2010 Season - The Camry Doe

The 2010 hunting season for the Graham household didn't have much action, mainly because we only went a few times. We were in the home stretch of our Dave Ramsey plan to pay off $60k worth of debt in 24 months and I wasn't spending money on anything. I asked Mr. Giles if the kids and I could come out and take another doe and he agreed, so Walker and I went out one cool November 20th afternoon to sit in the shooting house.

Not too long after we arrived a doe came walking out on the edge of the field and after watching it for a few minutes, Walker decided we should take it. I made a good shot and the deer ran about 50 yards into the woods. It was getting dark quickly so we gave it as long as we could stand it to wait and then started tracking. It didn't take Walker long to follow the blood trail to the deer.

We decided not to field dress the deer at that time, and we took a photo.

11.20.10

And that is where the story gets really funny. Earlier that year I had sold my truck and bought a 1996 Toyota Camry. After knowing I would need a way to haul the deer home I made a few phone calls and unfortunately there was nobody available. I told Walker that I guess we had no other choice than to put the doe in the trunk of the car and haul it out of the woods. So we walked up to the car and drove the car down the dirt road to the field, dragging the bottom nearly the entire way. I had a heck of a time getting it into the trunk by myself, but I finally got it, and I couldn't help but laugh at what we were doing.


It didn't take long after leaving the woods that we realized how bad the smell was. We laughed for about 5 minutes about the whole situation. Another funny part was we stopped at a bodyshop on Hamilton Road and I told Walker to stay put. At this point it was about 9:00 and in full camo I walked up to a group of about ten guys who were looking at me like I was crazy. I asked them if they knew of anyone that might be interested in some deer meat and they all said no. So I made another phone call and figured out a family of a student I had been tutoring was interested in the deer and asked me to bring it right over. I pulled into the trailer park and they pulled the deer out of the trunk and up onto the front porch. The grandfather came out of the trailer with a huge knife and I told him we had to get home. I didn't want to see how messy that was going to get on the front porch of their trailer.

It was one heck of an experience, but we both had a great time and neither of us will probably ever forget it!

2009 Season - First deer with the kids

The 2009 deer season was an exciting one, primarily because I had been given the opportunity to hunt a small plot of land, for free, that no one else could hunt. In addition, this land was not regularly hunted. The land belonged to Mr. Giles, the principal at the school where I teach. We started off the season by going over to check the place out. From the time we got there things just kept getting better. We had to walk about 100 yards down to the field and as we walked up there were deer in the field! 

8.15.09

8.15.09

The kids loved it. We were excited to find some hardwoods, a small field planted with grass, and an enclosed shooting house/blind sitting about 15 feet off the ground. We made plans to come back later in the season to hunt.

10.17.09

On the chosen day we got up early and got bundled up and went out to the hunting property. The kids slept a while, watched out the windows a while, and unfortunately we didn't see anything. We decided we would try again, but in the evening.







 That next Saturday was October 26, 2009. Within an hour of getting settled we spotted several deer in different directions. One group of doe's wandered into the field at about 20 yards so we picked one out and I made the shot. The deer ran across the field into the woods, and I have never seen two kids more excited. Luckily I grabbed the digital camera and started recording.

We decided to call Mommy to share the excitement and that ended up being hilarious. The video of that phone call is below:

After waiting a while we climbed down to look for blood where the deer was standing. Sure enough we found some and we followed it to the edge of the field. For a few minutes we were couldn't find where the blood trail continued and the kids almost got upset that we might not find it, but we picked the trail back up where the deer ran into the woods. The video from that point is below:

Luckily Mr. Giles had gotten home and he came down to the field to see what we had taken. I am glad he was there because he volunteered to snap a photo for us.

10.26.09 - First deer with the kids - Browning 7mm-.08

This will be one of those memories that they never forget and as the years go by the pictures, video, and the story will likely be told over and over. I am very thankful for the opportunity and the experience. Hopefully there will be many more in the future.

