My deer rifle remembered!
 

This probably should be posted somewhere else, but it has to do with deer hunting and just thought I'd share it with you, guess I'm being sentimental.

On another forum a member posted a story of opening his mouth when he shouldn't and having to eat his words and it got me to thinking about what happened to me. So here goes my story.

My son is 35 now, I started him deer hunting when he was around 7 or 8 (hunting with me). I was in the military with a wife and two kids and I'll assure you money was tight. By the time he was 10 yrs old, I had gone to Sears, Roebuck, & Co. and bought him a 7 mm mauser ( you could buy them from Sears for about $15.00 back then, just had to pick the best out of a barrel full). I already had a 8 mm mauser and I semi sporterized both of them. A year later I saw a new Remington 760 pump, 30-06 in a local gun shop. I thought that was the best looking rifle I had ever seen. Needless to say, I scraped and saved every dime I could to buy that rifle. When I got it, my son probably thought the same, because that's all he talked about.

That deer season, my brother, my son, and I were at our deer camp. One afternoon my son killed a nice 6 point (eastern count) buck. He had his chest poked out and I believe his got as big as a basketball. He was really picking at me and his uncle. He had killed a doe and a spike the year prior to this but he was really proud of that little deer (me too). Well he made the statement that he was going to show us how to do it again and was going to kill an 8 pointer the next morning. I tried to explain that he shouldn't get his hopes up to high. Well he said, "If I kill an 8 pointer will you give me the pump rifle", and dummy here said sure, "If you get an 8 pointer in the morning, the rifle is yours".

The next morning I droped him off at his stand. I didn't sit down good in my stand when he fired his rifle. Any parent that has a child hunting will understand, when that rifle went off I couldn't stand it, had to get down and go to him (I know this was young for him, but he grew up shooting guns from the time he was four and I trusted him). When I got to within sight of where I droped him off, he came up into the road dragging a nice 8 pointer. I believe he said something like, "Can I hold my rifle now".

I couldn't back up, I handed the rifle to him. I must add, might head got bigger than his. I had to hunt the rest of the season with my old mauser. He told me he would keep that rifle the rest of his life. As I said earlier, he's 35 now and still uses that old rifle, he's got two boys and says he's going to pass it on to them.

Yes, I opened my mouth one time to many, but that's one time I've never regreted.

Just some thoughts from a hunter and most of all, a father.

dog1

RE: My deer rifle remembered!
 

lol!!!! i got a big smile when i read that.

RE: My deer rifle remembered!
 

Great story!!!!!!!! :):):)

RE: My deer rifle remembered!
 

i love it:D

RE: My deer rifle remembered!
 

Good story. My dad has an old shot gun from sears I wish they still sold that stuff, I work there so id get a good discount:D

RE: My deer rifle remembered!
 

Thats a great story. Thanks for sharing it with us.

RE: My deer rifle remembered!
 

Very touching story.

If you're going to have to give up a rifle, that's the way to do it.

RE: My deer rifle remembered!
 

Thanks for sharing! Any of us who grew up learning to hunt from Dad and now passing on to our kids, can't help but really enjoy your story. My wife keeps telling me I should write down my old hunting stories so my grandkids can enjoy them too. I think you should do the same.

RE: My deer rifle remembered!
 

great story, i just got my fathers ol 410 from my older brother, my dad died when i was 8yrs old and my son just turned 8 yesterday and he was the first one to shoot it since my father:)

RE: My deer rifle remembered!
 

Thanks for the great story! I still have the first gun my father gave me, and will always keep it. I have a 3 month old son now, and I sure wish my father was here to help show him the sportsmanship he taught me. That's the great thing about hunting...it's not all about the harvest!

RE: My deer rifle remembered!
 

I'm still smiling.... thanks :D

RE: My deer rifle remembered!
 

Great story. My oldest is only 21, but has already been handed his grandfather's Model 99 take-down featherwight in 300 Savage. And even though he saved and bought himself a new Model 700 remington in 30-06 4 years later.....which gun do you think he cradles and babies the most? Yep, you got it.

RE: My deer rifle remembered!
 

8mm/06 and all who read my post. Thanks for the comments, and Thanks for passing on our treasures both physical and material. My father bought me my first shotgun when I was in the 7th or 8th grade and 3 years before he died, he was 79, he gave me his old Remington 1148, 16 gauge. I doubt seriously that either gun is worth much to anybody else, but there is no amount of money that could buy either one.

dog1

RE: My deer rifle remembered!
 

I have a rich gun heritage in my family, as my grandfather (step-grandfather, but the only one on my mom's side I ever knew) was a gunsmith. I grew up shooting .22's and later when the Sheridan company produced the Sheridan blue Streak and silver Streak we got pretty good with those also. I can't even begin to count the #'s of chipmunks and red squirrels we "dusted" either off his woodpile or in the pine stands near his cottage near Oscoda, Michigan by the great Ausable river. Gramps has been gone for 30 years this past April, but his guns and hunting/life experiences are a part of my life and now my boys'.
When I talk about this to others who don't hunt or shoot they cock their heads like the RCA Victor dog (I'm really dating myself now!)