grown man to sit motionless for hours, let alone a kid so I thought I‘d take it easy on him beings as it was his first time. I left him with a light, his gun and some ammo and told him to keep quiet and not move around much and I would pick him up in a couple of hours. And I was off to my stand as it was starting to break daylight by then.

I'll finish this up tomorrow.

 

[DB Crouper]

True story.

I used to be married to a woman that had three teenage sons (not mine). When deer season came along that first year the middle boy wanted me to take him deer hunting. His name was Scott. He was 17 and had never been before. I was happy to show him how to do it so I pulled the old 30-30 lever action down from the rack and we went out to do some target practice. It only had open sights but he got to where he could hit pretty good with it.

The next morning we headed out but I before I could get to the truck I could see that I had a low tire. I knew there was a slow leak in the right front tire but I had been putting it off for a few days, just airing it up. My hunting rig was a Toyota extended cab 4X4 with a huge lift and huge tires. I had a boat rack and a winch on it too so I was set up to go most places. I stopped at the first suk-a-buck store that I came to and aired it up and we filled up on some sausage and biscuits and coffee for me. There was only one other little store between there and where we going hunting, which was about 35 miles away.

We drove through the dark and finally got to the stands. Everyone hunts out of stands down south and we were hunting on 180 acres that belonged to my family. The best stand was built on a pipeline that ran across the place. The gas company kept it cleared off and you could see for 100 yards in either direction. It was maybe 30 yards wide. I drove my truck up to the stand and dropped off Scott. If a deer crossed over he would have a good chance at a buck. It‘s hard for a grown man to sit motionless for hours, let alone a kid so I thought I‘d take it easy on him beings as it was his first time. I left him with a light, his gun and some ammo and told him to keep quiet and not move around much and I would pick him up in a couple of hours. And I was off to my stand as it was starting to break daylight by then.

I'll finish this up tomorrow.

Why do I have a sense of impending doom or, at least, trouble ahead?
Please continue.

 

[waco]

Good story very interesting!!!!! can't wait for the end!!!!

 

[capblack]

i hate suspense!!

 

[Slick]

I sat in the stand for 2 hours and did not see a thing. Nor did I hear Scott shoot either. I got down out of my stand and decided to go check out a new clear cut area on the public land. I walked out into the clear cut and was standing there surveying the area when a movement caught my eye behind a pile of limbs and brush which had been windrowed up out in the middle. It was a small clear cut and the windrow couldn’t have been more than 30 or 40 yards from me. Then I spotted him. Mostly what I could see was a set of horns bobbing up and down as the deer was making it’s way around the brush and towards me. I waited until he was about 25 yards away. I raised my gun but he just stood their looking at me. I aimed for the center of his chest squeezed off a round from my little .243 Remington. He kept standing there looking at me so I kept the gun up and jacked another round into the chamber and squeezed off another round. This time he wheeled and ran off into the woods.*

I couldn’t believe it! Could I have missed that deer at that range? I walked to the woods where I saw him go in and found blood. I didn’t have to trail him far. He was laying smack in the middle of a 12’ wide creek just out of reach. His head was above water and I could see that he was a nice 3 pointer (he’d be called a six point down there). I went back to pick up some rope I had in the truck. I decided to pick up Scott before going back for the deer so he could help me pull him out. I was able to drive to the edge of the woods and we went after him with the rope. I made a lasso and let Scott throw it out and hook the rope around his horns. We finally got the deer back to the truck. I made sure that we cleared the chambers on our rifles before putting them in the rear window mounted gun rack. Something you don’t see much up here but those type of gun racks are pretty common there. I wish now we had emptied the magazines too but we wanted to be ready in case we saw a deer for Scott on the way out to the road. But we didn't.

On the way back I decided to stop and put some more air in my leaking tire. We were still about 20 miles from town. The little country store I had stopped at had gas pumps and the air hose was right beside the pumps. Back then the air was free. Scott stayed in the truck while I got out to air up the tire. It was on the passenger side in the front. I decided to check the air in the rest of the tires so I moved to the rear tire on the same side. As I was bending down to check the pressure something happened I will never forget.

Finish up later

 

[waco]

Dont do this man!!!! No wondering Capblack hate suspense!!! :lol:

 

[DB Crouper]

Why do I have a sense of impending doom or, at least, trouble ahead?
Please continue.

