Hi Dad ...

Well dad, another deer season has come and gone. It seems they come and go faster and faster as I get older, but then again you always told me they would.
Things have changed throughout the years. We now have our own land and a nice comfortable house to sleep and cook in. No more tent trailer and mile long walks in the dark every morning and not returning to the trailer until well after dark. No wearing stocking caps to bed so we don't freeze to death. I do miss, however, your morning attempt to warm up carmel rolls over the stove with your bare hands. You never got them very warm but nobody seemed to mind.
There are five of us that hunt together now. A couple of the guys are fairly new to the sport. One guy got his first deer this year and I was happy for him. I still have a sneaking suspicion that he still spends too much time on that cell phone of his but what the heck. We never had to worry about cell phones did we? I was always to busy just trying to stay warm and my only divergence was eating candy bars and drinking hot chocolate. Things have changed so much.
I still shoot that 30.06 you bought me 41 years ago. I had it worked on a few years ago as there are inherent flaws in the design and the gunsmith said he did what he could because he knew how much that gun means to me. He just said to shoot it as little as possible. Well, it took me 8 shots to sight it in this fall. I cringed with every shot knowing I was stressing the gun. It's funny as I'm a lousy target shooter but when that buck came by last week, I was steady as a rock. It's like I had a steadying hand on my shoulder. Yeah I know that sounds kind of corny and is probably only wishful thinking on my part, but I can think that if I want.
Your grandson made another nice shot and got his deer. He's quite a hunter and I know you would be proud of the way he hunts and how he conducts himself in the woods. They say talent skips a generation. They are right.
We ended up with 4 deer for 5 guys though your grandson could have shot many more. I had a lot of time to think while butchering this week. I smiled when I remembered one of you favorite questions," Hey Duane, can I make a steak out of this"?
Thanks to you I have the memories of a lifetime. Your generation is gone, mine is next. Hopefully there will be those behind us to carry on.