Been hunting? The Walker brothers get their deer
By Loretta Walker, Mesa

It was cold and snowy on the North Kaibab when my husband Robert and I drove up with our two sons, Trebor, 13, and Clayton, 11, for our October 2004 deer hunt. The temperature dropped to 24F the night we arrived. Although we normally camp when we hunt, we opted for the comfort of the Jacob Lake Lodge.

On the first day of the hunt, Trebor spotted three does. Trebor and Clayton took aim, but the deer escaped. Both boys forgot to put a bullet in the chamber!

As we started off on the second day, so did five other trucks, all with hunters having the same goal as ours. We twisted up, down and around the landscape, then pulled off and parked. Robert spotted the silhouettes of deer running on the ridge above us, and he and the boys decided to go up the ridge. I followed for a while, then returned to the truck to wait.

As they walked the ridge, the deer worked their way below them. Another group of hunters trailing the deer shot and missed. The deer scattered, and our boys hustled to the top of the ridge to see if they could intercept them. Robert spotted more deer half-way up a canyon. Trebor focused on a doe 200 yards across the canyon. He assessed his situation, aimed and took two shots, both of which appeared to hit their mark. The guys climbed down and began tracking the deer from the point they first saw it.

While Trebor was tracking his deer, Robert spotted another deer the next canyon over. He and Clayton hiked halfway down, and Clayton took aim and shot 175 yards across the canyon. The shot hit its mark.

When Trebor walked up to me as I waited at the truck, he told me the great news. “We got ‘em, Mom. Both of us got one!” After some hugs, water and a candy bar, he related the story and said, “We gotta go up.”

Climbing that mountain again was much easier knowing that my sons had their deer. Down the canyon, Robert and Clayton were finishing field dressing Trebor’s deer. Robert loaded up the quarters and hiked out to the truck. We then used GPS to find and field dress Clayton’s deer.

The four of us celebrated with the granola bars and water I’d packed in. The hike out  of the canyon seemed much easier, even though our legs ached, our muscles strained and we were tired and loaded down with deer. The boys’ hours of practice at the shooting range had paid off, and Robert’s hunting skills had been passed on to his sons. We had smiles on our sunburned faces.