Even deer hunters get by with a little help from their friends.
For the past 30 years, I’ve been venturing back to my old stomping grounds in Deposit, N.Y., to hunt with my friends from high school. This past season resulted in a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
It happened at about 3 p.m. on the second day of the New York season. It was cold and windy, so I called my buddies on the radio and told them I was done sitting and if they wanted to comb the mountain one more time, I’d be waiting for them at the truck. I guess I wasn’t the only one who was ready to go because they all agreed to meet up.
My friend Bob and I unloaded our guns and put them in the back of the truck, while Kevin left his unloaded gun on the picnic table.
We chatted and discussed all the things that should have or could have been when I heard snapping twigs and brush rustling.
I looked in the direction of the noise and saw a deer headed right toward us. In my excitement, I yelled for Kevin to shoot the deer. He said, “What deer?”
I yelled back, “The deer right in front of us by the small pine trees!”
In his defense, there were about 30 pine trees in front of us, so my directions weren’t exactly the best.
I ran to the truck, grab my .30-06 and pulled a shell out of my pocket. As I racked a shell into the gun, the deer picked its head up. “It’s a buck!” I yelled to everyone.
The buck finally realized it wasn’t in the best of locations and began looking for a quick exit.
I pulled up my gun, got the buck in the scope and fired just as it prepared to leap a downfall.
Kevin yelled, “It’s down!”
All three of us ran up to check out the buck, but when I picked up the head I was stunned to see two holes.
Although I didn’t even know it until I asked, Kevin had shot, too. Without any count or planning, we fired and connected at the exact same instant.
Our 8-pointer had a 13-inch spread and weighed 145 pounds. Good friends that we are, there was no arguing who got the buck, and we split it 50-50. I have to say, though, that half rack on my wall looks a little strange.