If that's not gospel I just don't know what is. When I shot my first buck lastyear, I was in the woods, all by myself. It was almost..anti climatic. I made more phone calls in 30 minutes than I even remember. I had more fun sharing that hunt with my friends than I can even express. I even had a terrific phone call w/ a feller I've recently said a few nasty things about. Sharing that hunt with my "cyber" friends (some of which have quite literally become my best friends) and my "local" friends....it's been so much more than a hunt; it's literally been a life changing EXPERIENCE.

I called my best bud Dave and told him. He was 4 hours away on some business, and he's put in some time and hunted w/ me where I killed him. I so wished he were there with me..When I called and told him, he was of course excited, and told me I had to talk to Laura (his wife.) She asked if I was going to have him mounted, and I said no, I would do a skull plate or something, but I wasn't going to pay that kind of cash to put a deer head on my wall. Long story short, he's at the taxidermist right now, and I'm not paying for it. I've told them before that "Thank you" just didn't seem like enough, but it's all I had. Well, just the other day I thought of something else. I'm gonna pay it forward. Some time in the future some young hunter I know will be in the same spot, and I'm gonna do for him what my buddy, and his wife, have done for me.

BigJ, like I said in my "brag up your fellow HNI'ers" post.....you have a heart of absolute gold. Thank you for this reminder. I, more than most around here, needed it.