ENC 1101-B3 & B4: Writing for Discovery

BONK. BONK. BONK.

The drones of the alarm began filling my room. No, it can’t be, it’s not possibly 5:30 yet. It feels as if I just went to sleep.

After several minutes of the annoying sound, I began to move and quickly rolled over, shut off the alarm and got out of bed.

I was so excited! I was finally old enough to go hunting with my dad. So many times I would watch as my father packed his gear and headed to the deer woods. I was never old enough to join him. This time was different; I was on my way to my inaugural hunting trip.

Last Christmas, I had asked for a new rifle to go deer hunting with. I was so happy on Christmas morning when I woke up and ran to the tree. There it was, the prettiest thing I had ever seen. Sitting there in the glimmer of the Christmas lights was a Browning Gold Trigger series 30-30. Mounted on top was a Simmons scope, it was a beautiful gun.

The very next weekend, I went to the range to sight it in. It seemed like every night my dad and I would take it out and he would teach me how to handle it. After several weeks at the range, I was dead on at one hundred yards. I was so confident, that if I got a shot, I knew I wouldn’t miss.

After getting out of bed, I quickly jumped into my camo’s and boots and ran into my father’s room. I ran to the side of his bed and shook him vigorously.

“Dad, wake up. Its time to go.”

My dad jumped out of bed and began getting dressed.

“Dad hurry up. We need to get going. Its already 5:45 and the sun comes up at seven.”

“Son, settle down, we have plenty of time. I promise we will be there early.”

“Okay, I’m just really excited. I can’t wait.”

Within a matter of minutes we had gathered our things and were headed for the great outdoors.

It was about a half-hour to our hunting lease on the outside of town. I’m so excited I thought to myself. I had to do something to pass the time, so I put in my favorite country CD and sang all the songs that I had rehearsed several hundred times. My dad noticed I was fidgeting in my seat.

“Son, sit still we will be there soon enough,” as he grinned and chuckled softly to himself.

Finally we reached the dirt road where our lease began. I jumped out of the truck to unlock the gate as my dad drove through. I quickly shut the gate behind me, ran back to the truck and jumped in.

We proceeded down the bumpy dirt road when something caught my attention near the side of the road.

“Dad, look!” I shouted as I pointed to a deer that bounded away into the bushes.

“You think it was a buck, dad?”

“I’m not sure son I didn’t get a real good look at it. But, this early in the morning it very well could have been. The does tend to stay bedded down longer than the big bucks. Nonetheless, it’s a good sign, looks like this cold snap really has them up and moving around. It should be a great day.”

The truck came to a stop and I, of course, was first out of the truck. My new rifle was the only thing on my mind. As soon as I was out of the truck I ran to the bed, found my gun case, pulled out my gun and loaded up. No deer would dare come near me now. I started up the trail that led to the ground blind that we had carefully picked for that morning.

“Goodness boy, you’re in a hurry aren’t you? You left me at the truck back there. I played hell catching back up.”

“Sorry paw.”

“It’s okay, I can still remember my first hunt. I know how it is, but you need to relax, ‘cuz when one walks out your gonna be nervous, and it might cause you to miss him and we don’t want that.”

“Oh, don’t worry I wont miss, I promise. I’m gonna drop him, he won’t even take a step.”

We finally got settled into the ground blind at about 6:30, just in time to watch the sun start to break through the thick early morning Florida fog.

“Son, there is nothing like the woods coming alive. Just listen to the sounds as all the animals wake up. The birds are chirping, the squirrels are moving in the trees, as the sun tries to burn through the late December fog. There's no better feeling in the world.”

We sat together, told stories and watched intently for any signs that would indicate a deer nearby.

An hour passed, and still, no deer to be seen. Suddenly there was movement at the far end of the field.

“Dad, there’s one by the big oak down there,” as I tapped him on his leg and pointed in the general direction careful to make minimal movement.

“Yeah, it sure is,” as he picked up the binoculars to take a better look. “Oh my goodness son, what a buck!”

The deer walked out into the field away from the bushes and turned broadside. It was a monster of a buck, at least a 12 point.

“Okay son, this is a shooter. Get your gun up and put the cross hairs right behind the shoulder.”

I was shaking and my heart was stretching the buttons on my shirt. The pounding in my chest was deafening as I drew my rifle. There was no way I could possible catch my breath. After quickly gaining my composure, I raised my rifle and put the cross hairs right behind the shoulder like my father had instructed me.

“Eric, let him turn broadside, take a deep breath, let it out and take the shot whenever you’re ready. Just relax.”

“Okay.”

I steadied myself the best I could but it seemed the cross hairs were moving all over the place. I couldn’t hold them still. Then, as if they were glued there, the crosshairs steadied and I slowly squeezed the trigger.

Seconds seemed like hours till suddenly the quietness of the morning woods was broken by the sharp crack of a high powered rifle. The outline of the deer at the end of the field crumbled and fell to the ground.

“Just like I said Dad, he didn’t even take a step!”

“Yeah, great shot son, lets go see what you got.”

Like a kid on the way to the candy store, I handed my rifle to my father, jumped out of the ground blind and began running down the field to see my trophy.

“Wow son, what a deer! It’s bigger than any deer I have ever taken.”

“Yeah, it’s a great deer. Thanks Dad.”

I stood up, turned toward my dad, smiled and gave him a huge hug. We quickly gathered our things and headed back to get the truck to carry the deer out of the woods.

Leaving the woods that day I knew I had just shared a memory with my father that neither one of us would ever forget.