2007 was my favorite all time year of hunting. It was the most special season that i've ever had and will never have one like it.
It was general rifle season and it was my son's first year of hunting, he was 12 years old. It was him, me and my father. My son and i had hunted hard for the entire season, i had tagged out early on, taking a nice elk and a great mulie. It was the last weekend of the season, or thanksgiving weekend for those not familiar with Montana.
My son and i decided to pick up my dad and take him out with us for the day thinking he would enjoy a guys day out from the nursing home. It was just after first light and we spotted a very nice whitetail doe about 150 yrds from our spot. I told my son to wait just a second to see if she would turn just a bit more and give him a slightly better shot. She was quartering away from us, but looking in the opposite direction, so i took a quick glance the same way and got excited, there was a nice 5x5 buck standing there looking at her.
My dad told my son to take a shot and hit or miss, we were proud of him. He gets a great sight picture through the scope, puts the crosshairs just behind the front shoulder and BANG!! We were all pretty excited to see that big boy drop. We got even more excited as we walked up on that big buck, here on the gound in front of us was a beautiful heavy horned monster!! After sticking a tape to him he measured out at 152 1/4"!! Not bad for a first buck!
That buck is only a very small reason why that hunt is special, another part of it is that it was my oldest son's first hunt, but the main reason that hunt is so special above all other hunts, is that was the last hunt my dad ever went on. He passed away on January 9, 2008. It was the first and last time that the 3 of us hunted together. I miss him still today, and can hear him in my ear guiding me like he did when i was a young 12 year old boy on my first hunt, ("slow down son, take deep even breaths, hold it steady, take the shot son, there you go boy, nice job, lets give the glory of today where it belongs, proud of you boy!") Dad, i love you and miss you. Thanks for all you taught me, and for the things that you were patient enough to let me learn on my own.
That's why Nov 07 is special to me.
Last edited by scottb3472; 04-15-2011 at 03:31 PM.