I sat in the stand for 2 hours and did not see a thing. Nor did I hear Scott shoot either. I got down out of my stand and decided to go check out a new clear cut area on the public land. I walked out into the clear cut and was standing there surveying the area when a movement caught my eye behind a pile of limbs and brush which had been windrowed up out in the middle. It was a small clear cut and the windrow couldn’t have been more than 30 or 40 yards from me. Then I spotted him. Mostly what I could see was a set of horns bobbing up and down as the deer was making it’s way around the brush and towards me. I waited until he was about 25 yards away. I raised my gun but he just stood their looking at me. I aimed for the center of his chest squeezed off a round from my little .243 Remington. He kept standing there looking at me so I kept the gun up and jacked another round into the chamber and squeezed off another round. This time he wheeled and ran off into the woods.*

I couldn’t believe it! Could I have missed that deer at that range? I walked to the woods where I saw him go in and found blood. I didn’t have to trail him far. He was laying smack in the middle of a 12’ wide creek just out of reach. His head was above water and I could see that he was a nice 3 pointer (he’d be called a six point down there). I went back to pick up some rope I had in the truck. I decided to pick up Scott before going back for the deer so he could help me pull him out. I was able to drive to the edge of the woods and we went after him with the rope. I made a lasso and let Scott throw it out and hook the rope around his horns. We finally got the deer back to the truck. I made sure that we cleared the chambers on our rifles before putting them in the rear window mounted gun rack. Something you don’t see much up here but those type of gun racks are pretty common there. I wish now we had emptied the magazines too but we wanted to be ready in case we saw a deer for Scott on the way out to the road. But we didn't.

On the way back I decided to stop and put some more air in my leaking tire. We were still about 20 miles from town. The little country store I had stopped at had gas pumps and the air hose was right beside the pumps. Back then the air was free. Scott stayed in the truck while I got out to air up the tire. It was on the passenger side in the front. I decided to check the air in the rest of the tires so I moved to the rear tire on the same side. As I was bending down to check the pressure something happened I will never forget.

Finish up later

I must have been mistaken. I don't see how anything bad could happen now.

 

[OnTheFly]

Quick link saved. Glad you lived to tell the story. Should have stopped by Les Schwab.

 

[JeannaJigs]

Lol... Can only imagine. Literally. Because you're leaving us all hanging

 

[the_intimidator03]

Hmm keeping the suspense... we should punish him with negative rep for that LOL:lol:

 

[Slick]

Hmm keeping the suspense... we should punish him with negative rep for that LOL:lol:

I'll be good. OK. Here's the rest.



I heard a loud bang but I didn’t know what it was. I went to Scott’s door and ask “What’s going on?” He looked at me and calmly said “I just shot myself in the foot.” I said “Are you sure?” He said “Yeah, I’m sure. I decided to unload the gun and I had the barrel on top of my foot and it just went off.”

My mind was racing trying to think about what I should do next. I thought “I’ll drive him to the hospital. That’ll be faster than waiting for an ambulance.” That’s when I noticed that the tire I had just aired up was completely flat. And then I saw a bullet hole in the gas pump that was in front of the tire. The bullet had went through the top of his foot, out the bottom, through the floorboard, ricocheted off the frame, went through both side walls of the tire and then into the gas pump. I had been kneeling down putting air in that tire only moments ago. I couldn’t speak. I tried to but all that would come out was “what…what…why…”. I was panicking. Finally I ran into the store and hollered that someone had been shot and I needed someone to call the ambulance. Back then they didn’t have 911 or cell phones.

I didn’t have a spare for those huge tires either. And I had a buck laying in the back on top of everything else. I ask Scott if he was hurting and he said “No, but I can feel my boot filling up with blood. I stayed in the truck with him until the ambulance got there. They got him loaded up and left. I stayed behind and called a friend to come and get me so I could get the tire fixed. Then I made the phone call that I was dreading. I called my wife and told her that her boy had just shot himself in the foot and was on the way to the hospital.

