I have put off writing this story many times because I was never quite sure what the best approach would be to describe the person who has forever been my deer hunting hero. Since I was a young boy I have driven myself to acquire the same level of woodsman skill and knowledge of hunting deer in the Mudbrook Valley that he possesses. But before I get ahead of myself I should probably start from the beginning. My deer hunting career started when I was thirteen years old...and I knew nothing about it except what they taught me in Hunter's Safety Class. Luckily, though, I had the best teachers any boy could have in my Uncles... Jack, Lloyd, Jerry, and Paul. These guys are my Mom's brother's, so whether or not they felt obligated to help me out I don't know, but I am sure thankful they did. Uncle Lloyd always let me stay at his house during hunting season and also had to put up with me following him around the woods everyday, Uncle Jerry let me borrow one of his guns for my first year and to this day is still kind enough to allow me hunting priviledges on his land, Uncle Paul had a bottomless coat pocket of candy and would share it willingly, then there was my Uncle Jack. He was the oldest of the four and was also the leader of the family deer hunting party.
Back in those days our family hunting party consisted of anywhere from fifteen to twenty people and everyone looked to Uncle Jack for direction...especially a young, know nothing, wanna be kid like me. One of the guys in the group was Uncle Jack's good friend Louie. Louie is one of the funniest people I've ever met and was also a crackshot with his rifle. He would always call Uncle Jack by the nickname "Jackson". It always reminded me of the great General Andrew Jackson...which led me to refer to him simply as "The General". I really don't remember a deer hunting season where The General did not fill his buck tag and it was very common for him to shoot more than one buck. In those cases, he would pull me aside and say "Hey Wayne, I got a buck down over there. Will you come and put your tag on it"? During those early years I was certainly not much of a threat to kill a buck of my own so I would always tag his extra's. This went on for a number of years and only added to the aura and mystique of The General's legendary hunting skill. I wanted to have that kind of knowledge and success! So...season after season passed by and at age 28 I still hadn't experienced the thrill of killing my first buck and felt that I would never accomplish my goal of being as skilled as The General. Meanwhile, I continued to watch The General fill his tag (and mine) year after year. I was investing so much time and effort into the pursuit of this one goal that the pressure I put on myself made hunting less and less enjoyable. I was frustrated, disappointed, and humiliated. Then at our family Christmas gathering in 1994 everything changed. I was standing in the food line with The General and his wife, my aunt Nancy, talking about how I still hadn't shot my first buck. As The General started to reply with another one of his success stories Aunt Nancy put her hand on my shoulder and said "You have lot's of time Wayne...Jack didn't kill his first buck until he was thirty years old". Upon hearing this my jaw dropped open, my eyes just about popped out of my head, and my mind raced through a billion thoughts in an instant. Could this be true? The General really hadn't killed his first buck until age 30? I'm only 28 so I can still top that. Maybe I'm not doing everything wrong! Maybe all this hard work and time in the woods WILL pay off soon. Suddenly I flashed back to reality and looked at The General with a relieved and disbelieving look on my face. He looked back at me with a half smile of vulnerability, like a little kid getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and responded with one of the best come backs I've ever heard by saying "Yea, but I've killed a lot of 'em since then".
Hearing all of this felt like a huge boulder had suddenly been lifted off my shoulders. I could still follow in The General's footsteps. Ironically enough, the very next fall I was fortunate enough to "break the ice" by killing not only my first buck ever but two additional bucks as well. It was AWESOME! I have killed a fair number of bucks since that season and a few years ago I began joking around with my cousins saying that my next goal was to shoot two bucks in the same season then pull The General aside to say "Hey Uncle Jack, I got a buck down over there. Will you come and put your tag on it?". We would all laugh about the possibility of that actually happening. It wasn't long afterwards, though, that The General began spending his winters down in Florida and stopped hunting during rifle season all together. I still see him at least once during each bowhunting season and try to pick his brain about certain areas I'm thinking about hanging a stand in. I still believe that he is the best source of Mudbrook hunting knowledge there is and enjoy hearing the many stories he has to tell. At age 37 I am still working diligently to acquire the same level of woodsman skill and hunting knowledge that The General possesses...and enjoying it more than ever. I saw at a young age that my Uncle Jack had a passion for deer hunting and now I have that same passion. Looking through my young 13 year old eyes or my somewhat aged 37 year old eyes the view is the same...I want to be a deer hunter like The General.
