My First Harvest!

Some of my fondest memories from childhood were from going Deer Hunting with my Pop!  The Deer Camp was a training ground for the young boys & a great "hide-away" for the grown-ups!  I can remember the long hours of driving into the night like it was yesterday.  My Pop would wake us up when we got into Deer Country so we could see the deer on the side of the highway...when it was cold out...we'd see scores of deer near the TomBigbee River in the Great State of Alabama!  Alabama holds a "Deer" place in my heart!  It was in Linden, Alabama that our Pop took us to the Best Hunting Club on Earth! (to me at least!)  Sunset Hunting Club.  With over 3000 acres of prime hunting land & a ton of deer it was the GREATest Place on Earth for a young hunter!  Whenever we drove up to camp we'd jump out the car & haul-butt back to the walk-in freezer to view the weeks "Kill"!  There would Always be a few deer & if we were lucky there would be a couple of RACKS hanging as well!  The Camp was awesome with wooden floors and triple-stacked bunk-beds!  We basically had our own private room...with about 30 spots to sleep that we shared with another amazing family of hunters, which became some of my favorite people on Earth!  I was only 7 years old my first year at the club so I used to sneak out my bed in the middle of the night to crawl in with Pop, I was still kinda scared of the dark, I guess.  Pop would wake up and slide out to get ready while letting me sleep a little longer.  I'll never forget how comfortable those last, WARM moments felt as I laid alone waiting to feel the shake from my Pop to start getting ready, long before the Sun came up!  But NOTHING could've kept me from joining him in the Deer Woods!  I'd put on my blue-jeans, 3 pairs of socks, my hunting boots & a plaid red coat made of wool to keep me warm!  We'd pile-up in a pick-up truck & I'd snuggle up to my Pop the whole ride to the lease.  We would get out the truck & start our morning March into the woods with our shotguns in our hands (mine was a BB-gun!)  In the dark of the morning I'd follow right behind my Pop's footsteps, sometimes in the snow, but always directly in his steps, because I did not want to get left behind alone!  Plus, it was a Cardinal Rule ...NOT to step on a stick...& to make as little noise as possible as we marched our way into the Deer Woods!  The last guy in line would drop off first until it was our turn to take STAND!  Slowly the Sun would creep up & like MAGIC the Deer Woods would come Alive!   It was amazing how everything woke-up....first we could hear the hunting dogs striking up in the distance, then a squirrel would shimmy across the dead leaves...You wouldn't believe how LOUD a squirrel is in the still of the morning...he sounded like an elephant running through the leaves!  Then, I could hear the "drivers" whooping it up to get the dog's motivated!  The men that worked the hunting dogs were called "drivers" because they would "drive" the deer out of the thicket with the dogs!
The first few years I hunted with my Pop & that's where I learned to LOVE deer hunting & learned how to be a man!  He taught me how to spit, how NOT to curse (in front of women!) how to make a fist for fighting & how to shoot a  gun...lots of guns!
I remember one day on a dog drive my Big Brother was in the next position down the road from where Dad & I had to hunt.  (I don't recommend this but...)  my Dad & I got bored since there was no action & I asked my Dad if I could shoot my brother!?  We had lots of clothes on & afterall...all I was shooting was a Daisy BB Gun Pump-action!  So, I pumped that sucker UP with air...aimed ...& shot...missing him by about 20 ft.!  Dad said "aim higher!" GAME ON!  My adrenaline went berserk! I pumped it up again...aimed HIGHER...& shot....It was a HIT! Right in the butt!  Stung like a BEE!!  Made my day!
I'll NEVER forget the first time he let me shoot his .30-06 Browning Rifle!  We were in between the early morning dog-hunt & the afternoon "still-hunt" standing on a dirt road waiting to be picked up in a truck.  I got a wild hair up my butt & asked Daddy if I could shoot HIS GUN?  He obliged & the LOOK on my older Bother's face should have been a warning to me...but I wanted to give it a go!  I put that gun up to my shoulder, with Dad's help, held it up aiming at the target we had placed on a tree down the road...took aim....& .....BAM!  It liked to knock me on my butt...I went back...whincing at the pain in my shoulder....surprised as my brother starting cracking up laughing!  It was 10 years later before I tried that lil'trick again!
Finally, the year had come when I was "old" enough to shoot a deer....in our camp you had to hunt with your Dad until you killed your first deer & I was 9 years old so Pop let me shoot the Sweet-16!  It was the Sweetest Shotgun we owned with a Gold-plated trigger & of course my big brother had broken it in well.  That was THE BEST HUNTING Season of my LIFE!  In Alabama we had a WHOLE WEEK of Doe Season!  And our lease had a WHOLE BUNCH of doe's!  I'm not very proud to say...I MISSED a lot of deer that year!  There was one hunt where we were in the ditch on side of a road...I could hear the dogs coming...getting louder & louder...then my Dad must've seen the deer 'cause he says "don't shoot till ya see the whites of their eyes!"  I thought deer don't have white eyes?!? & Suddenly, not one, not two but SIX deer coming running right at us!  I waited until they were literally 10 feet from us & BOOM! I shot....3 times as they JUMPED OVER US in ALL directions!!!  NOT ONE WAS HIT!  That's a whole lot of BUCK shot to NOT hit a deer!  They call it BUCK FEVER even though...it was ALL Doe's!
Finally, later that week the day had come!  We were up on a platform stand that leaned against a big tree looking over a cut-over (that's where the timber company had cut down all the trees for harvest & the field was full of briars & limbs)  We could hear the dogs coming from way-off but they were getting closer & for the first time...I saw the deer before my Dad!  It was TWO deer and I pointed them out to my Pop about 800 yards from where we were in the corner of the cut-over!  By some MIRACLE they turned and were coming STRAIGHT towards us!  My Pop said "get ready!"  I braced myself against the tree with my shotgun on my knee....& when they got about 35 yards in front of us...I SHOT!  & SHOT......& SHOT...each time my Pop said "Shoot AGAIN!"  Finally, the doe dropped!  After 5 SHOTS!  My Dad was laughing so hard he almost fell out the stand!  He climbed out the stand & I directed him to where the deer fell & he had to finish the job because apparently ...even AFTER 5 SHOTS....I only managed to get ONE BUCKSHOT in her rear-end!  Guess I wasn't leading her enough!  I was JUST PUMPED that I finally got my FIRST DEER!
I'll NEVER forget that day!  To TOP it all off....when my Uncle came to pick us up ...he had TWO 8 point Bucks in the Back of the Truck!!!  I'll save that story to be told by him in another post!
Catch ya'll next time....

YES...that is MY FIRST Deer!

& YES that's ME ... 9 yr. Old ME!

My Dad's knife took her life & that ol'gal

fed my family & I thank The LORD for 

allowing me to hunt!