Sorry for the length.
My youngest son (days shy of 20) and I just got back from Georgia where we hunted the “Whitetail Weekend” fundraiser for Crisp Academy in Cordele Georgia. I’ve only participated twice, but it’s a great time and a great group of guys. Brad’s been hunting with me for a couple years, but had yet to take a deer. One of his older brothers took his first deer, an 8pt. and a nice doe a couple years ago at the same fundraiser.
Anyway, Jason wasn’t able to go this year due to work,and Brad was more than willing to take his place. You basically have two days to hunt on private property.
The first morning we were in the stand by about 5:45. I could hear a few shots just as day was breaking, but all I had was some very active squirrels. about 10 to 10 there was a shot North of me and about 2 min later Brad sent me a text saying “that was me, I think I missed, I didn’t even see ‘m jump”. I asked him “How did he move after you shot?”. He said, ” He just ran off.” I reminded him to remember where he saw him last and to remember where he was standing, so we can look for a blood trail. All this time I thought he was talking about a buck, but when I asked, he said it was a doe. He saw a few more deer, but let everything else walk. We called our “guides” (property owners) to come pick us up (fundraiser rules) about 11:30. I received a text about 15 min later with a nice picture of Brad and his doe.
This fundraiser gives a new gun to the hunter with the biggest buck and doe for the weekend. Your first deer only, counts for each.
When his doe was weighed, it was 141#‘s. The weigh master, knowing that his brother had missed out on winning a gun at the last minute by 2# when he was here 2 yrs. ago, stated loudly awe, missed big doe by 2#‘s. Somebody weighed a 143# doe just before you got here. Brad didn’t care, he was just happy to be there. Our “guide” told me later in the day on the way to the stand for the afternoon hunt that Brad was in the lead for big doe. I told him not to tell Brad, that way if he wins, it’ll be a surprise and if he loses, I’ll tell him afterward how close he was. I also told him to pass it on to everyone else. I didn’t want him to be distracted or disappointed if someone came in with a bigger doe. The next morning we were back in the stands by about a quarter to 6. I saw nothing again, and Brad watched a few more moving around, but he had no shot. A few minutes after 5, just as the hunt was about to wrap up, I got a text saying “That was me”. I said, “Well?” I got a text back that said, “She dropped on the trail. She’s a lot smaller than the other one”. Our volunteer property owner said he’d take care of dressing her so we could make the end of fundraiser dinner and awards.
Just before we sat down, I was told that at the last minute someone called in and said they were on their way in and had a 150# doe. I thought “Again?”. As it turns out there was ground shrinkage, and the doe weighed only about 120#‘s.
The first award of the night went to Brad, for the smallest doe of the weekend. The doe he got just before the end of the hunt was 90#‘s. For that he received a brand new, never used baby bottle. Brad accepted his award with a smile on his face. Two more gag awards followed. Then came the biggest doe award, I watched Brad as the MC’s first said, “I think this was 149#s, no wait was it 143?”. Then a pause and “Brad Packard, you had the largest doe at 141#s”. Brad had an ear to ear grin. For this he received a new Marlin in 270. All in all, it was a great weekend with one of my boys.
