To a seasoned whitetail hunter, the buck portrayed in the picture accompanying this tale might not seem like a big deal. However, to my fine son-in-law, his brother-in-law and this father-in-law to both, it was certainly something special. You see, I have two wonderful daughters, fully grown and beautiful women now. As chance might have it, neither seemed to care much for my hunting and that was always fine with me. They are individuals and were raised to be so.

What has turned out to be something very special, however, is that both their husbands have joined me for years on many hunts. Even more special, I am very proud to say that I was there for both of their first deer. Both deer were Tennessee bucks and I am proud to have been involved with each of those two special harvests.

My girls are only about two years apart and, as chance would have it, they met these wonderful fellas around the same time. Ed and wife Robin were soon hosting two wonderful weddings in one year. A very special year that was for us all!

My younger daughter's husband-to-be was the first to connect and he shot a beautiful Tennessee 8 point (three point western count) while hunting with me one cold December morning. This was a great day, since I'd scored just two days prior on another nice buck. As a present to him we got that special deer mounted and it sits proudly in his den today.

My older daughter's husband began to accompany us on our hunting trips and on one of our holiday forays, he calmly drew a bead on his first deer. That success made our hunting family complete. I hope you can visualize just how happy a time this was for all of us. Me, as the father-in-law who urged both to go hunting as often as possible, could not have felt more proud that my two sons-in-law were able to share that timeless moment together.

To finalize the point of this story, that buck, average as he might look, was the defining Boone and Crockett moment for us as a hunting clan. There we were, all three of us men together. We had experienced a very special day  afield and it was made that much more special when we arrived back home for a big family dinner (and celebration!). This was truly a day that even a buck with a huge rack could not have improved upon.

Just this last season (2010), we were lucky enough to experience a pretty neat trifecta. I took a Kentucky buck on Sunday, son-in-law Mike took a great Tennessee nine point on Wednesday and son-in-law Brandon took a nice buck on Friday. How's that for a truly fine family Thanksgiving week? Now to get them both on a trophy hog!

There are Grandkids now as well, five of them. Every one of them will have the opportunity to join Pops, Brandon and Mike afield in the future. One made her first foray just this past December. I think they are already feeling the fever!