I’d like to say that I did a lot of hunting, but I really wasn’t able to get out very much. I’ve had too many things going on that have required my attention. It makes me hard to believe since I used to never miss a day. I’ve learned over the years that sometimes it’s better to pick your days and give it your all.
I was able to get out a few times with my buddy Chris Hall. If you remember, he’s the guy who can’t walk and must use a wheelchair to get around. This year, we constructed a food plot on my dad’s land and figured it would give Chris a better opportunity to get a look at a few deer and possibly get an opportunity to get a shot.
We built the food plot during the dog days of summer and faced brutal heat while doing it. After it began growing, it came up nicely and gave me some hope. A few bucks showed up along with a handful of does on a regular basis.
When we finally picked a good day, I dropped Chris off at the plot. I brought him in on a 4-wheeler and left. We figured this would disturb the deer less than any other method.
Shortly after dropping him off, a doe came in but turned around and left before he could get a shot. Then, right at dark, Chris called me on the phone. His voice was shaky, and he spoke rapidly, “Bro, I just shot a deer. Get over here as fast as you can.”
I didn’t waste any time getting to him. The excitement was still in the air as I began looking for blood. After finding where the deer had been standing, I began following the running tracks. I quickly found blood and followed it. When I turned around, Chris was right behind me on his knees. He had covered the distance in seconds while crawling. Looking at him in the grass, I had a newfound appreciation for him and the dedication he puts into everything he does. I’ve never heard him make an excuse for anything, and I’ve never heard him complain about the difficulties he battles. He gained my respect through those qualities.
In the end, we didn’t find the deer. He hit it too far forward and struck the shoulder bone. We grid searched and came up empty. The deer hardly bled, so it made it difficult to get many good leads on where it went. When we quite looking for it, we were confident that the deer had survived to see another day. In fact, it did. We saw it on trail camera a few days later. Here’s the food plot and Chris. There is a burlap facing in front of Chris that can’t be seen. It worked really well as a blind, allowing hi to get the shot.
When the season was rolling into muzzleloading season, I went out with my dad. It was tough to watch. I walked behind him to get to a stand I had set up for him. His legs weren’t working too well, and his feet were getting tangled in the underbrush. He was having a difficult time moving through the woods, and I could tell it was taking its toll on him. He got through the day and decided there was no way he could go to Illinois with me this year. With everything he has been battling, his body just doesn’t seem to be cooperating. We have many peaks and valleys and never know what is coming on any given day.
A few days later, Dad seemed to turn the corner. He got the strength back in his legs and was getting around the woods without many problems. He even set up his own stand in a different place. I’ve done a lot of work to find him places to hunt near the road and have found some places that have promise. I did run some trail cameras in many places to see if any of the place big deer. Amazingly, I quickly saw that I had more big buck pictures next to the road than I’ve ever had deep in the woods. It’s still unbelievable to me, but It will definitely change my tactics this season and in the future. In one of the places, I got a picture of a nice bull moose. Here’s a picture of my dad one of the days we went out together. The other picture is the moose that I just wrote about.
