Dad's Hunt
| Firearms - Rifles/Guns |
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For Christmas of 2005, I gave him the gift of a hunt in northern Nevada guided by myself. In Nevada we have a special draw before the general draw for hunters that wish to put in and hunt with an exclusive guide of their choice. All though I didn’t give him the choice of guides, I did take advantage of this opportunity of being a guide and knowing he would have a better chance at drawing a tag. I fully expected to wait at least one or two years for him to draw, but he drew a tag his first time! It was so exciting! He had just had a knee replacement surgery, so I immediately discussed his exercise schedule with him to get him ready for hunting Nevada! He lives in Texas so the terrain in general was going to be a different challenge for him.
I can’t tell you how excited I was to have the opportunity to guide my Dad on his first hunt in over 30 years! (Notice I am careful to not reveal my age!) I didn’t know what to expect. Was he going to be a calm, easy going hunter that fits his pretty laid back personality or was he going to turn into a bowl of jello when the time came? After months of planning over the phone, we finally got loaded up with the camper and just he and I headed out for a couple days of hunting. Although he was not being picky about what he took, I was. I knew what the potential was for our state and I was not gonna let him shoot just anything, but I wasn’t waiting for the Boone and Crocket buck either.
The first day, we drove around the hunt unit, got beat up by the suspension in the truck and saw lot of bucks, but none that I was gonna let him waste a bullet on. The second day came and I decided to try a different spot. Who would have known that I would take a wrong turn getting there and we would end up in the middle of no where that I had ever hunted before. After several hours of just dinking around the country looking for a way out, we decided to head back the way we came. I continued to take turns that were heading us in the direction we came from but were not the roads we came in on. I told him “Maybe God has a plan for us getting lost like this.” Not more then 10 minutes later we came over a ridgeline and I spotted some bucks in the flats hidden by the 8 foot sage brush. Dad suddenly got very energetic.
We got out of the truck and snuck down to get a little closer. With little sneakee effort the bucks had no idea we had gotten within about 125 yards of them. My Dad was a little winded from the combination of the sneak and adrenaline so I sat him down and had him get ready for a shot. There were 3 bucks in the group. All different sizes, with the 2 smaller ones surrounding the bigger boy. I watched the bucks while I instructed my dad to get them in his scope and wait for me to tell him when the bigger buck was clear of any others. He was so excited he couldn’t get them in his scope! He could see them with his eye but he would put the scope up, he would panic! I eventually sat directly behind him and had him get set for the shot, pulled his head away from the scope while I put the cross hairs on the buck and then had him put his head back into place. He was so excited he could hardly breathe! He finally saw them! BOOM! He got the buck! I don’t think I have seen him that energetic since I was playing ball and he was coaching me from the backstop! He was so excited I don’t think he stopped shaking for a couple of days. He even took pictures of me gutting the buck so that he could show his friends back home what one of his “little girls” does for fun!
My Dad has always been such a big part of my life. Always there to pick me up or even humble me when I need it. He has always been one that I know I can always turn to for answers, help or even a laugh. It was so neat for me to be able to do something so big for him. I was so happy to be a part of this time with him. I will treasure that time always and I hope to treat him to another soon! Thanks Dad, for another great memory! God Bless Julie Hughes |
