Casey’s Double
By Wanda Garner
I rose a little earlier than normal, assuming I would have a hard time getting my new hunting partner out of his pajamas. At the age of 14, Casey was the typical teenager and was often difficult to budge from the bed. This morning though was a little different. The anticipation of the upcoming hunt and the possibility of killing a buck had him motivated enough to immediately rise and start getting ready. Casey’s dad was out of town and Casey had agreed to share this first morning of the 2005 modern gun season with me. Casey knew that the prospect of seeing a buck was high in the well-chosen bottleneck where he and his dad had set his tripod stand.
Casey has not always liked to hunt. In fact, until his dad and I had taken him on his first wild boar hunt in Texas the previous Spring, he had showed little interest in hunting. When I saw the expression on his face after shooting that big red boar with the long black mane, I knew he was hooked. That day will forever be implanted in my memory and I am so thankful that I was there to share that experience with him. This morning, however, we were not hunting wild boar. Instead, we were in pursuit of elusive whitetail bucks. Casey had taken a small buck the previous year, but this was his first hunting trip to the woods where he would be alone in his stand and making all of the decisions himself.
Casey’s father and I had prepared him well, repeatedly going over the hunting regulations and our own safety rules. We went over the anatomy of a deer with him to instill the need for accurate shot placement for a quick humane kill. The young hunter is an excellent shot with his Rossi .243. We also made sure he understood he had two tags in which he could fill. The first deer shot could be any buck regardless of the size of its rack. Because Casey was a youth, the 3-point rule would not apply to this deer. The second deer however, had to meet the 3-point rule enacted by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
With high expectations, I drove Casey within feet of the tripod stand that he had helped his father prepare for him weeks in advance and again reminded Casey of the safety rules and hunting regulations. “I know, Mom,” he said as he exited the vehicle. “Keep your walkie-talkie turned on,” I stressed and wished him good luck as I drove through the darkness to my own hunting stand not far away.
As the early morning light began to emerge, the temperature seemed to drop, causing me to bury my face deeper in my balaclava and pull my camouflage jacket closer around me in an attempt to stay warm. Suddenly, I saw my first two deer, a doe and fawn browsing not far away. I raised my binoculars and was watching them feed when suddenly I heard a shot ring out. “That was close!” I thought, then immediately realized that it had to have been Casey shooting. Moving slowly as to not spook the deer I was watching, I felt around in my pocket to find my walkie-talkie. “Was that you?” I asked. “Shot a 3-point,” was his response.
“Great! Stay in your stand. It’s still early and you might actually get a chance at another buck. Remember your 3-point rule.” I slowly replaced the walkie-talkie in my pocket and resumed watching the doe and little one feeding across the field. I was elated for my son. I knew he was a good shot and though he had told me the young buck had run into the woods, I knew that we would be able to locate him later in the morning.
Less than twenty minutes later, a second shot rang out, this time spooking the two deer I had been watching. My heart was racing so fast that you would have thought it was I who had just pulled the trigger. I moved more quickly for my walkie-talkie this time. “Was that you again?” I asked. Laughing quietly, Casey responded, “Got a nice 8 point.”
Telling me he had already heard it go down in the woods, I encouraged him to remain in his stand. After all, it was still early and I wanted a chance to hunt. I reminded him that he had already filled his tags and that he should just relax and enjoy the sunrise. Smiling from ear to ear, I settled back in my stand in hopes of spotting a buck of my own. As luck would have it though, my anxious teenager continued buzzing me every few minutes wanting permission to track his deer. Laughing, I finally gave in and told him to try to run a big buck my direction. Several minutes later, he buzzed again to tell me he had located both deer, but needed my assistance to drag them out of the woods.
Reluctantly, I climbed from my stand and headed towards the truck. It had been quite a morning in the woods… and a short one too. I arrived to find Casey standing at the edge of the woods across from his tripod anxiously awaiting my arrival. He related his story of how the first little buck came in before daylight and he had to wait for enough light to make sure it was a buck. He was grateful the three point stuck around long enough for him to make the shot. We quickly found the deer, only 20 yards from where he had shot it. A perfect heart shot!
We followed the second blood trail about 50 yards to his second deer, a big bodied eight point taken with a double lung shot. Together, we drug both deer to a nice grassy location where Casey posed for photographs. It was a remarkable sight to see my son proudly showing off his first morning doubles. As we loaded the deer in the back of the truck, I glanced at my watch and saw it was only 7:30 AM. It had been a great morning in the Ozarks for this particular mom and son hunting team and one that we will both remember for the rest of our lives.
