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| Uncle Scott hits a Grand Slam with this hunting experience! Alex Stephens and Uncle Scott Bollinger with Alex's 2011 youth season buck. |
My boys’ Uncle Scott and Aunt Sherri had been coming up to hunt with us on opening weekend of deer season for the past several years. However, this year they had a different plan. They called and asked us to come down and hunt with them in Stone County instead. And, this was to be no ordinary youth season deer hunt; this one was special. We would be base camping out of their lake house and we would be heading to the woods not in a 4x4 pickup but instead in their bass boat by way of the big water of Table Rock Lake. Now that was intriguing. And it was an adventure in the making that my two youngest boys and I will never forget.
We arrived at the lake house on Friday evening. It was a gorgeous evening in the lower 60’s that was perfect for being outside. So, after making all the sleeping arrangements in the house we headed out the back door to the lake shore for an evening on the water. We built a great campfire and Uncle Scott had 3 poles rigged for some catfish fishing. Now how often do you get to do that - catfish fishing the night before an exciting day of youth season deer hunting?! While we were fishing under the black light, Aunt Sherri, my wife, my daughter and Coleman were cooking s'mores at the campfire…ya, Coleman liked the s'mores more than the fishing. At the end of the evening the fishin’ had been great even though the catchin’ was a little slow, but hey, we’re not complaining. How often is it nice enough to fish in your shirt sleeves the night before deer season? It was great!
We called it a night around 10:00 p.m. and headed to bed. At 5:30 a.m. we were up making coffee and rousing the boys for the 20 minute ride in the dark down the lake. After unloading the boat and pulling the truck up on the parking lot I headed to the water’s edge to jump on board. While walking down the parking lot I fondly remembered 30 years back taking that exact path to our bass boat while fishing with my dad out of Cape Fair. However, this time was a little different. All the boat riders were dressed in hunter orange and the young’uns were packin’ deer rifles! I’ve never seen a crew like that at a Bassmasters Tournament!
As soon as we headed out from the boat ramp Coleman was asking for soda and doughnuts. Nothing like trying to keep a kid quiet and still in the hunting woods when he’s hyped up on a sugar overload that would put most mortal folks into a diabetic coma! Anyway, as soon as we hit the wake buoys the sugar had already kicked in because he told Uncle Scott to “Go Fast!” And away we went down the lake. I have a feeling this kid is going to be an adrenaline junkie.
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| Dad and Alex posing with Alex's first "Wall Hanger" |
We got to our hunting cove and exited the boat just before 6:45 am. Our initial spot had good deer sign but lacked any deer activity for the first few hours so we jumped in the boat and headed to our next location. Upon arriving we headed out of the boat and up the ridge from the shoreline settling into a nice low saddle that dissected the steep ridge rising up from the lake. This was a natural travel route that game animals would follow and a great spot to wait for a good buck. The boys were sitting with Scott and me about 10 yards apart looking over opposite sides of the ridge just above the saddle. We hadn’t been there over 30 minutes when Alex whispered, “I see one…I think it’s a doe. Let Coleman shoot it.” How kind and benevolent a big-brother gesture this was to offer an opportunity for his younger brother to harvest the first deer we encountered I thought to myself. I could feel the love.
I had not yet seen the deer and was peering through the woods while taking glances at Coleman has he struggled to get into position. Alex tried to point it out as it quartered toward us about 125 yards out. I finally made out the movement at 100 yards but I was paying more attention to Coleman as he tried to get ready to shoot. Alex was whispering to us the play-by-play as the deer approached. I finally caught a glimpse of the side of the deer as it quarter toward us with its head down at about 75 yards and I thought to myself that it was a good sized doe. It kept coming and Coleman kept struggling and Alex kept up the whispered play-by-play.
Then came the long pause in the play-by-play that always seems to occur just prior to a Eureka moment as a person is evaluating the levity of some new great discovery. All of a sudden all that brotherly love was sucked right out of the tender moment that we had just witnessed seconds earlier. In a half hiss and half urgent whisper Alex blurted, “It’s a Big Buck! It’s a Big Buck! I want to shoot! Can I shoot?!”
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You can feel the love between the brothers after the buck is tagged…beforehand is a different story! Alex and Coleman Stephens with Alex’s 2011 Big Water 9-point buck.
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Now we were in a pickle! Alex was already aiming his gun at the deer, Coleman was still trying to get set up, and the deer was getting too close. I finally whispered to Alex to go ahead and shoot and, "BANG!" the gun went off before I could even get the whole sentence out of my mouth! I don’t think he was gonna hold up even if I had instructed otherwise! Moments later we were standing over a beautiful 9-point, 18 inch spread, Stone County buck. Coleman took it all in stride…turns out after he watched his brother clean the buck and learned he would've had to do the same thing, he no longer wanted any part of it! I learned a valuable lesson that day in the woods - In the hills blood is always thicker than water but big bucks will dissolve that blood between siblings faster than a flea will jump on a coon hound! So says the One-Eyed Hillbilly.
