I was 18 years old when my dad gave me his 30-06 deer rifle that he made from a Jap rifle one of his friends who had been in World War II had given him. My dad didn't deer hunt much anymore. He said he could always borrow it back if he decided to go deer hunting again. 

My two nieces Betty and Latricia, my two nephews Lavon and Lavoy, and me were down in the river bottom shooting beer bottles. We had gone out across the river into Smith County where the beer joints are and had gathered up a box full of beer bottles for targets. After one or two shots with the 30-06 all the kids said they didn't want to shoot it anymore. They didn't like the recoil. But Betty was tough. She would shoot it just as long as I would let her.

I threw a bottle out into the river. As the current carried it down stream, Betty took a bead on it with my 30-06. When she pulled the trigger, the recoil of the rifle made her ponytail jump up and down like a squirrel's tail, when he is excited.

When I looked back for the bottle, it was gone. Betty was just 12 years old and the recoil was tough on someone her size, but she just didn't miss.

But I was going to tell you about my first deer rifle. The first time I got to go deer hunting with it was in Red River County in North Texas. I was hunting with friends and didn't know the woods very good, but I found a board up in a tree that someone had put there to sit on while they watched for deer.

I climbed the tree and settled in on the board for a long wait. After about only an hour, I heard something walking in the dead leaves. It was off to my right. As I slowly turned my head to look in that direction, I could see a deer walking slowly along. He had not seen me. He was only about 80 yards out so it was going to be an easy shoot.

But as I raised the rifle to my shoulder to shoot, I realized I had a problem. (Houston, we've got a problem here.) I'm right handed and to shoot to my right, I would have to turn almost half way around. All that much movement would spook the deer and I wouldn't get a shot off before he ran off. 

The only thing I could think of was to swap the rifle around and shoot left handed. Now all this thinking is hard work for me. Especially when I'm sitting on a little piece of board 20 feet up in the air. The first deer I have ever had a chance to shoot is walking away and I'm trying to figure out how to get a shot before he's gone. 

I swap the rifle around to shoot left handed take aim and pull the trigger. Shoot! I forgot to take the safety off. I take the safety off, put the rifle to my left shoulder, squeeze the trigger, and the rifle clicks. I forgot to put a shell in the chamber after I climbed the tree. I work the bolt throwing a shell into the chamber, take the safety off, put the rifle to my left shoulder, take aim at the deer and start to squeeze the trigger, then stop.

The deer is just standing there watching me. He's not suppose to do that. If anything, he should be running away. But there he stands. Watching me like he was watching some sit-com on TV. I can almost see him laughing.

How do you shoot a deer that is standing there laughing at you?

I didn't.

I climbed down out of the tree and went back to camp. Would you believe that deer followed me half way back to camp? I guess he was waiting to see what else this stupid hunter was going to do. I had to chunk a rock at him to make him go on so he wouldn't follow me back into camp. I could've just heard the guys saying:

"What's this, you find Bambi?"

              ~  The Author is Loren Moore. "I'm 72 years old. I've been married to my wife, Johnnie, for 52 years as of 11-14-03. I worked for the General Motors assembly plant in Arlington, Texas, until I had to take early retirement in 1975 because of multiple sclerosis.  My hobbies have always been hunting and fishing. I'm an uneducated redneck from the piney woods of east Texas. Now that I'm in my old age and do most of my hunting and fishing in my memory I decided to write about a few of my experiences. I can remember everything that ever happened to me and a few that didn't. I decided to write them in the form of a short story. These stories are about 90% true and 10% fiction. My wife Johnnie says they are 10% true and 90% fiction. Maybe they are some where in between. But be that as it may here are my stories. They have been written for the amusement of my two daughters, Susan and Angela, my two granddaughters, Amanda and Ginger,  my great granddaughter Chivona Lynn (aka Doodlebug) and my great grand sons, Dennis (aka Little Man) and Nathan (aka Charlie Brown) , and any one else that wants to read them. Those were the days my friend. We thought they would never end. We thought they would last forever and a day. We would live the life we choose we would fight and never lose. For we were young and sure to have our way. So come time travel with me. Let's take a cruise down memory lane to the golden olden days." © copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 ~

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