Sipsey
Well-Known Member
This past Friday my grandson Daniel was treated to a hunt donated to a charity affiliated with Children's Hospital in Birmingham. He just turned 9 and has battled AML leukemia since he was 3. A charity called “Camp Smile a Mile” contacted my daughter a month ago to set up the hunt.
I filled in for his Dad who had to work. Our guide videoed the hunt from behind us in our shooting house. It had rained steadily for nearly 24 hours. We get settled and Daniel lowered his head and prays for a good hunt. He raises his head and the rain stops. We watched a buck work his way down the far hillside into the field. He finally turned and stopped. He shot high. I reloaded the single shot .243. I whisper, “slowly squeeze.” He shoots and we see water splash up on the other side of the deer. The guide said, “under him, clean miss,” as the buck runs tail raised out of the field.
We look back and a larger buck jumps a creek into the field. I reload as the deer is quartering away at about 80 yards. He fires and the the deer buckles and exits the field where the first one ran. We high five, hug and wait 25 minutes before climbing down and headed to look for blood. We find a large track entering the woods, but no blood. We slowly head up a slope and see dirt where leaves have been kicked away. We ease up higher and we hear, “There he is.” About 60 yards up and to our right is a huge buck. Daniel ran and grabbed the rack and started counting. He stopped at 16 and said, “I can’t count em all.”
After pictures back at the lodge we washed up and recounted the hunt. One of the owners Matt, got a laptop and hooked the camera up to review the video. I heard him say, “ He didn’t miss, that’s the first deer, there’s another deer out there.” He closed the laptop, gathered flashlights and they headed out into the night and into the rain which had started again. They called about an hour later and wanted us to come out back. We opened the door to see a magnificent 21 point buck. The two owners Matt and Randy and our guide Sparky had nearly given up in the dark rain when they found three broken branches on a hillside. The buck had slid down a steep ravine.
To say it was the hunt of a lifetime is an understatement. The buck on the left is the one we thought he missed, it’s a 20 point, the one on the right 21.
I filled in for his Dad who had to work. Our guide videoed the hunt from behind us in our shooting house. It had rained steadily for nearly 24 hours. We get settled and Daniel lowered his head and prays for a good hunt. He raises his head and the rain stops. We watched a buck work his way down the far hillside into the field. He finally turned and stopped. He shot high. I reloaded the single shot .243. I whisper, “slowly squeeze.” He shoots and we see water splash up on the other side of the deer. The guide said, “under him, clean miss,” as the buck runs tail raised out of the field.
We look back and a larger buck jumps a creek into the field. I reload as the deer is quartering away at about 80 yards. He fires and the the deer buckles and exits the field where the first one ran. We high five, hug and wait 25 minutes before climbing down and headed to look for blood. We find a large track entering the woods, but no blood. We slowly head up a slope and see dirt where leaves have been kicked away. We ease up higher and we hear, “There he is.” About 60 yards up and to our right is a huge buck. Daniel ran and grabbed the rack and started counting. He stopped at 16 and said, “I can’t count em all.”
After pictures back at the lodge we washed up and recounted the hunt. One of the owners Matt, got a laptop and hooked the camera up to review the video. I heard him say, “ He didn’t miss, that’s the first deer, there’s another deer out there.” He closed the laptop, gathered flashlights and they headed out into the night and into the rain which had started again. They called about an hour later and wanted us to come out back. We opened the door to see a magnificent 21 point buck. The two owners Matt and Randy and our guide Sparky had nearly given up in the dark rain when they found three broken branches on a hillside. The buck had slid down a steep ravine.
To say it was the hunt of a lifetime is an understatement. The buck on the left is the one we thought he missed, it’s a 20 point, the one on the right 21.
