Three Days of Thanksgiving: Opportunities

David Hanseder won a hand gun a couple years ago.  With all the deer on the private, fenceless, QDM property, this night he just wanted to sit in a pop up blind to shoot a doe with his new prize.  But with the forecast changing and the winds dropping, my Hunter suggested that with a rifle, he should sit in one of our bow stands back on a secluded 7 acre rye field.

About 4pm, Dave texted that a huge Buck had come out in the SW corner of the field which was 250 yards away.  As the Buck slowly fed closer, Dave got a range finder reading of 236 yards which was still too far.  It was a big enough buck that he wouldn’t shoot over 200 yards.

The Buck moved North along the west edge of the field and dropped below a rise where Dave couldn’t see it.  After 5 or 10 minutes, Dave saw a couple of does run from where he assumed the Buck was.  He kept watching for the Buck to come out from behind the hill, but it never did.  When he scanned back in the direction where the Buck had been coming from, he realized the Buck had actually started to angle towards him, which was now less than 200 yards.

The Buck moved behind some branches leaving Dave with no shot.  As the Buck moved further North and cleared the branches, Dave tried to steady his gun and his shooting stick, but had to back off his scope twice because he was shaking too hard!

When Dave gathered his composure, he zeroed the scope on the Buck’s shoulder and pulled the trigger.  The Buck buckled and went into a 30 yard “snowplow.” Dave knew he hit him hard, but was concerned.  He could see that the Buck was still alive.  Dave hustled down from his stand – carefully!  And he moved out into the field to approach the still struggling Buck.  When Dave inched slowly within 50 yards, he could see the Buck still alive in the long grass, but felt it was too dark to shoot, and would just wait him out.

The Buck moved for the last time 30 seconds later, and Dave recovered his trophy.

Oftentimes, bucks have “ground shrinkage” after the shot and Dave thought this was maybe a 140″ 8 point when he pulled the trigger.  However, as Dave approached his Buck, he found the rack was larger and much more massive than he thought.  It’s a 9 point that will very likely break 160 inches.

The story of Dave’s buck is not about being lucky, but more about a lesson in the rewards of passing up good opportunities, and trusting that God will bring about the best opportunity for us personally.  Dave has passed 20 plus bucks in the last five years, waiting for an opportunity at the buck of a lifetime.

Sometimes, we have to pass up good opportunities in order to experience the best ones.

This year, Dave reminded me about all the opportunities I’ve been given and how thankful I am for all of them.

Congratulations David Hanseder on waiting for the opportunity of a lifetime…”so far!”