A thank you to my brother, Graham (very long)

I wouldn't normally talk about deer I kill or post pictures of them and myself. Just not something I like to do, but, this years deer, and the events surrounding him, force me to. Hell, I normally wouldn't even have pictures but Graham insisted.


It started the evening before. My buddy, Graham, and I were walking out from far back, about a mile. This was not really an easy walk. On the way in we had to cross two good size creeks and a flood plain. Then we start up the side of a decent grade ridge with more than its share of laurel. The laurel grows high enough so that you think you can go under it but low enough to grab the stand on your back and pull you. Frustrating to say the least. Anyway, we are on our way out from this flat ridge top that had much action the night before but zero action tonight. We fight our way through the laurel (I do not like mountain laurel) and get down to the first creek and cross it, cross the flood plain, cross the second creek and make our way back to the vehicles. As I am stowing my gear I notice I am missing an arrow. Bummer! I remember back to where the laurel had grabbed my stand, my pack and quiver are stowed on my stand, and I had to wrestle with it before it set me free. That was about a half mile back in there. Bummer! Well, I'll get the dog and go get it this Sunday. The dog will ike it but.....Bummer! Graham comisserates with me, we talk about where to hunt tomorrow morning and say we'll talk later that night. We go home.


Get up the next morning, get myself together, finish getting ready and start going through the equipment check prior to heading out to meet Graham. We are going to a place where I have seen this one nice buck for two years now. It is a morning only, North type wind spot. The rut is on and I plan to set Graham in the Buck tree. I am checking equipment and......no GPS! My stomach flips. I thougt I remembered setting it on the hitch tray on the back of my car the night before but, I didn't remember picking it up. I am not a "posessions" guy but I use the HECK out of my garmin. Now, I can get to the buck tree without it but I think "I gotta go find this thing". Call Graham, give him my bad news, tell him I need to go look at the parking area and look for my GPS, describe where the buck tree is and sign off. Go look for the GPS thinking I'll never find it the whole time. It's not at the parking area and not on the road anywhere that I can see on my way back to my house. Bummer! Major Bummer! I get home and dejectedly start going through my pack again and .......... UnBummer!!! My GPS is buried in the bottom. Dumbass!! LOL Dumbass!! Send Graham a text telling him I am a dumbass and decide to go behind the house and sit in my one permanent stand. Get in my stand and decide to trim a branch that has bugged me but I left up because it had leaves at one time and helped provide cover. My saw gets through the branch and.....whack!! hits my bow at the cam! Dumbass!!! Now there is a ding in the cam but thankfully no other serious damage. The ding has the sharp part facing away from the string so I figure I'll keep hunting. 30 minutes pass, the ding is worrying the crap out of me, the multiple bummers so far have me bummmed. I get down and go home.


Get home and decide to wash all of my recent hunting clothes. Start that. Put the bow in the press, take the string off of the cam, file down the "dumbass" burr, sand things to make it all smooth and go out to shoot a few arrows and confirm things. First arrow at 40 yds, decent shot, about 3inches off of the x. Get the arrow out of the target, decide to take a 20 yd shot now. Draw, aim, shoot and the arrow goes OVER the target. Dumbass!! Don't use the 40 yd pin at 20 yds. Dumbass LOL! Lost another arrow (behind my target is woods and a bunch of treetops that are from trees I cut down). Cursory look but....no arrow.


Not even sure I want to go out this afternoon but after talking to Graham and listening to his optimistic self I decide to give it a go. Tell myself to start from scratch and plan like it is the first hunt of the year. Pay attention to detail, get my gear together and head out to meet Graham. We are going to "buck ridge".


I call this ridge "buck ridge" for a couple of reasons. I have seen 2 nice bucks there (shot one) and another nice young buck. I know where the buck beds are on this ridge. I know a place where the does come onto the ridge to browse and/or cross the ridge and where the bucks kind of wait to check them out as they do this. It is an awesome place but it is a long walk, about a mile although 600 yds is down a road.


I meet Graham at the parking area and, being the brother that he is, he doesn't call me dumbass for my multiple FU's LOL. He only gives me positive encouragement, tells me we are going to have a good day and generally makes me feel much better. I could not ask for a better friend, a better brother.