Opening Day - 2005

It wasn't until the summer of 2005 that I started to get really excited about deer hunting again.  There was an old man that went to our church named Henry Neal. Mr. Henry lived on a 100 acre farm just outside of town. One Sunday when he was over at my in-laws for lunch something was mentioned about deer hunting and he invited me to come out to his place because according to him they were all over the place. I drove over to check the place out and saw some good sign and even a few deer. I picked out a tree and on opening day of gun season, October 22, 2005 I was ready for some action. My stand was on the edge of a field overlooking a cut-over area in front of me and the field behind me. Within an hour of daylight I saw some movement on top of the ridge in the cut-over and put up the scope to see it. It was the biggest buck I had ever seen while I was hunting. I wasn't sure how big it was, but I saw antlers filling up the scope and I knew I was going to take the shot. I aimed my Browning 7mm-.08 Micro Medallion and squeezed the trigger and saw the buck drop in his tracks. I was so excited I could barely breathe. I called Jason and he drove out to where I was hunting and took the photo for me.

Opening day, 10.22.05

I couldn't believe it...opening day and the biggest buck I had ever killed - a 10 pointer. I was so excited. I couldn't wait to drive home to show Serenity and the kids.

Gracie (3) & Walker (7 mo.) checking out the buck on opening day, 10.22.05

It was a special morning that I will never forget. I sure am glad that Jason was able to come out and take the photo for me.

Early Hunting Memories...

Thinking back over the years I have so many great memories of hunting, going back to when I was little. My earliest memories are being in the hardwoods of Paulding County with Daddy. I remember taking our four wheelers up to what was then the Paulding County Sportsmen's Club (now Paulding Forest WMA) to ride the dirt roads and building, or rebuilding, wooden tree stands. Back then each spot had a name, including 'Old Reliable', 'Old Faithful', 'Honey Hole', and 'Scott's Stand' just to name a few. These were the settings of stories I heard from Daddy about his hunting adventures with Uncle Scott, Ricky, and Kit-wit when he was younger, and the settings of my earliest hunting memories. To this day when I walk into a hardwood forest with high ridges and deep hollows it reminds me of Paulding County and the great memories that were made there.

As I got older I remember going to the Buckarama in Atlanta near the end of the summer, and shooting our bows at archery tournaments to earn trophys. I looked forward to it being time to head up to the woods to check all our spots and do some scouting. For me the best part was getting to put on my camouflage, wearing a knife on my belt, and loading up my fourwheeler. I remember one particular time we took a break at a stream to cut open some watermelon. I think Daddy's friend Ricky brought the watermelon, and it seems like I remember the watermelon being orange inside and Jason and I didn't like it very much.

Another memory I have is Daddy, me, Jason, and Hailey all going hunting one morning at the "Honey Hole." I was probably about 10 or 11, Jason would've been between 8-9, and Hailey would have been about 5 or 6 years old. It was so cold, probably in November, and we were all bundled up with several layers of clothes. We all followed Daddy down into the hollow and sat in a little dip on the side of the ridge overlooking the stream. I don't know why that particular memory stands out, but I could even today I could walk you to that exact spot on the side of the ridge.

I don't remember seeing a lot of deer hunting in Paulding County in the late 1980s, but it sure was exciting when we did. In my first years of hunting Daddy and I would climb trees next to each other, and as I got older he would walk me to my stand and watch me climb up and get settled before he walked a little further to his spot. When it was time to get down he would come back to where I was and I would climb down out of the tree. This was way back before there were cell phones so if we shot at something our signal was to shoot 2 or 3 times in a row to give the signal that it was us. While I shot at several deer in those woods growing up, I never did actually harvest a deer there. But there were many memories created that we can look back on and remember fondly, memories that helped shaped who I am, and memories that I want to be able to provide for my children as they are growing up.

Now that Gracie (9) and Walker (6) are a little older and I am really excited about creating new memories with them, and Daddy, whiletail deer hunting.