I was reading a couple of threads about deer hunting, in particular the one about the fellow taking his son on his first hunt, & it got me to thinking how much I have missed hunting with my father,grandpa,& grandpa's best friend. All three have passed on. I still hunt avidly, but it seems each year that I hunt, the more my interest wanes without the company of of my father & grandpa. It just isn't the same anymore. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy hunting with my friends & their family, but sometimes I feel like the third wheel........... I just want to give some props to the folks around here that share hunting with thier children. They will remember those moments forever........

Great post CDS!  

Since my father didn't hunt, I would go with my Uncle a WWII veteran.  There were times we didn't see a thing all day, but I can remember it like it was yesterday.  Just sharing the experience together made it worth so much, telling me his stories from the war, looking up at him, following his lead while he carried his single barrel 12 gauge.

His eyesight has deteriorated over the years, and he doesnt hunt anymore.  But we'll talk about it when we get together at times - same stories over and over, but they always sound 'new'.

I remember those times like yesterday as well. The nip of the dry winter air, the rustling of the leaves beneath our feet as we crept through the oak woods trying to be silent, the smell of grandpa's "Black Death Coffee" brewing over the campfire, gutting my first deer then having to gut everybody elses' deer that same day, learning how to dress & process my own kill, taking my first nip of whiskey, having to pick cactus thorns out of my dad's ass when he tripped into a prickly pear patch... Hell I learned how to drive at our old deer lease too @ the age of 8. Lots of good times, I could go on forever. I sure do miss the old time crew........