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My name is Brian Roberts, this is a story about a great evening hunt with my dad. My dad has taken me hunting since I was 4 yrs old. We had an old wool army blanket that mom sewed into a bag that I would get down in and help keep me warm while up in the treestands. I killed my first deer with my dad at 8 yrs old with a Knight muzzleloader it was a nice 8 pt. The following year I killed another nice 8pt with my little Browning Micro-Midas bow while dad was at work. He couldn't believe it when I called him on the cell phone. Those were both great hunts, but the following is one I'll always remember.
It was Dec 5, 2002. We had a fresh 8" blanket of snow in southern Ohio that day and all schools were closed. My dad had killed a 6 pt the night before just as this weather front was moving in not far from our home. Dad called me from work and said be dressed on the porch waiting if I wanted to hunt tonight because we wouldn't have but about 1 hr of legal time left. We were hoping to see a doe that was with the buck the previous night.
We just sat down in the snow at the base of a big oak tree much like you do turkey hunting. After about ten minutes Dad said to watch high on the opposite hill and look for some movement. There was a sapling shaking and swinging back and forth. We could barely make out a deer outline and just watched for a while. The deer was a buck and had a decent rack best we could tell from 150 yds away. Bits and pieces was all we could see as he slowly worked his way down towards us. The woods had been select cut 10 yrs earlier and a lot of small saplings made it thick.
The buck finally came out into a clearing and we both knew this was a special moment.
I was following the buck thru my scoped Knight Wolverine. My left leg was shaking like crazy, my heart racing, lungs hyperventilating, was I going to blow this chance? Dad kept whispering "just look at his shoulder, just the shoulder, just the shoulder" ...
Finally, he said "take him anytime." Boom ... The smoke faded and my buck was down in his tracks. I jumped up, high fived my Dad, then knelt and praised and thanked God for this gift. We walked over to the deer and immediately knew this was a buck of a lifetime.
Since that evening Dad and I have spent many more days in the Ohio woods and a week in Colorado elk hunting where we did well, but that's another story. I pray that we will have many more hunts together.
This deer made easily the Ohio Big Bucks with a gross score 183. The brow tines are most impressive being 11" and 8 1/2"
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