Hunting

Julie G. - Gun Season 2012

I might as well finish up my hunting stories since I have only gone the past 3 years.  Last year was different because I had an abdominal surgery in late September and decided to hold off on bow hunting.  I was raring to go by November gun season.  Dick has always made the trip back to hunt at his parents farm and I have found much better luck on the Suhr farm.  So Dad, Jason and I had our own little "deer camp".  I made chili and tried acting as manly as possible.  The boys let me sit in "my" stand (see previous story) and sure enough it didn't take long before I had deer coming at me like a magnet.  I got two doe total, but saw around 11 deer including 2-3 bucks.  My biggest fear with hunting is having to think about field dressing the deer, but with Dad and my brother that was never a worry.  I was the only one that shot any deer that weekend, but my Dad and brother did all my dirty work.  I can't imagine hunting will ever be the same without Dad, but the peacefulness of sitting out on a nice calm night will remind me of all the times we shared and all of the reasons that Dad loved hunting so much.

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Julie G. - Bow Season 2011

My second season hunting I decided that I was a pro and that gun hunting was going to be too easy so I decided to take up bow hunting.  Dad was THRILLED!  Very early in the season we went out on the farm and Dad took me out to my stand on the golf cart and got me set up before he headed off to wherever it was he was going to sit.  He told me after dusk he would be back to pick up again.  I always had him drop me off so close to my stand that I could literally get off from the golf cart and onto the first step of the tree stand.

I was getting antsy because I hadn't seen or heard anything and suddenly my phone starts vibrating...its Dad.  I'm thinking he is coming to get me, but in a not so quiet Dad "whisper" I hear.  "STAY PUT, GET YOUR BOW READY, THERE IS A BIG ONE HEADED RIGHT TOWARDS YOU!!" So I grabbed my bow and sure enough not a couple minutes later I hear leaves crackling and this large buck comes raring around the corner.  I got him to stop and got a shot off, but it wasn't a good one and we never found the buck or the arrow.  A couple months later Dad calls me and tells me someone else got "MY" buck.  He knew the neighbor up the road who had shot the same buck during gun hunting season and took me to his house to get a picture of the buck that the neighbor had taken.  Dad still always referred to that deer as "Julie's Buck".

Later that same bow season Dad and I were at it again only he had a new "hot spot" for me to try out.  This stand was the corner stand by the marsh.  As usual he drove me straight up to the base of the tree and I climbed out and shimmied up the tree.  Not much time passed and I was bored and reading from my electronic book.  Out of the corner of my eye I noticed some movement and sure enough two young buck had come walking into the woods heading straight under my stand.  So I slowly stand, grab my bow and watch as they walk right under me, get to the other side and turn broadside to me before they begin fighting.  I draw my bow and let the perfect shot fly.  (I'd been practicing a lot since my miss in the story before.)  Again I wasn't sure if I had even hit him, because I'm thinking that when I let the actual arrow go my eyes probably closed.  The first thing I did was grab my phone to call Dad.  He told me we would wait a little bit, but then go track it.  This time we found I had the perfect shot and got my first little buck. 

Dad wouldn't have dreamed about making me do any of the hard work of field dressing the deer so him and Mom came out and we dragged it in and he got to work cleaning it and taking care of all the dirty work.  From that day forward he referred to that deer stand as Julie's Stand and of course took me out to celebrate!

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Julie G. - Gun Season 2010

All my life I grew up with my Dad and brother hunting and I never wanted to participate.  When I met Dick we made an agreement in order to spend more time together I would learn to hunt and he would help me sew a quilt.  What ended up happening is that I learned to hunt and realized that hunting with Dad was much more fun than hunting with Dick.  Dad always knew how to put me in the best places to see deer. 

It just so happened in 2010 which was my first gun season and Thanksgiving morning Dad, Dick, Jason and I were going to do one drive of the woods and that was it.  We figured it was a long shot, but thought we might as well give it a shot.  So Dick and Jason started at one end of the woods and Dad and I sat across the fields each on a corner of where the deer might come if they happened to be in the woods in which Dick and Jason were doing the drive.  Dad and I got in our spots and waited.  Not much after the boys went into the woods we saw three deer pop out of the woods and sure enough heading in just that path Dad said they would be taking.  As they got close Dad took the first shot and all three deer made a turn and were heading straight for me (I was on the ground, not in a stand).  I didn't have the most experience so I unloaded my gun unsure whether I had made contact or not.  The deer were still on the move and headed right at me.  I did what I always do and screamed and the deer got so close I had to almost duck and cover.

In the end Dad had gotten one of the deer and somehow I had managed to get one as well.  I was quite upset after the whole incident and Dad spent a lot of the day comforting me telling me the first deer you get can sometimes be difficult.  I did recover and have since enjoyed hunting with Dad many times.