King’s Outdoor World Blog

Brody’s First Deer

October 29th, 2005 David King - King's Outdoor World

Every once in a while you get a story that just makes you feel good. I received an email the other day from Craig Lisk. He told me how he took his son Brody deer hunting and it would be his first chance at taking a deer. It reminded me of our cover story in our latest issue of Hunting Illustrated titled “Why Do You Hunt?”

This story made me reflect on the cover story that we did that included many stories from the people here in the office at King’s Outdoor World. I thought that this story is a another great story to share. However, it’s not all about the story, as Brody takes one heck of buck…

Brody’s First Deer: A Father’s Memory
by Craig Lisk

It was to be a nice September weekend according to the weather report, and my eleven year old son had been bugging me about taking him deer hunting. I had never taken him hunting for anything larger than an upland game bird (grouse). He had done all the studying about game, hunting, and gun handling necessary to meet the government and my requirements. It was time to take him hunting! His grandfather owns a large ranch and there is always some deer hanging around in the remote corners of the property. With a phone call we had the permission to hunt for the weekend. We traveled Friday evening after Brody was finished school and I was able to break away from work. When we arrived it was too late to set up for a hunt, but we did have enough time to make a trip around the ranch to help us decide where we thought the best place to set up in the morning would be. We decided on a larger field about a mile from the house, it would be harder to hunt, but we sighted some deer there and it had a nice knoll in the middle that would give us a nice vantage point to glass most of the field. Upon arriving at the house we were greeted with smiles, handshakes, and a pat on the back for Brody (he was smiling from ear to ear, like he had just been accepted into manhood by his peers). Brody’s grandfather was an accomplished deer hunter, and had the trophies to show for it. After dinner the father-in-law and I sat and discussed Brody’s and my decision on where to hunt. He was in agreement, that was probably the best location with the lack of live stock, the abundance of second growth alfalfa, and the prevailing winds coming from the East. This would all play in our favour. At the same time I could not help but notice that Brody was reading his latest deer magazine, studying an article on kill zones and where they are with the different game positions, and how to make the shot. I let him finish his article and then off to bed for both of us, tomorrow was to be an early day.

Saturday morning I woke Brody early to give us plenty of time to prepare for the hunt. There was a few rubs of the eyes, but no complaints. We cleaned up, dressed in our camouflage, scarped down a piece of toast with an orange juice chaser and we were off. It was a clear morning, the stars were out, and the temperature was right around the freezing mark, an excellent morning for a walk. We left the truck about a quarter mile from the entrance to the field and walked the rest of the way. When we reached the edge of the field we could not see a thing, the fog had settled in over the field. Brody looked at me and asked, “Dad what do we do now? “. I could see he was nervous, so I explained to him that we knew where we were going and that we would have to move quietly so not to spook anything, to stay close behind me and to step in my tracks. The cool morning had laid a coat of frost on the field and we had to step lightly as not to make any noise. Slowly we set off across the field, about five minutes into our journey I heard a grunt to the Southeast. Brody immediately tugged at my coat, “What’s that dad? “. “Shhhh! That’s a buck.” I whispered and signalled him to follow. We carried on towards our original destination, after about five minutes again I heard a grunt, this time to the north. Again a tug at my coat “Dad what was that? “. “Shhhh! Another buck Got to be quiet Brody.” I whispered. The last thirty yards or so to the edge of the knoll we crawled on our bellies and waited for day break. It took about a half hour before there was enough light to see, but the fog was still thick. Slowly the fog began to thin and we caught a glimpse of our first deer that day. It was large bodied but with the fog and at about two hundred yards we could not tell if it had antlers and it was slowly moving north away from us. As the fog continued to thin, more and more bodies emerged from the grey blanket that concealed them as they fed, ten in total. Finally the fog cleared enough to see clearly, and standing proudly on the ridge at the north end of the field stood a buck! Four points a side glistening in the sun, the same deer we first saw about an hour earlier at two hundred yards, now he was five hundred plus. The whole time we spent glassing the deer in front of us whispering what we saw and the options that we did not have in pursuing the four point. Meanwhile, ignoring the rest of the field,I looked towards Brody expecting to see disappointment in his face. But instead, to our right, about a hundred yards out, standing in the shade cast by a peninsula of trees, that run a hundred yards from the east edge of the field towards us, a buck! No dispute, naked eye could tell you this was one to take home. I whispered to Brody “look”. Bewildered he looked at the deer we had been watching to the north. “No, look!” I whispered again as I motioned with my finger to his right. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped in shock, “Shoot it dad, shoot it.” He replied in an excited but quiet voice.

I would have loved to have taken the shot and call this trophy mine, but it Brody’s first hunt. That’s why we were here. “No, you come over here and take the shot” I whispered as I pushed my back pack in front of him for a rest, to raise his rifle out of the grass. A calm but excited look came over face as he set him self up to take aim on what he hoped would be his first trophy. As he laid there looking through his scope I reminded him, “Remember what we discussed and practiced, how to control your breathing and where to make your shot!” I lifted my binoculars to have a better look at the unaware deer. What a deer, larger than I thought, my heart began to pound and my body began to tingle with excitement and anticipation. I could not imagine what Brody was thinking or feeling as he laid there looking through the cross hairs of the scope. Boom!!! The sound from the muzzlebreak on my Browning 300 Winchester Short Magnum echoed through the field and the valley! The deer’s legs buckled and it dropped straight down. “Did I hit it?”

“Yes, you did.” I replied.
“Woo Who!! Yes!!” Brody hollered as he jumped to his feet.
“Whoa! Slow down, you hit him but he might be injured and we do not want to spook him into running. Where were you aiming for?” I asked.

“Behind his front leg, for the heart, just like in the magazine!” We would find out later that the bullet had travelled through its intended target.

As we cautiously approached the deer we could see that it was not going any where. Brody pointed,” Look dad he’s got down tines.” he said as we approached. It was a symmetric five by five mule deer with down tines on both side. A beautiful deer. One that would make both first time and seasoned hunters envious. Brody turned and gave me a high five, and again hollered” Yes!!” After admiring the animal for a while Brody threw his arms around me and gave me a hug” Thanks dad!” What a feeling, I felt warm all over. This was a memory we would share forever, a day that would stick out above all others.

” Do you think mom will let me hang it in the house?”
“No, I don’t think so.” I knew this because I had tried a few years earlier, and after a lengthy discussion, my prize mount found a home in my garage.” But you can hang it in the garage beside mine, on one condition.”

“What’s that dad?”
“That it is not bigger than mine!” Brody looked concerned but he agreed. We both knew which deer was going to rule the garage wall! And it was not going to be mine!

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