The Hunt

I finally went hunting. This past week, I had the chance of a lifetime. I got to go hunting with my friend Justin Curley and his Grandpa. The two days that we were gone were very likely two of the best days of my life. I got to shoot two deer, stick my hands into their innards, get blood on my face (and not have to shower after the photo shoot was over), eat like a king, and spend time with 3 of the most amazing men I have had the privilege of meeting.

We left KC around 3 pm Tuesday afternoon, December 2nd. Driving around 2 ½ hours to Buffalo, KS, a small town in which our destination was located, we got there right on time for dinner. Hank Payne, our host, grilled some of the most amazing steaks I have ever seen, much less tasted. After eating our fill of salad, steak and potatoes, Hank showed us pictures of the deer we were to be hunting. He had set up motion cameras at each of the feeders where the deer come to feed, so the pictures we saw were recent and unbelievable. The deer that were on the ranch were getting big and comfortable. A number of the big deer were coming out during the day, before dark to feed out in the open. Excitement built in all of our minds as we looked on to the morrow.

Morning came, and we left the house at app. 5:45, in order to be in the blinds by 6:15. However, Hank didn’t take us up to the blinds before we feasted upon a hearty breakfast of eggs and bacon. I love good food. After bundling up so we stay warm, we all head out to the blinds, Grandpa and I to one, Hank and Justin to another (there were 3 total, two 2-man blinds, one 1-man blind). Hank dropped us off about ¼ mile from the blind, so we had a short hike to the destination. After we got there, however, we were ready. The sun rose at 7:21 in Buffalo, so legal shooting began at precisely 6:51. However, we had to wait awhile before we saw anything. Between 7:45-8, the first deer of the day appeared.

Coming over a rise directly behind the feeder, Grandpa was the first to spot my pet. As the light got better and he came closer, we were able to get a better look at my buck-to-be. From where we sat, he appeared to have 8-10 points, but his body size was greater than most bucks (or so Grandpa told me). After he began feeding, I got the “ok” to shoot. The buck, which I later named Zeusy, positioned himself for a perfect shot… and I freaked out. Before I could settle down enough to get the sight to be steady, he had moved. After another couple minutes of my building up my nerve for another attempt, he moved again into a picture perfect broadside. Again, I put his vitals right in the center of my sights… and he moved. After another couple minutes with Grandpa and I keeping an eye on him, he moved into a broadside position. Again I lined up my rifle, all the while Grandpa giving me constant nerve-soothing talk. This time, however, I fired. My shot completely missed the critter, but because December 2nd was the first day of the Kansas rifle season, and this was likely the first shot he had heard in months, he only ran app. 15 yards before he stopped, listening for the disturbance. With my ears ringing, I readied another shot, and placed the crosshairs right behind his shoulder. This time however, being aware of my mistake (pushing the rifle forward to my trigger finger), I corrected and hit him. The buck ran 50 yards before he disappeared into the waist-high grass.

From where we sat, it looked like he had ducked into a ravine, just by the way that his body dropped. After waiting another ½ hour (it felt like eternity; I swear that my clock moved slower than it ever has), Grandpa went down to check on where it looked like he had dropped, around 200 yards away. When he reached the base of the tree where the Zeusy had left our vision, he turned and waved me down exuberantly. When I got to the tree, Grandpa was on the phone with Hank, the massive beast dead at his feet. As soon as he was off the phone, he jumped around for something like 10 minutes, ecstatic that I had killed something the first morning. I was a little shell shocked, looking down at the deer, then looking up at him, down at the deer again, thinking mostly of how much my ears rang.

After Grandpa calmed down a little, he began field dressing the creature. I had never seen anything like this before, and I honestly came close to vomiting. I have only thrown up as a result of sickness, so I don’t describe myself as weak-stomached, but I was totally unprepared for the unbelievable amounts of blood and gore that came gushing from that animal. He kept the chest area untouched, telling me how good this deer will look on the wall. After gutting the monster, he dubbed me a Buckmaster, painting my face with the blood of my first kill. After taking a number of pictures, Justin and Hank appeared driving the Ranger, which is like a Gator on steroids. After a photo shoot of Zeusy and I, we loaded the monstrous beast, and began the short ride back. It was only then that I began to realize that I had actually killed a massive buck. Joy and euphoria set it in. I’ve never had so much fun on so short a drive as that.

Morgan's artistic eidible interpretation...

#9

Hank owned a number of steers, so he had one of those huge scales that you use where you herd a bunch of them onto there and close the gate and weigh them, so we weighed my pet there. 170 pounds field dressed. Not sure if that is really big or not, but if someone has weighed (not made a guess on) a buck, please let me know the comparison so I can get a grasp on size. After we hung it up to cool and had another photo shoot, we all went back into the house, and the verbal bouts began. Grandpa was so sure he would get a bigger buck than me, Justin was talking all about the “fawn” I’d killed, and I was just showing them up at every turn.

That afternoon, we went out again to get some more beasts. I killed a doe (not a very exciting story, so I won’t bother with sharing it unless you ask), but we waited up in the blind for a while later, until it was dark and Grandpa could get his “monstrosity”. When his buck finally did appear, he fired once (only once), and the deer was gone, and I mean gone like running. All I saw/heard was the shot then the buck bucking it to the east (our left). It jumped a fence and disappeared out of sight and we waited another ½ hour, or until dark. After dark came, we went searching for the doe first, and found her. She was without a doubt a corpse. Grandpa field dressed her too, simply because it was dark and we needed to hurry. With her, he cut all the way up the chest cavity, so when we loaded her onto the jeep, I was staring into the vacant chest of a deer bigger than me… Ugh.

After Justin killed his 2 the next day, we packed them all into Grandpa’s Ford Expedition and drove to meet the parents. To pack them in, Hank had to use a chainsaw to cut the front legs off of all bucks. Playing around with the foreleg of a deer is one of the most interesting activities I will ever pursue. I made sure and patted everyone’s shoulder with this morbid scepter. Seeing as I was the smallest, I was made to ride in the back seat, next to the deer corpses. I will tell you this, there is no weirder feeling in the world than having 5 carcasses ride next to you for an hour. One of the hoofs was just to my right, just by my arm; I played around with it most of the ride home. When we finally met the moms in Ottawa, KS, my mom couldn’t believe that we had actually packed 5 fully grown deer into the back of a SUV. Her face was absolutely hysterical, no doubt about that.

All in all, these couple days have been some of the most amazing days that I’ve experienced in years. I learned much about myself, and about the friend that I have in Justin. I can’t tell you how many times I heard the words “I’m proud of you” over those two days, the majority of them coming from men who I hardly know. If at all, I’ve rarely had anyone so set aside their time to sow into my life and grow me as a man. I found out how wonderfully good for the heart and mind 2 days away from everything can be for anyone. I was given the opportunity of a lifetime, and I didn’t have to pay or give really anything for it. I tasted what I believe our relationship with God is supposed to be like. Grandpa took care of everything; I didn't have to do anything the entire two days. All I did was go shopping with them, try on some clothes for them, pick out some food, go shooting a few times, and then go out those two days. The entire path was paved for me, and I was left completely shocked at God’s grace to put me in such a receiving position. I can't wait to go again some time, simply because it was the greatest escape I've ever had from life.