Opening day buck!!!

That’s right, Andrew and I got a legal buck on the opening day of deer season. That has NEVER happened to me before, especially given the fact that we didn’t leave until 2:00 in the afternoon because we went to Gonzo and Gabriela’s baptism in the morning. We came back home cold, wet, tired, and hungry, but we were successful! It was a great day!

What made the getting the buck especially memorable was the fact that it was near the place where Dad and I each got a forked-horn buck when I was about 13 years-old. It’s a place called Rattlesnake Lake up the south fork of the Smith River. Dick and I have been there and shot his pistol.

When I was about 13 years old Dad and I were hunting there and walked up a cutover area looking for deer. We were about 20 yards apart working our way up the hill and I heard a shot coming from where Dad was at. I froze looking for what he may have been shooting at. Above the brush in from of me I saw a deer with forked horns looking in the direction of where the shot had come from. I took aim at the deer and fired a shot. The deer dropped, and I at first thought that I had missed and he had turned and run off. I yelled to Dad something to the effect that I saw one but had missed and it had run off. I ran up to where I had last seen the deer and looked saw the deer laying there. I looked to the side, and much to my surprise I saw another forked-horn deer laying there. Two deer. Dad had seen the one he had shot and had not seen my deer, and I had seen the one I was shooting at and had not seen Dad’s deer.

All these memories came flooding back as Andrew and I went up to Rattlesnake Lake. I’ve been there three times since Dad and I were there, but I must say I haven’t been able to recognize the place, only recollect the memory.

It was raining lightly as we were experiencing the first precursor of winter. It was a warm rain, but yet the harbinger of what the season was to bring. For better or worse we didn’t see any deer there, only the affirmation that it was in the fall season. The only thing we saw were the Band-Tailed Pigeons flying out of the roadside berry bushes fueling up for their migration south.

We drove up the road until we saw a likely looking place. As I was getting out of the pickup I noticed the buck. It was a successful trip.

Oh, you thought I shot a deer? No no no. I just found a dollar.
Jim