March 8, 2010
Buck Fever
It was early October and my son’s second gun season, that is, if you don’t count the fact that he didn’t even fire the rifle during his first season.
As we prepared for the first day he requested that his best friend, Brian, go with us. Brian had his hunter safety certificate, hunting clothes, a new rifle, and ammunition but no prior experience and no one to go with.
After speaking to his parents it was determined that if he would spend a little time with my son and me, shooting and cleaning his rifle and handling it safely then, and only then, would he be allowed to go with us.
When all was said and done, the young man did very well in all that he was confronted with i.e.; 1) target identification, 2) hitting the bull’s-eye, 3)always keeping the muzzle in a safe direction, 4) always doing as he was instructed. So it was set in stone that our trio would hit the woods on the first day.
Spending the night with us prior to the hunt proved to be quite the challenge as the two youngsters watched hunting videos and talked of their expectations nearly all night.
The morning of the hunt the boys awakened with the agility of youth, quickly dressed in their hunting gear, inhaled their breakfast and loaded everything they needed into the truck, all in the time it took me to say good-bye to my wife.
We arrived at the ground blind right at day light and the three of us settled in to await the arrival of gods beauty “sun rise”. Just 20 minutes later, a young doe appeared in front of the blind.
My son tapped his friend’s shoulder to ensure that he too had seen it. I watched the boys as they followed the doe with their eyes, and scanned the woods looking for a buck.
The anticipation in their eyes and the excitement in their actions were the exact reasons that I hunt and will continue to hunt for years to come.
As we watched the doe grazing on acorns, a young spike walked into view. Immediately, both boys raised their rifles for the shot, but my decision was to let Brian have the shot because we (my son and I) would be hunting together a lot and his friend may not have that opportunity.
I looked on as Brian quickly raised his Marlin 30-30, sighted in and pulled the hammer back. It was text book, just like he had been instructed, until he simply removed the rifle from his shoulder, ejected the round and re-sighted the rifle again.
Then he began the same process once again as the spooked young buck pranced into the distance. Before I could stop him, he had ejected three unfired shells without squeezing the trigger even once. I’m no doctor but my diagnosis was Buck Fever.
Trying not to laugh, I attempted to console the excited and embarrassed lad and let him know that there will be other chances and this is not the end of the world, even though he thought it was.
Later that evening Brian, still dripping with excitement, harvested a really nice 6 point which he proudly strutted home with and his father had mounted for him. I’m sure that the beginning of Brian’s first hunt was memorable even if he would really like to never mention it.
Today Brian is 30 years of age, and working for a major outdoor personality, whose name I will not mention (to protect the innocent child from whence we all came).
ELKII
.
