By Richard Graver Jr

-- It was opening day, and I was watching for deer from my permanent tree stand. Around 8 a.m., I heard a shot coming from the area my father was hunting. 

I called him on my cell phone. “I’m standing right next to a huge 8 point,” he said. He had to start field dressing, so he got off the phone.

Feeling upset that he’d shot a huge buck and I’d seen nothing, I decided to get down and go for a walk. As soon as I was down and took 10 steps, two does jumped up 50 yards in front of me and took off.

I hurried to the edge of the valley to get a shot, only to see them disappear on the other side. Now I was furious. I couldn’t believe it. I continued to walk, making a complete circle through the thick woods back to my stand.

I climbed back up in the stand and sat for about 20 minutes. Then I heard another shot from my dad. I called, expecting him to have a doe on the ground. Instead, he told me he’d just shot at a fox and missed.

Five minutes later, I saw the fox running up to me. I aimed and fired, a complete miss. It almost looked as if he had dodged the bullet. The fox ran into the vine-choked area I had walked through earlier.

My dad called me very excited. “Did you get one?”

“No, I missed that fox as well.”

As soon as I said that, I heard a loud crash and looked up to see a huge deer with horns jump out of the thicket into which the fox had fled. Two does were behind him, but all I saw were horns.

All I said to my dad was, “Deer, deer, deer, there’s a deer in front of me!” Then I hung up.

I aimed right at the buck’s chest and shot, hitting him in the heart and dropping him instantly.

I was so excited, I was shaking. I climbed down and counted 9 points.

I couldn’t believe both my dad and I harvested bucks on same day! I believe that fox put a small deer drive, and I’m glad I did not hit him.