Hunting with my Dad

I’ve had the opportunity to spend the last two weekends with my dad. Since the hunting season has approached the weekends have been full of hiking, four wheeling and looking for the right “one”. I can remember back when I was young how excited I would get to go out hunting with my dad. We would stop off at my Grandma’s for a nice warm breakfast and then we would head out and wait for the sun to rise. He would always have a pocket full of pine nuts, an apple and a snickers bar to take along with us when we hiked around looking for deer. And the lunch he would bring would be amazing (thanks mom). He always made it a point to make me feel welcome, loved, and most of all he enjoyed sharing the beauty of the outdoors with me. He would always tell me to respect the wildlife and its surroundings. I have learned a lot from him just from these excursions. When I finally turned 14 it was my turn to be the hunter. We would go out to the Lee Kay center for some target practice and he would always quiz me on hunter safety scenarios that might arise. When I got into high school other things kept me from going but when I could, I would go. My brother filled in my shoes for a while and after my brother passed away it took about two years for him to get out again. But since then I have made it out with him for every opening day. Be it Antelope, deer, turkey, duck, or sage hen there’s always a story to tell.
This last opening day was no different. We sat in the truck perched in the saddle of two mountains as we watched the sun rise. The sun rise was particularly spectacular that morning. We took off on foot as soon as we could see. You see some pretty neat things that early in the morning. We made our way around two mountains before we headed back to the truck so we could pull out the four wheeler. As we were hiking back I realized my dad was having a hard time walking. It was his knees. It hit me at this moment how precious life really is. My dad, even though he’s still fairly young, won’t be here forever to take me hunting. It just made me sit back and think about how thankful I was for making the effort to spend these precious moments with him. Not only was it good for me, but I know he was thankful I was there with him too. My dad has lot of hunting years ahead of him and I can’t wait when he’s a grandpa teaching his grandchildren what he’s taught me. I’m just thankful I’ve been blessed with the gift of time. I know time is limited and that's why I need to make it count now! Thanks dad, I love you!