Hunting in Oklahoma

Ryan's first ever blog post:
Every other year my mission buddy Drue Scott and his awesome family invite me to Oklahoma for an amazing Hunting Adventure. This year I was lucky enough to bring my little hunter Danny. Through 18 hours of driving each way, waking up at 4 AM. every morning, hiking, sitting, (lots of sitting) and getting home at 9 every night, This boy was Awesome. Not a single complaint in 8 days. Not an I'm hungry, I'm cold, I'm bored, or a can we go home yet. I was amazed, with how happy and content he was just hangin out with the boys. Danny had lots of animal firsts: White tail deer, Wild Turkeys, opossums, armadillos, porcupines, turtles, clams, and a few more. If you look down to the picture of Danny holding my rifle, notice his sweat pants are tied under his feet. In the hurried Gear check of opening morning, I forgot Dannys shoes at the house an hour away. So I grabbed my 50 lb. pack, gun, and chairs and threw Dan on my shoulders and hiked a good mile or more. We sat down as the sun was coming up, and the Deer were moving all around us. Dan spotted a group coming out of the trees, just below the bluff we were sitting on, with 5 does and a good buck chasing close behind. They worked their way over to the river bed and I finally got a clear shot at the Buck as he was running the bank at 258 yards. Danny told me he had to have atleast 10 points to shoot, so as soon as I had his ok I pulled the trigger. So 12 minutes into our hunt, we had our Buck down. Sweet!!! He was a 3 1/2 year old 10 point buck with great mass. My biggest white tail yet. Now the work began. I had to drag the buck back to the road, and up the 10 foot high river bank. So the next 2 hours went like this; Drag deer 30 feet, walk back get gear and Danny and carry them 30 feet past the deer, then back to the deer to drag it 30 feet past Dan, and so on and so forth for 2 hours. I was beat. But I had my little buddy cheering me on the whole time.

With the Key objective of the hunt taken care of, we had the rest of the week to kick back and not have to hunt so hard. Dan and I found plenty of other stuff to shoot, and had a great time doing it. Danny's new Antler and Tail collection added quite a few pieces. We also got to build a new hunting platform, that will be a used by Drue's Dad and the grand kids. Hopefully we can take advantage of it next time we're there. This year we all killed good bucks: Mine was 137 3/4, Drues was 123 7/8, Mikes was 124 3/8.
That's the best year yet for all of us.
Dan and I had a great week with Drue and Mike in Oklahoma and Liz had an equally great week at home. (quiet and peaceful, Danny is the Instigator, and loves to tease brothers) A special thanks to Mike and Jan Scott, currently serving in Budapest Hungary, for their great hospitality and friendship through the years. I can't wait to visit again. Next time I'll have to sneak in 18 holes on top of all the other great adventures.