Jack Terpack
Well-Known Member
I have been addicted to deer and deer hunting since I was 8 years old. That was the first time I remember my father and his brothers bringing home a couple deer they had harvested. I remember sitting on my grandmother’s huge front porch as they hung them from the rafters and began skinning them out. Grandma gave them a lot of static about how they were doing it. She had been butchering her own hogs and beef her entire life. They handed her the knife, and she went to work while they sat back and drank coffee and told stories. I was hooked and have been ever since.
My cousin Dave never hunted. When he came back from Vietnam, he was 19 and I was 18. I mentioned that I was going rabbit hunting the next morning and he asked if he could tag along. We ran down to the local hardware store and got him a license. He borrowed one of my shotguns and off we went. HE and I have been inseparable during hunting season ever since. When he retired, he bought 135 acres of useless land that was only good for deer hunting. That was about 12 years ago.
I live 600 miles away now but I hunt every year in Pennsylvania with him for at least two weeks. We talk about deer hunting constantly the rest of the year. HE ships pictures to me by the hundreds every week. He hates computers, and I have never been able to teach him how to operate one, so he sends the SD cards to me through the mail. Then we go over them while on the phone. It has become a ritual.
Last year he harvested the biggest buck we have ever taken on the property. It was our 50th year of hunting together. He keeps all his licenses and has them on a wall.
Thursday I got a call that Dave had passed away. He was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer about 5 months ago after having a seizure. This has been the worst 6 months of my life. You would think that, at the age of 69, the death of friend would not hurt as badly as it does. Death has taken all of the people that got me started in deer hunting. Dave an I were now the old timers.
I am going to Pittsburgh for his funeral this weekend. Today, I went out to sit in one of my stands here at home. I thought being out in the woods would ease the pain a little. As the sun came up, it looked rather mundane and drab. As the squirrels began moving through the leaves, their sounds did not get me at all excited. About 30 minutes ofter good light, two doe came sneaking through and I felt nothing. After about two hours I climbed down and slowly walked back to the house. There was no fun in any of it.
I hope this passes. Dave would not have wanted me to feel this way. I hope that by writing it down I can get it out of my system. I know I will miss him terribly, but life has to go on. Right now all I want to do is cry, and I have.
Hold on to the ones you love. They don’t last forever on this earth and they take a lot of joy with them when they are gone. At this moment, I have no desire to be in the woods. Dave would not be happy with me.
My cousin Dave never hunted. When he came back from Vietnam, he was 19 and I was 18. I mentioned that I was going rabbit hunting the next morning and he asked if he could tag along. We ran down to the local hardware store and got him a license. He borrowed one of my shotguns and off we went. HE and I have been inseparable during hunting season ever since. When he retired, he bought 135 acres of useless land that was only good for deer hunting. That was about 12 years ago.
I live 600 miles away now but I hunt every year in Pennsylvania with him for at least two weeks. We talk about deer hunting constantly the rest of the year. HE ships pictures to me by the hundreds every week. He hates computers, and I have never been able to teach him how to operate one, so he sends the SD cards to me through the mail. Then we go over them while on the phone. It has become a ritual.
Last year he harvested the biggest buck we have ever taken on the property. It was our 50th year of hunting together. He keeps all his licenses and has them on a wall.
Thursday I got a call that Dave had passed away. He was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer about 5 months ago after having a seizure. This has been the worst 6 months of my life. You would think that, at the age of 69, the death of friend would not hurt as badly as it does. Death has taken all of the people that got me started in deer hunting. Dave an I were now the old timers.
I am going to Pittsburgh for his funeral this weekend. Today, I went out to sit in one of my stands here at home. I thought being out in the woods would ease the pain a little. As the sun came up, it looked rather mundane and drab. As the squirrels began moving through the leaves, their sounds did not get me at all excited. About 30 minutes ofter good light, two doe came sneaking through and I felt nothing. After about two hours I climbed down and slowly walked back to the house. There was no fun in any of it.
I hope this passes. Dave would not have wanted me to feel this way. I hope that by writing it down I can get it out of my system. I know I will miss him terribly, but life has to go on. Right now all I want to do is cry, and I have.
Hold on to the ones you love. They don’t last forever on this earth and they take a lot of joy with them when they are gone. At this moment, I have no desire to be in the woods. Dave would not be happy with me.