Well, we head out on the mile back to where we need to go. Most places we need to go seem to be no less than a half mile and usually a mile or so. No problem for me but Graham has the knees of a ninety year old guy. I am in pain when I watch him walk. You will never hear a word of complaint from him. Guys like him are made from cold rolled steel and there are not many of them. He is the kind of guy that built America, the kind of guy that is America. Ok, we get to "buck ridge" and we get Graham into what I think is the hot tree. The spot where I think the action will happen. I move about 200 yds or so north of him.


I set up at the mouth of this draw that is between a short knob and a longish knob off of the ridge. I set the stand so that the tree is between me and the mouth of the draw. I am expecting movement either up the draw (east of me) or north/south south/north movement between me and the mouth of the draw. I get the stand up, break a few close branches that may get in my way and generally make more noise than I really wanted to. I figure deer won't come near me for at least an hour. It's 1:30pm. I am sitting in the stand, cooling down, no gloves, no mask, release not on correctly (loose) and I hear shhkkk shhkkk shhkkk. Going south to north, a doe and two fawns, right across the mouth of the draw. LOL If I would have been prepared I would have shot the mama LOL. Oh well, kind of in line with the recent history of the past couple of days.


1.5 hours pass. Stand up. Sit down. Fight the nodding.


3:00pm Primeitme. I am alert, standing and waiting


3:30pm. Shhkkk. A nose and an eye in the beech tree sapling cloud of yellow leaves on the south edge of the draw. Brown antler!! Oh ****! Hook the release onto D-loop. He moves out the yellow cloud a little. Too much antler to look at! Wait for his head to go behind the tree between us, draw, he takes a step past the tree, aim, he takes another step and now I see him in my peripheral vision from the aimpoint looking at me, settle pin, shoot. Dang! That was a few inches back! Dang! He mule kicks and hauls ass directly south. After about 50-60 yds he stops, turns to his right, tail twitches and kind of goes out of sight.


Catch my breath. Call Graham and tell him in that hushed tv voice I hate "I shot a monster". Being the friend he is he wants to get down to help me track. I tell him to keep hunting, we have time here. I lower all my stuff, pack up and then go look for the arrow. Can't.....find.....the......arrow. Find one drop of blood and mark it with a stick and red tape. A sinking feeling in my gut. One friggin drop of blood?!? No friggin arrow?!? I don't scream. I don't scream again LOL. Talk to Graham again and tell him to keep hunting. No need to end his hunting yet. Start going in the direction the buck took. Blood! Mark the spot with tape and GPS. Go further. More blood! Mark the spot. Nagging thoughts starting about the dark red blood. Keep going. More blood! Lots! Mark it. Less blood. Mark it. Find the buck's right turn with a bit of blood. Mark it. Then, next to a beech tree lots of blood!! Mark it. Look for more. Nothing. Look farther. Nothing. Look farther. Nothing. Arrgghh. Bummer! Call Graham and tell him I may need a little help. I am North of him and he comes up to help. He saw nothing come by him. We look a little more, darkness is coming and I am thinking liver hit. Time to leave.


A "perfect" end to a perfect day. Dumbass!! We are leaving, the rain is coming and my buddy Graham is giving the positive spin. He kept me from killing myself with his optimism LOL. We get to the parking area, he tells me he'll come and help me search tomorrow, I tell him, no go hunting, I'll search by myself. Being as cool as he is, he doesn't insist he just kind of goes along with things. I go home. I talk with Graham again later that evening and he lets me know we will be searching together for the buck tomorrow.

 

Part 2

Wake up at 2:30am. Rain is hitting the window. Bummer.


4:00am. Still raining.


5:00am. Get up.


