Longshot349

Story #2: Not long after me and Pop went that first time to Little Hills and Pee-ance creek we made plans to go back. After all, we could git some more Honey Doo melons and might even run into Jack O'Conner too. hehe.

Pop had a good friend named Sap Benson and Pop said he wanted to go with us this time. I kinda protested but gave in when pop told that Sap had a GENUWINE packin Mule that would pack out all them deer I'd be shootin. That plumb sold me on Sap goin with us.

Pop had traded trucks by this time had a brand new 71 ford with a 390 engine in it. But it was a 2 wheel drive. We couldn't spring for 4 wheel drive for at least another 15 years.

So me and Pop and Sap Benson headed out and I sat in the middle ,straddling that 4 speed gear shift with no power steering on it even when new... and Sap was ridin shotgun.

Now Sap was a wiry looking feller what had just one eye. The other one got shot out in the war. Pop said Sap wouldn't actually hunt, but he'd pack deer out for me and he'd skin um. That suited me just fine , cause all I wanted to do was shoot deer anyhow.

But I sure was disappointed when I seen Sap's so called Pack Mule. She wasn't nothing more than a dad gummed donkey what wouldn't weigh more than 200 lbs soaking wet. But Sap was offended when I said something about it, so I shut up and let it go...

Her name was Martha and she followed Sap around like a kid and even stayed in the house a lot with him at home. When it come time to Load her, Sap just told her to git in the truck and Martha just jumped up in the back. We didn't have no rails or nothing and Pop just tied her to the window guard on that truck and away we went. Martha's head stuck over the cap as we went down the highway.

I told Pop I didn't know if that was legal or not, but we headed for Colorado anyhow. Sure nuff the Highway Patrol stopped us and ask about that donkey. But Sap explained to him that she was a pet and told her to lay down, which she promptly did, and that convinced the Highway Patrol to let us go. I recon they figured Martha was more like a dog than a Mule.

Anyhow, we got into Gunnison and stopped to buy some groceries. That's when Sap informed us that since he hadn't bought nary a drop of gasoline, he would git the groceries and cook for us all. His only request was that Pop buy the beer. So We agreed and went to the Liquor store while Sap shopped for Groceries.

Now back in them days we couldn't git Coors beer in Missouri, so it was kinda like a delicacy to us Hill folks and Pop bought a big bait of it and put it in the truck with Martha. Not sure why Coors beer wasn't in Missouri back then but it wasn't..

I have long since learn the error of my ways and stopped drinking any alcohol now. But back then it just seemed like the thing to do when a feller was goin huntin.

Anyhow, Sap had the groceries already bought and loaded by the time we got back. He had put them in a couple of coolers and I made the bad mistake of not checking what he'd bought. More about that later.

So we finally got to camp and didn't have much car trouble on this trip like the 1st time, except for Martha a pooping all over everything.

So we set camp and got ready for some supper and that's when I discovered that all Sap had bought for groceries was some that long summer sausage and some Taters. I mean not nary a dang thing else!

I commenced to chewing his asss about it, but he said we'll be fine. He called it Donkey Diick and Taters and he cooked up a big skillet of it for supper. I got to admit it was purdy dang good, but the problem was I didn't want it 3 times a day! Thankfully Mom had pack us some biskets and homemade jelly for the trip or I'd been sick to death of Donkey Diick and Taters. We finally made a trip into town later I replaced the menu with some decent food 3 days later.

But Sap was worth his weight in gold for skinning them deer. I'd knock um down and here'd come Sap and Martha to skin and pack um out. I didn't even have to gut um. Sap did it all.

But I'd kilt 2 old doe deer on one hillside that was steeper than the Matterhorn. Sap finally got o'le Martha up there, but he made the mistake of strappin both them doe deer on her back.

Martha was a little o'le donkey and with both deer on her, she looked like that little dog in the Grinch Stole Christmas movie, where Grinch tied them reindeer horns on him and then attached the sleigh to him.. hehe.

Martha's belly was pret near touching the ground, so I talked Sap into letin her drag them deer off that steep hellsih hillside to some flatter ground below, and then packing um out one at a time.

So we did, but we'd miscalculated how much more the deer weighed than Martha... and when we started down, the deer passed her and all I could see was mule hide and deer buttholes tumbling in a dust heap.

But thankfully they hit a snow patch and that little donkey skied down the hillside just as pretty as you please and stopped right on the trailhead.

Sap seen he'd overdone Martha, so he boned them 2 deer out, and packed um that way.

Sap just had one eye and didn't shoot guns , but he had a bone handle knife always on his belt. One day a herd of deer came around the mountain and I shot one of the biggest looking ones and at least 200 deer went on past us.

We was sitting on a rock, maybe 15 feet high so we had a good lookout. As all them deer passed on both sides of the rock we was sittin on, Sap bailed off the rock and on the back of a big fat doe. He cut it's throat with that knife and kilt it dead. I've never to this day seen guy kill a wild deer with just a knife, but Sap sure did it.

Now I know some of ya'll readin this is prolly saying we should be arrested for stabbing deer and overpackin a tiny little Donkey. But you got to just understand it was just a lot different back then. So don't go raggin at me about this.

Thanks for readin about the good ole days.