Something Else To Be Thankful For

If you are a PETA member, you may want to stop reading now. O.K. I warned you. I had a 2 man ladder stand in the woods behind my house. The purpose of this stand was to introduce my two boys to deer hunting. I am an avid hunter and wanted to give my boys the opportunity to blast a whitetail (I warned you PETA people). But sitting in this stand with an 11 year old and an 8 year old made me feel like i was sitting next to life-size bobble-head hunters. Bless their hearts, they can't sit still. So I realized that if these boys were going to have any realistic chance of killing a deer, they would have to be in a box stand. So daddy went to work.

One thing about these boy's daddy...he is not notorious for under-kill. I built a box stand. No, I built a luxury stand. No, I built a small apartment. The stand is 4' x 8'. (For those of you with a Louisiana Public School education, the ' symbol behind the numbers represents ft. Sorry, i forgot, ft. means feet) Anyway, the stand is 8 feet of the ground. The floor is insulated and then covered by a layer of foam matting (for noise reduction and comfort if anyone needs a nap). All of the walls and ceiling are also insulated. Inside the corner of the stand is a funnel. This funnel is connected to a hose which runs down into a 3' deep hole dug with a post-hole digger. (Do I really have to explain the purpose of the funnel?)

Since I was building this thing and cutting a shooting lane in the middle of deer season, I wasn't sure how much it would effect the deer. But, the bobble-head scenario certainly wasn't going to work, so I pressed on. I quit beating, banging, sawing and hammering on Sat. 11/22. Last night, 11/26, evening before Thanksgiving, both the boys and I are sitting in the stand. It's Hayden's turn. (For the sake of clarification, let me elaborate on the "it's your turn" method. I have two boys. So even though I may take both boys hunting, only one of them goes as the "shooter". The other is only there as a spectator. The next hunt it's the other boy's turn).

So there we sit. 5:10. No wind. About 55 degrees. Hayden tells me he saw a deer move to our left. I look and see nothing, but he is adamant that he saw one. The property to our left is not ours, so I am thinking if he did see one I hope it will cross the fence. About 3 minutes later, I hear them. Then I see them... 2 slickheads (non-hunters, that means no visible antlers). I already have Hayden sitting in my lap to give him a better angle for resting his gun (.243 single shot H&R) so I quickly put the earmuffs on him (Hayden can't stand loud noises).

The deer are moving in our direction. It looks like they are going to cross the fence and our shooting lane. I look over at Hunter and tell him, "don't move". I whisper in Hayden's ear, "get ready". Hayden rests his cheek on the comb of the rifle and appears to be looking through the scope. And out of nowhere, the first deer jumps the fence and darts across the shooting lane. Gone! The second deer jumps the fence and stops. Broad-side right in the middle of the lane. 25 yards away. I whisper in Hayden's ear "Shoot". Nothing happens. Again I whisper, "Shoot". I'm starting to think he won't do it, then...Bang!!! The deer runs off. I'm so in tune to watching Hayden, I didn't see the deer's reaction when he shot, so I ask Hayden, "did you hit him?" "Yeah", he replied "I think so". Then he proceeds to tell me that what I had told him was right...he said that when he pulled the trigger he didn't even notice the sound or kick of the gun.

So we all climb down from the stand. As soon as we climb down Hayden said, "Dad, my legs are still shaking, is that normal?" "It sure is", I assure him. It is dark enough that we need a flashlight to look for any visible sign of the deer being hit. We walk over to the spot where the deer was standing and I can see disrupted pine needles and leaves where the deer bolted away. We continue to look and Hunter exclaims, "Blood!" And sure enough, blood. The good kind. White and foamy. The sign of a good lung shot. And there he laid, only 20 yards away. A perfect shot. Heart and both lungs gone, thanks to a ballistic tip. A button buck. The antlers had just barely broken through the skin.

So we drag the deer out and Hayden said,"Dad feel my heart". And so I laid my hand on his chest and agreed that his heart was still racing.

Later that evening, after the pictures and the skinning, while sitting on the couch, Hayden said "Dad, now I have even something else to be thankful for". "Yes you do, Son... Yes you do".