Monday, November 5, 2012

Deer Hunting With Dad - Part 1 - Coming Of Age


Deer Hunting With Dad
Part One
Coming Of Age

“We’ll get our deer  today”, Dad said.  Even though I had no proof that this monumental  feat, at least in my 12 year old eyes would happen, but I knew it to be true.  Just the mere fact that the ol’ man said it, made it so.
Dad had picked me up in his yellow F-100 Ford pickup just after the dismissal bell had rung at the George Robertson School in Belfast where I attended seventh grade.  And we were heading out to Monroe, Dad’s favorite hunting grounds. A short drive from school, Monroe was where he was born and raised and he knew the territory well.  So we were heading up to the Robinson farm that had three lovely fields on top of a hill, surrounded by stonewalls and apple trees. And he had dragged out many a deer down from the hill. 
 I was new to this, the actual hunt.  But not new to the results.  I’d seen deer come home, lying in the bed of the F-100. Belly splayed open and tongue drooping out of the mouth, with it's white fur tinged with pink.  I’d run my hands over the thick, coarse coat and over each point of the rack
(mostly Dad wanted a buck but if hunting season ran short...)
and look for the bullet hole, made by the .308,  that brought down this magnificent beast.  Shortly It would be hanging by its hind legs from the rafters of our small barn. On display for a short time, waiting for the trip to the Bi-Rite Market and Bryon the butcher.
And now, finally, it was my turn to actually join him in the hunt. And participate in the long awaited rite of passage that adolescent boys of that day dreamed of.  I was on my way, bumping up the long gravel driveway to the farm with Dad, in the cab of that beat up pickup, enveloped in a cloud of Prince Albert pipe tobacco smoke.
It was heaven..

6 comments:

  1. My youngest son is on the verge of getting his FID and joining me, his older brother and uncle on our traditional pheasant hunt on Thanksgiving morning.

    I would be pleased to know that some day he would look back on our time afield as fondly as you do with your dad.

    Very nice. Thanks.

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  2. Thanks Ed..It was a wonderful part of my life..

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  3. “We’ll get our deer today”
    A quote often heard from my dad- "We are do, oh-we-are-do"
    Great story- looking forward to part 2.

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    1. Thanks Peter..hopefully it will be ready for tomorrow..and by the way..I get your posts emailed me directly..you've got a great blog and I enjoy it muchly!

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  4. Well written. I look forward to part 2. I posted about my first hunt with my dad around Father's day this year. Dad said he had tears in eyes while reading it, it was the first time he had heard my side of the story. As Erin has said many times..."Dads are great"

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    1. Thanks Travis..Part 2 is up..those day's with our Dad's were very special..my father has passed but the memories are still alive and kicking..

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