Halloween 2009

As I write this, Tennessee is coming off its early youth sportsmen weekend for deer season. Thousands of young hunters filled the woods where many were fortunate to take home a deer and in some cases their first. This time of year is often associated with sweet treats, ghost stories, and orange pumpkins, but for many of us our minds gravitate more so to savory treats, hunting stories, and blaze orange. Every so often the youth sportsmen hunt will fall on Halloween and young people across the state will trade in their costumes for camouflage and their candy buckets for hunting packs. That was this case for me during Halloween of 2009.

Every hunter has stories they can recite with ease down to the last detail and I am no different. Halloween 2009 started as a rainy warm morning. Dad woke me up, made sure I dressed accordingly and loaded me into the truck along with my rifle and all the other essentials for an early season deer hunt. I remember being excited, but not overly confident. At the time I had harvested one deer, a nice spike buck, and was ready to take another, so as not to be labeled as a one hit wonder. Our destination, the Dozier farm, is one I have written a fair bit about and I feel no shame in being repetitive. We arrived before first light and eased back to the little hollow where dad liked to hunt. We walked down the same ridge road and climbed the same wooden tree stand as we had done several times before. The only difference this time was that I was the one doing the hunting. Dad was there to watch me today.

I don’t think we saw anything during that morning sit and as the rain started to fall harder we eased our way to the top of the ridge and rode home. The Halloween hunt was as any other, but it's what happened after the hunt that sticks with me more.

One of the things I always liked about the Dozier farm was our deer camp. Dad built the cabin and it became a place for everyone to gather. Late nights by the fire would draw everyone close while the dark woods clung to our backs. We didn’t camp on the farm during this Halloween hunt, but that did not deter my eagerness to sleep outside for the night. Back at home, me and my baby brother decided to brave the ghouls and camp out back behind the house. Our suburban neighborhood turned into those dark woods once the sun went down. The sounds of owls hooting and leaves crunching were now replaced with teenage trick-or-treaters hollering and doorbells ringing as they all awaited their sugar hauls. While the sounds of the woods never fully scared me, they did make me more aware of the hairs on my neck. The sounds of the suburban woods were much more mild, but still intimidating to our young imaginations. Baby brother laid on the opposite side of the tent, before raising up to fetch something forgotten inside. After about 30 minutes I learned there really was nothing forgotten except the comfort of a warm bed and walls to protect him from what lurked outside.

Either way, I was determined to stay the night and see it through till morning when I would once again return to the true woods in search of deer. As I laid there, alone in the tent, I could still hear the sounds of footsteps walking the streets and eager hands shaking buckets with piles of candy within. I thought about the next morning and what might await. I decided to say a prayer before closing my eyes and I remember that prayer very well. I asked the Lord to allow me to shoot a big deer the next day and then I said “Amen”.

I woke up the next morning to dad outside my tent door. We headed back to Dozier farm where I would go on later that morning to shoot my second and largest deer. I truly believe that my prayer on Halloween night in 2009 was heard and granted with a smile from my Heavenly Father. I have said lots of similar prayers over the years and before you rush to make comments on the content of those prayers I encourage you to consider my youthfulness, but also Matthew 7:11, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

Now that I am older I don’t usually ask such specific blessings in regards to my hunting, rather I give thanks for the opportunity and ask if it be His will then I would take home whatever He sees fit for the occasion. Whether it be antlers, or a lesson learned. Halloween 2009 will always be remembered because of that prayer and what it led to. Though my request might have been somewhat self-serving it did also serve as a reminder that my God hears all my prayers and takes joy in giving good gifts. Now that I am older, I see a fuller picture of what that answered prayer would mean. The Dozier farm, which had been in our family for generations, would be sold the following year. The deer pictured above was the last deer harvested by any of our family there. To my knowledge, it is the largest deer that has ever been harvested on the property and the best part was that my grandfather was still alive to see the deer and hear me tell the story. He passed away suddenly in January of 2010, but he was there on Halloween 2009 and the following morning when we called to tell him the news.

This deer means more to me than any other harvest and probably always will. I think the Lord knew what He was doing in granting this little ol’ deer hunter an innocent prayer request for big antlers. I really believe the Lord is at work in every aspect of a believer's life. He is intimately involved in our passions and our moral investments. When I see this deer I don’t just see a story or big antlers, I see the faithfulness of a good Father, who knew just how much it would mean to me and my family for years to come. His kindness and love is what energizes my life and gives me purpose. Without it, big antlers would mean nothing to me, but He saw it fit to give me life, both now and forever. He even threw in this awesome set of wall decor just to remind me how deeply vested He is within my everyday life. To Him be glory both now and forever.