The Birthday Buck

Chris would be disappointed if I didn't dedicate a post to his "birthday buck." Yup, you guessed it. After months and months of getting up in the wee hours of the night (it doesn't qualify as morning if the alarm clock has any number less than 5:00) to sit out in the freezing cold, he finally got his trophy!

Now for the story. I hope I can do it justice. (I'm sure it won't be quite as good as hearing it from him.) As any of you who know my husband know, Chris has been a tad bit obsessive about bow hunting this season (sorry Babe, but it's true. I still love ya though!).

So Chris was out trecking in the woods one day and came across some deer tracks in the snow. He followed them around for a while and found a good trail that looked like it was followed quite a bit by the deer. He looked at his surroundings and dreamed of making it the perfect hunting spot. So, he set to work. He cleared off some ground and laid some corn. He climbed the one tree larger than 4 inches and cleared a bunch of branches to make a place for a tree stand. Then he set to work making himself a tree stand. He made it out of some wood from his parent's garage: a 1x6 "seat", 4x4 "frame" and a 2x4 "foot rest". (I couldn't help but ask him if he wanted a cushion or something. Sitting on a 1x6 didn't look all that comfortable to me.) So, with a tree stand, some old straps we found on the side of the road, some corn and a bow in hand, Chris trecked back to his little plot and set up his home away from home for the next few weeks. He even crafted his own "blind" out of some cedar branches.

I honestly don't know what drew Chris out there day after day. You sit in a stinking tree for hours and hours on end while your feet & body freeze and come home empty handed (almost) every time. What if you have to go to the bathroom? What if you fall asleep? What if your feet really freeze off?....but that's besides the pont. Chris decided that there was no better way to spend his birthday than to be up in that tree stand.

Jan 6. 7:30am. He's been sitting there for three hours and only saw some fawns. He's cold. It's almost 8:00. He hears something behind him and turns to look. Nothing there. Then, he hears something in front of him eating the corn. He slowly turns his head and behold....a huge, 10 point buck! 10 points!! "Happy birthday to me!" he thinks as he carefully lifts the bow off his lap.

Then some dogs start to bark. And the owner starts to yell at the dogs to shut up, Chris wants to yell at the owners to shut up but that is obviously a bad idea. The deer walks away. Not quickly, but too quickly for Chris to do anything. Chris names him "Big Daddy" and can't stop obsessing about him.

The end!

Ok, so clearly it's not really the end. How else would we get these wonderous pictures? Fast forward a week later to the last day of hunting season. Same scenario as before. It's cold but Chris has warmer boots now thanks to his parents (so his feet won't fall off). It's just before 8am again. And Chris sees Big Daddy walking in. Not only Big Daddy, but he has another buck with a large 4 point frame with him. Chris lifts his bow and gets ready. The time comes, he aims, pauses to take a deep breath "don't screw this up", aims again and "lets it fly." The rest of the story is quite gory and quite frankly I don't want to delve into all the details. (And this post is getting quite long so if you want the story, just call my husband up. He loves to tell it!) Suffice it to say that Chris got his birthday buck. He has 13 points, not 10 like he thought. He was sooo excited. He literally shouted with joy when he finally got him.

Does this solve the obsession with hunting? Will next season be more peaceful in the Carson household you ask? No, I don't believe so. He's already talking about how big that 4 pointer will be next year.