Prayers for my Uncle...update.....update at bottom

[Nath]

Sorry to be late but you all are in my thoughts.

Nathan.

[stretch]

My condolences to you and your family, Firefuzz.

Stow the guilt - your uncle would understand it all.
Remember - he KNEW the meaning of the word SNAFU.
And you have some great memories of him.

-Stretch

[firefuzz]

Thanks you, my friends, for all your kind thoughts. Monday and Tuesday were rough for me, no matter how hard I tried to occupy myself I still spent too much time sitting in the back yard with the dogs lost in thought.

During my musings one incident in my life's memories with my Uncle kept coming back to mind and if you don't mind I'll share it with you and then let this rest.

When I was 12 years old I wanted to go deer hunting so badly that I could taste it. My Dad was the manager of a grocery store and as Oklahoma's deer season falls during the week of Thanksgiving, the busiest week of the grocery business, taking off was out of the question. Uncle Floyd was living in Colorado at the time, but came down that year for the semi-annual family (biological Mother's side) pilgrimage to the deer woods in SE Oklahoma and asked Dad if he could take me. My Dad and Uncle Floyd didn't get divorced when he and my Mother did and were always good friends so Dad consented to let me go. Dad drug an old Savage 99 in .303 Savage out of the closet and we bought the last box of shells for it in our home town and I was ready to go.

I was the youngest by about 15 years in the camp of twelve men that consisted of some of my great-uncles and their sons , so some of the younger one's, my Uncles first cousins, decided that I was going the be the camp "boy" and get saddled with all the crappy details and wait on them hand and foot. Uncle Floyd put a stop to that the first night saying I'd do my share and them some, but I wasn't their maid or momma. (there was another word for this type of servant that was prevalent in my Mother's family at this time in history but this is the only time I ever heard my Uncle speak it and he was angry at the time) My great-uncle's were tough, hard men, but not mean or mean spirited. Most of them grew up in and still worked in the oil patch, as well as did most of their sons, those were the best jobs in Oklahoma at the time, so being able to take it and stand up for yourself was part of life with them. They expected my respect, and got it, it was their son's that were the problem and NONE of them wanted to try Uncle Floyd on for size. So my week in camp was an enjoyable, memorable experience.

On the next to last day we were to be there I got up and left camp early. For the first few days I had hunted with or near Uncle Floyd until he was sure I could take care of myself and not get lost in the woods. I think there had been a total of three deer killed in the camp and I wanted to get one so very badly, to prove to the men I was one of them, or at least on my way to being. I had spotted some nice tracks that were fresh the evening before and I wanted to be there when the buck came out that morning.

I made my nest in some rocks that were just inside the wood line, overlooking the small clearing that I had seen the tracks in. The sun came up to my right and I could easily see the whole wood line and clearing. It was a beautiful fall morning, about 40 degrees, and as I sat there enjoying the world I guess I kinda dozed off. I heard something and looked over to my left....about 30yds away was the biggest buck I'd ever seen. He was HUGE. He was over 10pts and massive, at least in my mind at the time. I slowly raised the Savage and aimed at the neck, right behind his head, just the way Uncle Floyd had taught me to shoot a deer, he didn't believe in behind the shoulder shots. Just as I was about to pull the trigger, the deer turned his head and was looking me dead square in the eye. He didn't move...just stood there calmly looking at me. The biggest buck I'd probably ever get the chance to shoot and all I could think was that I wouldn't want to die on a day as beautiful as this one. I slowly lowered the gun and he and I just looked and each other for a few moments, then he turned and walked back into the woods.

I sat there for quite awhile, thinking about the deer and just a lot of things. About mid morning, 10 or so, I got up and went back to camp for lunch, as was our routine for the camp. I was the first one back but everyone else filtered in by 11 or so with everyone asking what'd ya see or saying they didn't hear any shots so when it came my time to talk I told what had happened.

OMG!!! I was a failure. Only a sissy would pass up a shot like that. I couldn't be a member of their family. What color of panties was I wearing. It went on and on for what seemed like forever. Even the old uncles either said something or just looked at me in a way that was worse than words. Everyone but Uncle Floyd. It went on until I turned to walk out of camp, trying very hard not to cry. I saw my Uncle Floyd stand up and heard him say, in a tone of voice I'd never heard from him before, something to the extent of "That's enough. Anyone says anything else to him about this will deal with me for it." Dead silence in the camp.

We walked together thru the woods for about two hours. At first nothing was said between us and then Uncle Floyd started talking to me. He told me I had learned a lot that trip, about camping and hunting, and life. He said that we actually weren't going to starve because I didn't shoot, and that the deer wasn't trying to hurt us so I didn't have to shoot, and most importantly that you didn't have to kill something to enjoy hunting and being outdoors. He made it all okay by saying it takes more of a man to follow his heart than to do what he thought everyone else expected of him.

Of all the hunting trips and wonderful memories I've logged in my life this hunt and that time with him were the best. 24 years later I repeated all I could remember that he said to me that day on opening morning of my 10y/o son's first deer hunt when he whispered to me "Do we have to kill her?" just as I was about to shoot a doe we had been watching for the better part of 30 minutes. At that minute all those memories came flooding back and I couldn't have seen the deer to shoot if I have wanted to. I guess the lesson stuck.

Thanks guys, for indulging me in this.

See you soon, Uncle Floyd and Dad. Thanks for always being there for me. Save me a spot on the pond dam.

[TedH]

Wonderful story and priceless memories. You are indeed a lucky man. You and your family have our codolences.

[Griff]

Wonderful story and priceless memories. You are indeed a lucky man. You and your family have our codolences.

+1!

[plowboy 45]

Rest in peace, uncle Floyd

[Ysabel Kid]

I'm sorry for your loss. RIP...