It’s deer hunting week and because I’m still in the woods this week’s OTT is “pre-recorded.” When I come out of the woods, whenever that may be, I’ll get back to you with a live report. This year I am hoping for a story about the Turdy Point Buck and Dave.

Deer hunting is all about the story. Even if you don’t bag a deer, you have a story. You still go home and tell everyone about the fisher you saw, or the two does that you let walk by. Of course the best story of all is the one that ends with a victory photo of you kneeling behind a buck with a smile on your face that is so wide it equals the antler spread.

My very first victory photo only exists in my mind’s eye. I was 13 or 14 years old and it was long before self timers on cameras or cell phones. Back in the day a victory photo was more often than not the one that your mom took with her camera and the deer was in the back of a pickup truck parked in the driveway.  

I had a season or two under my belt before I “officially” became a deer hunter. I was sitting at the end of a long valley that almost formed a bowl, making it an outstanding place to hunt during the deer season. My vantage point gave me a terrific view in all directions. I came to the spot more by accident as opposed to strategy. A storm, probably during the summer, had snapped a tree off near the ground and the result formed a natural seat with a bit of a ground blind to help conceal my movements. I may have ended up in the spot by accident but I figured using the natural hunting blind was a shrewd decision.   

To make a long story a little shorter - a big doe, or at least I thought it was BIG, had somehow slipped in to about 50 yards and was heading from my left to my right. I’m not sure where the deer came from or how it got so close, but my chance had finally come. I could not have been more nervous if I was shooting at the original Turdy Point Buck. Even though my heart was pounding out of my chest I managed to slowly raise my 12 gauge shot gun to my shoulder. That old gun held five shells and I used every single one of them. When the gun was empty the deer was gone and I could only hope that the deer was laying behind a nearby brush pile.

As I slowly walked towards where I hoped my first deer had fallen, my heart sank lower with each step. I wasn’t seeing a deer, my deer. One of the hardest things for a young hunter is to think that you have bagged your first deer and then start to realize that you may have messed it all up. Then, I saw IT! It was laying a little further out than I expected. I had bagged my first deer of my young career! I could not have been prouder had it actually been a Turdy Point Buck.  

Didn’t get enough Dave this week? Visit “Outdoor Trails and Tales with Dave Beck” on Facebook for photos and video of Dave’s adventures. You can share your own photos and video with him there as well, or by emailing him at dave@piercecountyjournal.news Also, check out OTT content on Instagram @thepiercecountyjournal