Meet Graham at about 7:00. We get back to last blood and start searching. We cover the east side. Down the ridge side and even up on the next ridge. Nothing. Go back to last blood and look to the SSW. Look for the easy route through all of the fallen trees and thicker areas. we see a "corridor" and head that way, SSW. We near the west side of the ridge and Graham heads due west. I take a more southerly direction. He hits the western edge of the ridge, goes down to the creek and starts heading south towards me. I get down on the southern part of the ridge, go west to the creek and start heading towards Graham. We are about 50 yds apart and he yells something. No hearing aids so I am not quite sure what he yelled but it sounded good. He then yells again. I yell, "Did you find him?" or something like that, it's a blur. But I run there and the buck is half in the creek. I can't contain myself. I drag him up out of the creek. I think I hugged Graham. I check the deer out and something took a few bites out of his ass but, other than that, he is in good shape. Thanks to the cool front that blew in the meat is good and, most of all, we found him.


You may think this is a story about a deer, a nice buck. It isn't. It is about my brother. The one who would not let me get too down, the one with the optimistic attitude, the one who would walk miles on knees that would reduce me to a quivering mass, to find a deer I shot badly.


Thank you, Graham. Thank you so very much for everything you did to recover this "perseverence" buck.

 

Bruce, that is an awesome story and friend. And that is a gorgeous buck...congratulations. That story got me pumped up to hunt tomorrow!

Brett

 

GREAT story. Congrats to both of you.

 

Bruce ....WOW! What a story!! Great buck and praise The Lord for your bro!!

...so that's what you look like :D

 

Excellent story Bruce, loved every bit of It!! Congratulation's on your buck. You have yourself a great hunting companion as well.

 

Brett - Thanks and yes, Graham is an awesome friend. When I count the fortune in my life his friendship is near the top.

rybo - Thanks.

Tony - Thanks. Yeah, that's me LOL. A little rough around the edges but fairly well preserved for someone past the mid-century mark .

 

Thanks Shultzy. He is one of the greatest guys you could ever meet. I am very fortunate.

 

Great write up and Great buck congrats!!

 

Congrats, great buck and story!

 

Great story Bruce. Sharing hunts with a friend like Graham are what it's all about. Having a successful hunt is great, but having a successful hunt that is shared with a friend makes the memory that much more special.

Congrats on the buck and on being so fortunate to have such a great friend.

 

That is what bowhunting is all about my friend...nice buck and just a heart warming story all together...Ive always said you are the one guy here that just wreeks of class..and I see your friend do as well.

 

Thanks guys.

Bry, Landon - Graham and I have traveled a long road together so far in this life but this particular hunt will be one of those road markers that signify a wonderful memory. If there is a classier guy than Graham I have yet to meet him.

 

hey hey hey - i'm just a good friend that has good friends that take care of friends when they need a hand - just like all the help i get when i need it too.........bruce , our friendship has always been a 2 way street and like i said yesterday , i know you'd have done the same thing for me bro!!!!we are in this game together..........just don't tell people about my great knees cause then everyone will want some too!
1 small detail is the fact that the recovery was done in the rain & 20mph NE winds - then we went to bruce's and did{me watching} the skinning & 1/4ing - nasty weather yes , but the 'cold' came in at the right time to keep the meat from going bad..............
as most of us know , bowhunting offers many many cool things as rewards period - but i think the biggest reward is friendship in the end!!!!

 

great story and congrats on the buck Bruce, very cool. life definately isnt all about the racks hangin in or garage or on our walls; its about the relationships we build and memories and moments we make.

 

What an awesome story. One of the best I've read in a long time. Congrats!

 

Wow! Great story and Congrats on your awesome deer! :D

This was from Charles County, MD? I live in Montgomery County, MD.

 

I knew you guys would appreciate all the facets of this story. Thanks for the very kind words.

Yes, Charles County in Chapel Point State Park.

 

Yes, yes it does. That is one of the reasons I wanted to share it you guys. Thanks for the kind words.

 

Bruce, you know (I hope) that I've always admired you for many reasons.... When I saw the length of your post, I smiled in satisfaction that I was finally going to get to read a little more in-depth stuff from you -- and a hunting story at that; I can't remember one recently from you.

And what an awesome story it was/is!! I can't tell you how much I enjoyed reading of your mishaps and ultimate success -- and of how special brotherly love can be.

Thanks for taking the time to share that with us, and congratulations.. not for the buck, but for in making such a great friend.