Deer Hunting Times
My dad was an avid sportsman survivalist covering all fields from trapping, hunting and fishing. My dad did not just hunt because he enjoyed it. Deer Hunting Times was our main food source when I was growing up. My dad kept two deep freezers nearly full year round with deer, rabbit, squirrel, raccoon and fish. I only remember one time that he lost the prey after it had been wounded. We spent an entire day tracking a deer through the woods following a blood trail but eventually there was no more blood and no deer.
For the most part every shot he made counted when it came to deer hunting. I remember this one time in particular. We had spent the night at our hunting lodge my dad owned out in the country. As always we were up before the sun rise eating sausage biscuits and drinking coffee. After we ate we proceeded in the dark with flashlights in hand and guns strapped to our back. We left the house and headed into the woods just off the backyard. After only a short walk my dad positioned me in a tree stand and pointed out the direction he thought the deer might come. He then left me and went to his preselected spot somewhere deeper into the woods. I got comfortable and half asleep sat on my little platform occasionally looking in the direction of small sounds I heard in the wood. The sun was just starting to lighten the sky when I heard a slow but steady firing of my dad’s 12 gauge shotgun shattering the silence four times. I knew not to make a move until my dad came back for me or he would get mad. About 30 minutes later I heard my dad shuffling through the leaves headed my way. He motioned for me to come down. He did not say much but led me back to where he had been hunting. He seemed a little worried. Then he showed me he had four female deer that he had killed. He said he could have shot a fifth but he let it go because hunting regulations only allowed us two deer each at that time. It was a fine grey line but if we got caught the story was I shot two of the deer myself. We dragged deer back to the house where we started processing them in the back yard. It required a lot of gory details that I will leave out of my story. Once we had the deer cleaned we would take them back to our house in Laurens where the processing continued with cutting some parts into steaks other parts we put into my dad’s huge meat grinder and made hamburgers and sausage. All of this went into the huge deep freezers. We never had to buy meat at the grocery store.
I never acquired my dad’s talent for hunting. I went with him often because I wanted to spend time with him. I remember this one time he wanted to be sure I brought in the meat. He set me up in a huge old cedar tree alongside a clear cut for a power line. He explained that the trail where the deer crossed the clearing was just in front of where I was perched. It had only been a few months back I was sitting in the same tree with my dad and he killed a huge buck. This was his luckiest location of all. On top of leaving me in the prime position he also left me his old faithful five shot 12 gauge shot gun. My dad left me and went some distance away to another spot he had selected. I got comfortable as you can when you sit on a tree limb with my hand warmer, electric socks, coffee in a thermos, biscuits and a dry heating pad reading a book. I watched as squirrels and birds played for several hours. Then I heard what sounded like someone coming in from across the clearing. But it was not a person instead it was an entire herd of deer. I was so excited I was shaking. I slowly raised my dad’s shot gun and took aim. I just started pulling the trigger as fast I could thinking O was going get at least one of two only by luck. My dad heard me shooting and came back to me very quickly. He said he was afraid I might have gone to sleep falling from the tree and fired the gun by accident. I told him about the herd of deer. We both crossed the clearing expecting to find my kill. But to my disappointment there was not even one drop of blood. I had somehow completely missed a tightly packed herd of large deer. We looked for an hour but found nothing. Later my mom said it was my good heart and that I had shot only to warn off the deer. But she was wrong.
Another time we went hunting with my dad and his friend. They left me in a tree stand and went to their own spots as usual along deer trails. It was not long before I heard something coming through the forest very noisily. I looked and saw that it was a huge black wild hog. This time I did not miss. Later when my dad and his friend came back they saw the black fur and thought I had killed a bear at first.
I did not enjoy hunting too much. I never went hunting alone myself but my younger brother Dale he is just like my dad. Now I live in the city and would give anything to have my dad back and go hunting with him again.