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Early Saturday morning, my grandson, Zane, and I were on stand waiting for his dad and uncle to drive the deer toward us. Actually, it was not all that early. Years ago, we decided a person could start the hunt at daylight or drink coffee and eat donuts until 8:30 or 9 and then go hunting. The deer are still in the woods at nine o'clock just like they were at six, but the hunters are full of coffee and donuts as well as having made a plan by nine. We have hunted the same way for so many years, it does not take much of a plan, but does take a considerable amount of coffee.

It was close to 9:00 o'clock as Zane and I stood at the edge of the cedar field, waiting for the deer to come streaming out of the timber toward us. I told Zane, he had a buck tag and I had a doe tag. He could shoot anything he wanted. He would shoot first and I would back him up if he hit something and only wounded it. We had been waiting almost to the point a nine year old kid was ready to start dancing or singing. For an adult, standing perfectly still for half an hour staring at a bunch of trees can get to be boring. For a kid, it has to be unbearable. He was just starting to twitch around the edges when two big bucks broke out of the timber and ran past us. We both snapped up our guns and I waited for him to shoot. I waited as they ran down the hill and out of sight, following them in my sights to make a back-up shot. The shot never came. When I asked Zane why he did not take one of them he said, "I was not ready." I thought that was a good move on his part. We had been standing around for just short of an eternity. A person's mind is not concentrating on the task at hand. When the opportunity comes to make a shot, it is better to pass it up than not make a good clean kill. A few minutes later, Zane pulled up and shot before I saw the deer sneaking out of the timber toward us. A small buck dropped in its tracks. He was ready this time.

The advantage of being a kid on a deer hunt is they need to stay on stand rather than driving deer for safety reasons. It is difficult to walk hills and ditches while carrying a loaded weapon, try to shoot deer, all the time keeping track of where you are in relationship to the other drivers, plus knowing not to shoot toward your blockers. Everyone in the party is more comfortable knowing exactly where the least experienced hunter is.

The advantage of being a grandpa is that somebody has to stand with the kid so he does not shoot toward the drivers. Being old and gimpy has to come in handy for something.

Later that afternoon, Zane and I were on stand below Strawberry Hill. The results of this drive is all about position. One year, the deer all seem to come out near the creek and run up into the Ten Acres. Other years, they come part way up the hill and run off into the cedar pasture. We were waiting half way up the hill when deer started coming out on the opposite side of the creek just past our maximum shooting range. I knew more deer would be coming and they would probably follow the same trail but we could not move. I had told our drivers where we would be and was going to be there if we never got a shot.

We thought all the deer in the world were going to pass out of range when two does ran up the fence toward us. I whispered to Zane that I was going to get the first one. He pulled up to back me. I shot, she dropped and got up again. Zane shot and exclaimed he got her.

When our drivers got to us, we went over to check out the doe. She was only hit once but Zane said when I shot, it spooked her and she tripped over a log. When he shot, she was done. It really does not matter who got what because we had a good time hunting together as a family. (I really did get her.)[[In-content Ad]]

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