nwihunter
Well-known member
My dad got me started bow hunting back in 1981. I was 12 years old and had just gotten my first bow for my birthday that year. We live in northwest Indiana but did not have any land to hunt near our home. All of our deer hunting was done 4 hours away in the Manistee National Forest in central Michigan. We would drive up on Friday night after he would get off from work, and set up or tent in the truck headlights. We didn’t stay in Campground’s, we always toughed it out in the forest. We would go up there almost every weekend of the archery season. We would be joined by various other relatives and friends. I Really loved that deer camp experience and even though I still hunt a lot I miss that experience. Over the years I grew up raised a family and have land to hunt near my hose as does my dad. We don’t hunt together much at all anymore since we both hunt smaller properties and he doesn’t hunt as much these days. With the Indiana gun season about to open and my buck tag already filled I was not going to hunt opening day. I decided to call up the old man see if he wanted to go out with my son and I. I would take them both out and put them in stands and wait for them to finish their hunt. I was having coffee in my truck when I heard the ole’ boy shoot. He made his way back to the truck and we waited for my son to finish the morning hunt. Dad and I headed into the woods to recover his deer. I gutted it for him as he did when I was just starting out. I went back got a tractor, loaded the deer up in the bucket and brought it back to his truck for him. This was a great day for all of us. I was as happy for him and that buck than I have been for any of my own. My dad turned 73 right after he got the deer. He’s battling his second round of prostate cancer and not getting any younger. This was his biggest deer in quite a few years. A morning I will never forget with a father, son and grandson.



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