Nick is a young handsome lad all of nine years old.  He is in the third grade and I understand a very good student who enjoys math more than the other courses.  His home is in Corpus Christi, Texas.

 

His parents are non-hunters, but his uncle does enjoy both hunting and fishing.  His uncle is one of several that I have hunted with over the past seven or eight years.

 

     Sometimes during deer season his uncle brings Nick up to our hunting operation that is located about 10 miles north of Sabinal, Texas.   On this weekend Nick made the trip to the property with his uncle.  As it turned out, this was a trip that he will not soon forget.

 

     His uncle encourages Nick to hunt with other members of our group.  He does this routinely, but has never taken a shot at any game.  On this weekend he saddled up with my son, Ed Allred, who has two sons ages three and five and lives here in San Antonio, Texas.  They have hunted together before and seem to enjoy each other’s company.

 

     Early on a Saturday afternoon I dropped the two of them off at a deer blind and headed off to another location to hunt.  A little over an hour later I heard two shots that were very close together.  These shots came from the direction where I knew the boys were hunting.  I was hopeful that they had connected with a prize.

 

      At sunset I departed my blind and drove over to pick up the boys.  There I found two elated hunters and a handsome 10-point buck that had been collected.  Nick was as proud as a peach of his accomplishment.

 

     So I asked Nick to tell me how this came about and here is what he had to say.  They spotted this buck and glassed him for some time.  Ed was encouraging Nick to pull the trigger, but Nick was reluctant to do so.  So Ed suggested that he would shoot backup for him to ensure that the deer would not be wounded and run off. To that Nick agreed and sent a .223 to the killing zone.  Ed shot followed about a second later.  He was shooting a .257 magnum.  The buck dropped in his tracks.  Upon examining the two entry wounds those two bullets were both correctly placed and were about two inches apart; both well placed shots.

 

     We loaded up and went back to camp, leaving the buck there so the uncle could help Nick recover him and go through the ritual of gutting, cleaning and preparing the deer for the locker.  When the uncle returned to the camp Nick took him back to the blind and downed buck, under the disguise of having left something in the blind. When they returned to the camp with the big fellow in the back of the pickup the group showered praise on Nick and his accomplishment.  Many pictures were taken at this time.

 

     The next morning Nick again went out with Ed and this hunt was to be for turkey.  So I dropped them off at another blind where we have seen many turkeys in the area.  Ed was doing the calling, and Nick was going to be the solo shooter.  Now calling a Tom in during this time of the year is a bit tricky because they are generally running with the hens and jakes in the fall and winter months.  

 

     Ed successfully called several Toms within range and Nick delivered the killing shot without back up.  He was a handsome bird that weighted about 20 pounds.  His spurs indicated some age and his beard measured about eight inches.

 

     When we returned to the camp, Nick was again greeted as the hero of the day.  Again many pictures were taken.  Nick was so proud of what he had collected and of these handsome specimens.