To a seasoned whitetail hunter the buck portrayed in that picture accompanying this tale might not seem like a big deal. But to my fine son in law, his brother in law and this father in law to both, it was certainly something darn special to us. I have two wonderful daughters, full grown and beautiful women now. As chance might have it, neither seemed to care much for my hunting and that was always fine with me. They are individuals and were raised to be so.

What has turned out to be something special however, is that both their husbands have joined me for years now on many hunts. Even more special, I am very proud to say that I was there for both their first deer. Both deer turned out to be bucks and I could not be any prouder than I am to have been involved with each of those two very special harvests.

My girls are only about 2 yrs apart and as chance would have it, they both met these wonderful fellas around the same time and Ed was soon hosting two wonderful large weddings in one year. And a very special year that was  for us all! ($$$$ notwithstanding! LOL).

My younger daughter's husband-to-be was the first to connect and he shot a beautiful Tennessee 8 point while hunting with me one cold December morning. This was a great day, since I'd also scored just two days prior on a nice deer. As a present to him we got that special deer mounted and it sits proudly in his den today.

My older daughter's husband began to accompany us on our hunting trips as well and on one of our holiday forays, he calmly drew a bead on his first deer and now our hunting family was complete. I hope you can visualize just how happy a time this was for all of us. Me, as the father in law who urged both to go as often as they could, could not have felt more proud that my two sons in law were able to share that timeless moment together.

So, to finalize the point of this story that buck, average as he might be, that was the defining Boone and Crockett moment for us as a hunting clan. There we were, all three of us men together as our special women waited patiently at home for us. We had experienced a very special day between us and it was made that much more special when we arrived back home for a big family dinner (and celebration!) This was truly a day that a huge buck could not have improved on, believe me.

Just this season we were lucky enough to experience a trifecta. I took a Kentucky buck on Sunday, son in law Mike took a great Tennessee nine point on Wednesday and son in law Brandon took a nice buck on Friday. How's that for a truly fine family Thanksgiving week!

There are also Grandkids now as well, five of them. Every one of them will have the opportunity to join Pops, Brandon and Mike afield in the future. I think they are already feeling the fever! 

If you look at the pictures below, you'll see one is pretty blurry. Thinking back now, I wonder if that's because my eyes were so blurry as I snapped that photo.