We didn’t talk much as she was anxious to get to the hospital. My friend made it out and we took the shot tire and wheel off the truck. I left the truck jacked up on the front end and we loaded the deer up in my buddies truck. We drove by another friend's place and I gave the deer to him because I knew that I was going to have my plate full for the rest of the day getting the tire back on then heading up to the hospital. I had to buy a new tire but we finally got it back up to my truck and mounted. While we were driving around getting all the tire business taken care of my buddy was telling me about this place just outside of town where they had been ripping the bass just standing on the bank and casting into some water that was coming up and flowing into the culvert under the road. Man I wanted to get in on that while the getting was good. But under the circumstance it didn’t look like it was going to happen.

 

[Slick]

I finally made it to the hospital and Scott was in surgery. The bullet had broken every bone in the top of this foot. The toe next to the big toe was gone, as in shot off. They drove 6” stainless steel rods through the ends of his remaining toes and up into the foot arch to stabilize the foot so they could put a cast on it. He was going to be in surgery for hours and then still be sedated for hours after that.

After a couple of hours in the waiting room I was talking to my wife about what my friend had said about the bass. She said “Go if you want. I’ll be here. He won’t be awake until tomorrow.” “Are you sure?” I asked. Again “Go if you want”. So I did. Big mistake. Fellas, when your wife tells you that you can “go if you want”, what that really means is “you do and you’ll be sorry.” See, I thought that Scott not knowing whether I was there or not was the issue . No, no, no. The issue was that my wife needed me to be there for her in this time of crisis in her life. See how well I know that. Because I was reminded of that for years afterward. The bass weren’t biting either.

Scott recovered quickly and walked normally after a couple of months. You had to count his toes to even know that he was missing one. I still feel guilty to this day that I did not unload all the shells out of the guns. I sure never expected him to give it a go by himself that day in the truck. He didn’t blame me but he never wanted to go deer hunting again after that. I learned not to leave bullets in the gun unless you are actually hunting and a little something about wives that day.

The End

 

[colbypearson]

After a couple of hours in the waiting room I was talking to my wife about what my friend had said about the bass. She said “Go if you want. I’ll be here. He won’t be awake until tomorrow.” “Are you sure?” I asked. Again “Go if you want”. So I did. Big mistake. Fellas, when your wife tells you that you can “go if you want”, what that really means is “you do and you’ll be sorry.” See, I thought that Scott not knowing whether I was there or not was the issue . No, no, no. The issue was that my wife needed me to be there for her in this time of crisis in her life. See how well I know that. Because I was reminded of that for years afterward. The bass weren’t even biting either.

great story!., that really sucks about the kid... as far as the bass fishing goes that made me laugh haha.

 

[OnTheFly]

So what happened with the buck?

 

[Slick]

I left the truck jacked up on the front end and we loaded the deer up in my buddies truck. We drove by another friend's place and I gave the deer to him because I knew that I was going to have my plate full for the rest of the day getting the tire back on then heading up to the hospital

So what happened with the buck?

You must have been speed reading and missed it. Go fix yourself another drink.:lol:

 

[OnTheFly]

You must have been speed reading and missed it. Go fix yourself another drink.:lol:

["We drove by another friend's place and I gave the deer to him because I knew that I was going to have my plate full for the rest of the day getting the tire back on then heading up to the hospital."]

Good call and thanks for the suggestion!

 

[DB Crouper]

You must have been speed reading and missed it. Go fix yourself another drink.:lol:

["We drove by another friend's place and I gave the deer to him because I knew that I was going to have my plate full for the rest of the day getting the tire back on then heading up to the hospital."]

Good call and thanks for the suggestion!

Yeah, I was speed reading, too.
Guess I'll have another.

 

[Slick]

I'm glad you boys need to have a good reason to have a stiff one. It's after 5 though. Let me know if you need me to say something shocking so you can pour another one while you get over it.

 

[OnTheFly]

I'm glad you boys need to have a good reason to have a stiff one. It's after 5 though. Let me know if you need me to say something shocking so you can pour another one while you get over it.

For an aspiring writer I would have expected more emphasis in wording regarding the deer so that the reader could remember what happened to it. The whole story was about hunting deer wasn't it?

 

[DB Crouper]

For an aspiring writer I would have expected more emphasis in wording regarding the deer so that the reader could remember what happened to it. The whole story was about hunting deer wasn't it?

I'll drink to that!