Blast From The Past

This is a story that I wrote back in 2006 and it was published in a local magazine (Great Days Outdoors).

                                                             Drawing in the Bucks

This past deer season I found myself with a little less time for hunting than in a normal year.  I’d made a commitment to take a nephew of mine deer hunting.  The season had almost slipped away before the opportunity presented itself.   Collin had come over to spend the day with me and his aunt.  We went fishing in the morning and caught a mess of nice bull bream and a few small bass.  After fishing Collin had the chance to pick which shooting house we would spend the afternoon in.  We walked over several food plots and checked a few trails.  When the scouting was over he chose to hunt the 5 acre grass field that always seems to draw plenty of does and yearlings.  The whole area was covered with tracks.   That afternoon we put on all the camouflage and loaded up on the cover scents.  We arrived at the green field about 3:00 and settled in with all the snack and drinks we could carry.  Before leaving the truck I picked up an old black marker and was unable to find any blank paper so my old depth finder manual got stuffed in the pocket for an art canvas.  As the afternoon crept by we ate our snacks and chugged down a couple of sodas which has a not so desirable side affect when hunting.  Needless to say the rear door on the hunting house got a work out early on in the afternoon. 

            Now we were full and a little more comfortable and it was time for a little tick tac toe.  This was a good way to pass the time while watching the rabbits play in the green field.  After I crowned myself the king of the Tic Tac Toe I told him I was the best and would be willing to put the title on the line against his 4 year old sister any ol’ time.  Collin took the marker back a started giving me an art lesson.  He drew a nice Bowie Knife, then a bass boat.  We saw a couple of does enter the north end of the field.  They fed a while and left for greener pastures.  Collin then drew me a picture of a nice Turkey.  About 30 minutes later a beautiful big Tom flew in and landed about 25 yards in front of the house we were in.  It scratched around for about 20 minutes before leaving.  I thought to myself man this has been a good hunt, figuring that Collin would have been asleep. Instead he got to see several animals.   When we got settled down from the turkey visit Collin went back to drawing.  We had filled the little 10 page manual with drawings.  I gave him a piece of plywood that was used to cover one of the openings on wet hunts.  He drew a picture of the hunting house we were sitting in and a few birds flying around with clouds in the background and a pretty 6 point buck.  He showed me the picture explaining what was going on.  He then proceeded to draw what looked to me like a SCUD Missile leaving the shooting house headed in the direction of the deer.

            I looked and laughed and thought man what an imagination.  The sun was starting to set and we were getting ready to gather our gear when we noticed a deer entering the field.  Collin grabbed the binoculars and took a quick look.  I stuck the missile launcher out the window and checked it with the scope.  It qualified so we decided to harvest the deer.  After getting on the ground and looking at the buck Collin said Uncle Shelby I drew a six point and you killed a six point, why didn’t I draw a 10 point.  I thought to myself why didn’t he draw me a new truck.