Grandpa Doesn’t Want To Grow Up - Chapter 2

I was out of breath and my heart was thumping so hard that I thought it was going to burst. My legs hurt and looking across the small valley, I could see that my brothers were feeling the same. We had seen the two mule tail deer that we were pushing up the valley to the point where Dad waited quietly until they were in range of his rifle. One was a small doe, but the other was a big four point buck that must have been at least 600 pounds.

The two deer moved cautiously up the valley and we ran along the two sides of the valley making noise to get them to move in the direction they were going. Just then the buck headed for the side of the valley where I was moving. This would lead him away from Dad and I began to run again making all the noise I could to head him off.

It worked. He moved back down the valley and just then I heard the sharp crack of the rifle and the thunderous echo from the hills around us. The buck seemed to stumble, jumped forward and went down. The doe, frightened by the sound turned and within seconds was gone over the next ridge bounding out of sight. We ran down the hill toward where the buck was last seen and when we arrived found dad there finishing it off. “Wow, that’s a big one!” we exclaimed.

The big buck lay there on the ground and it was indeed as big as it had appeared to be. The horns were large, wide and dark brown. There were four points on each side and they looked majestic. Dad’s first shot had gone through its neck and with the final shot in the head to ensure it was dead, it lay with its huge body and legs stretched out among the sage brush. Its noble head lay slightly lower than its body as Dad work over it. Once Dad had finished his work, we each helped by taking a leg and began to drag the big buck back to the car which proved to be no small task.

Mom would be so excited that we got his big deer. The meat was so good and my mouth watered at the thought of the juicy deer stake we would be eating that evening and in future weeks. I was also thinking about the deer jerky that was going to be ready in a few weeks. I love deer jerky. There isn’t anything that tastes quite so good, except a big bowl of homemade ice cream.