Posted: 10/22/2025 9:16:11 PM EDT
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So, my dad will be 91 in December, he had some mini strokes about 5 years ago that took out much of his short term memory. He always loved deer hunting, but we can't leave him alone for too long. I took him deer hunting the first year, my brother took him the second. Then we had some family stuff, and his eye sight really went down hill to the point he couldn't see a deer standing in the grass 20 yards in front of him. My sister finally convinced him to get cataract surgery this year and his vision is really good. So I took him out this year. Minnesota has an early antlerless season in the south east October 16-19. My cousin has a farm down there and the early antlerless season works well for us. Not too cold for dad to sit for a long time, and I don't feel bad about shooting bucks on my cousins land without putting in any work on it. So we get down to the farm on Wednesday afternoon. They mostly hunt from tree stands, but don't have any two person stands, so we set up a couple pop up blinds. Thursday morning we set up in a pop up blind watching a corner of the field. It was rainy and muddy and a bit of a clown show getting the blind so we didn't see anything. We went back to the cabin for some lunch and a nap, then went back out for the afternoon. We went to the second pop up blind. It was about 50 yards from the tree line with some cut beans in front of us and standing corn behind us. Dad, not remembering setting up the blind the day before says "Oh I like this, not too far from the tree line, if one comes out in front of us I'm going to shoot it in the neck or head so we don't have to track it." That zone of MN was shotgun or pistol only. Dad had his Mossberg 835 with a rifled barrel and 2-7x Nikon scope. I had my .44 mag TC Contender with a 2-7x Burris. Well a couple hours go by, there is a cabin about 150 yards away through the woods. My cousin says he's never seen the guy use it. Well it sounded like the whole family showed up, doors slamming, kids talking and laughing, and what sounded like an ATV or UTV running around. I figure great we aren't going the see anything. Then I hear a couple shots coming from over where my cousin is hunting. He texts and says he's pretty sure he hit a doe and my have got one of her fawns. A few minutes later I see a deer by the gate that leads to the noisy cabin property. I bring my gun up to make sure it's not a spike buck, and dad thinks I'm going to shoot it, so he doesn't bring his gun up. I drop my gun down and tell him to take the shot about the time the doe walks into the woods. I'm thinking we just missed what may be our only shot. But, about 10 minutes later the doe steps back out again. Dad saw it just after I did and brings his gun up, The doe is walking towards us at this point, he's lining his gun up and it stops and stares at us. BANG and the doe drops in her tracks. I gotta say I've taken my two boys hunting and watched them shoot deer, I've shot big deer myself, but seeing my dad take that doe was the most fun I've had in a deer blind. Where the dear lay  Dads shot placement, nothing wrong with his eyes anymore.  Dad with his Trophy  My cousin and his buddy found his doe about an hour later, it had run over 300 yards. All weekend my dad kept saying, "if you shoot them in the head you don't have to track them" His short term memory was working pretty well. The following day my cousin shot a doeout of the same blind. Two days later, sitting in the same blind with my dad I shot a doe and a fawn.   All in all a great hunt, and hoping I get more hunts with dad. |
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Very cool read. At his age, handling a slug gun with that level of accuracy is very impressive. Thanks for posting. |
"Some of the greatest dads I've ever seen weren't so much perfect as they were willing to work hard to overcome their failings. Does that make sense?"
Yes. Yes it does.
Yes. Yes it does.
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Originally Posted By penrod72: I, and I am sure many here, wish we could have one more of them. If your Dad wants to come to NY and hunt with me sometime OP, sign me up! Originally Posted By penrod72: I, and I am sure many here, wish we could have one more of them. If your Dad wants to come to NY and hunt with me sometime OP, sign me up! Originally Posted By Eyeore1966: Good job OP, I'd love to do that but lost my dad and my father in law already. Cherish the time you have. Even dad says he doesn't know how many more hunts he has in him. But I did everything I could to make it easy for him. I also gutted his deer for him. Funny thing about that, when I saw him shoot the little doe facing us, I assumed he shot it in the chest and that sabot slug tore through the whole length of the deer, which would have made gutting it a mess. I was so happy when I saw he actually made the head shot. Anyhow I told my cousin that, god willing, either me or my brother would be bringing dad back next year. My cousin said that we both should come next year. I think we will. |
RIP:LTC D.Cabrera/SGT C.Newman-29OCT11-OEF
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| That's a very cool story, OP. And you're a class act taking care of your Dad like that. |
For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.
Thomas Jefferson
"He didnt punch anybody. He punched an idea." DrFrige
Thomas Jefferson
"He didnt punch anybody. He punched an idea." DrFrige
