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The Rack Report Blog Contributors - Russell Graves

Russell Graves - Believes whitetails shouldn't be photographed in the back of a truck with their tongue hanging out.
Location - Texas

The Rack Report Blog Contributors - Brian Strickland

Brian Strickland - Has 369,518 acres of land that you can hunt on. Call him at (555) 281-HUNT.
Location - Colorado

The Rack Report Blog Contributors - Tony Hansen

Tony Hansen - Is pretty confident Michigan will release at least 300,000 archers into the woods this fall.
Location - Michigan

The Rack Report Blog Contributors - Jake Fagan

Jake Fagan - He's really just here to hang out, so don't mind him.
Location - Georgia

The Rack Report Blog Contributors - Will Brantley

Will Brantley - Loves hunting in a dorag because it makes him look Ramboish. Some may call it Little Man Syndrome.
Location - Tennessee

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Of Boys, Bows & Burlap Bucks

"Shhhhhh," my son Brennan hissed as we eased through the Ponderosa Pine forest. And with his left eye squinted, he threw a stare of seriousness in my direction and pointed towards the forest edge and whispered, "Dad, a good buck!" I could sense the tenseness of the situation, and the expression on his face showed a look of determination; I knew we were going to get close enough for a shot. As we continued to walk at a snail's pace on the carpet of damp pine needles, we closed to within 15 yards without even getting so much as a twitch from the handsome 4X4 buck. As Brennan raised his bow and pressed it into service, I whispered in his ear, "Take your time." He held for a moment and then with confidence let the string fall from his fingers. In an instant his carbon arrow buried in the buck's sweet-spot and a look of satisfaction fell across his face. "Good shot!" I yelled as I gave him a congratulatory high-five, another job well done. In fact, that was the third buck my 8 year old son had killed that evening, or should I say burlap buck.

Since he has been old enough to pull back his first Lil Sioux bow, Brennan has been by my side on many imaginary adventures at the archery range. As he has grown, so has his love for archery and archery hunting. Although he is not old enough to deer hunt himself, he has accompanied me to the deer stand on more than one occasion. Hopefully, this season he will witness one of my arrows zipping through the vitals of a deer. But it won't be long until those roles are reversed. He's pulling back 35 pounds on his own now, and he seems to have a knack for hitting the sweet spot. Soon I'll be leaving my Hoyt in the truck as we head-out for another evening on stand, and quite frankly I can't wait!

Brian Strickland

-From the Wild West

Published by The Whitetail Team on Sunday, July 20, 2008 at 10:14 PM.

Comments:

Brian, I hopefully will get to experience my son harvesting his first buck this season. He has been practicing shooting his bow for about a year and this will be his first real opportunity to take his first buck. He went out a few times last year with me, but he wasn't really ready on hunt on his own.
I have hunted for about 25 years and my greatest hunting moment will be when Ben takes his first buck. Cross your fingers, maybe this season.

# posted by MJ13 : July 22, 2008 2:47 PM