swackinswampdonkeys
Senior Member
God is so Good! Some of you have heard my story, others have not. My 2015-2016 hunting season was cut shorter than normal due to Chemotherapy. I was diagnosed with Cancer back in May 2015, had surgery, and took nine intense weeks of chemo. It was the most difficult time of my life, it pushed me to the limit, and tested my patients/ perseverance. There were many times I wanted to give up and throw in the towel. I continued to pray that God’s will would be done and he would give me the strength to make it till the end.
October 28th 2015 I had completed all my treatments and was declared 100% cancer free! If it wasn’t for my friends, family, faith, and girlfriend I wouldn’t of made it through this storm. Exactly a month after I had finished my last day of treatment I asked the girl of my dreams to marry me. She said Yes!
Fast forward to October 8th 2016…… That incredible girl became my wife! God is so amazing in his timing and he has a way of teaching us these lessons of patience and perseverance in different situations, we just have to keep our eyes open in order to not miss these opportunities.
Fast forward another two weeks to the morning of Saturday October 22nd. At about 6:30 a.m. I had gotten settled into my climber. I was sitting off a cut road in the middle of some thick pines, overlooking a couple water oaks that were the main food source within this particular property. At about 7:45 I had a lone doe come through feeding on natural vegetation and acorns. Within 30 minutes another deer had walked up from the opposite direction but spotted me. It then made sure to warn any others of my presence. At this point I was sure the morning of eventfulness was coming to a close but boy was I wrong! 8:30 rolls around with two new visitors to my spot. The mature doe and her yearling fed on acorns at about 10 yards for about 10 minutes before they were interrupted by a loud grunt coming from the thick pines behind me. At this point I was thinking it could be one of the younger bucks I had on camera daily in this area. The buck then let out a long deep grunt, I had still not laid my eyes on him. The problem was if I turned to look back the doe or yearling in front of me could easily spot me. Soon I heard a couple limbs break to my left. I moved my head as little and slowly as possible to see what was standing on the road I was overlooking. To my surprise it was not a younger buck but a monster making a scrape 15 yards from my tree! The doe and yearling ran off and at the same time I took the opportunity to reposition my hand on the bow and string while I was sitting down. All I could think was please lord let this deer take ten more steps and then let my arrow hit its mark. The buck began to walk down the road but stopped after a few steps and looked straight up at me, my heart sank to the bottom of my gut. He stomped his front leg a few times and tuned around to leave. At this point I believe God answered my prayers and took over because before I knew it I had drawn and released my arrow without thinking. The buck stopped to look back at me but by then it was too late, the arrow hit him hard. He mule kicked and ran off down another cut road like he was shot from a cannon!
I called my wife, Addy, but couldn’t even keep it together on the phone. I then decided to get down, give him some time, and go back home to pick up a buddy along with my wife to go look for the buck. When we arrived back at the spot where he was standing when I released my shot we did not find my arrow but we did find a thick trail of blood leading to the other road he ran down. Even though Addy had killed her first deer with me in the 2015 season she had not yet experienced the art of blood trailing. Not long after explaining to her the importance of not moving forward until we spotted the next drop of blood she asked something I was not expecting. “What is that down there?” as she pointed to the end of the cut road. As I looked up all I could see was the underside of my buck’s chin that was behind a dead tree laying across the road! I know that was the fastest I have ever run the forty-yard dash. The buck ended up being 197lbs on the hoof and was nineteen and a half inches inside!
In the past, I have doubted God’s life plan for me and where he wanted me. In less than a year he allowed me to beat cancer, marry a woman that supports me in all my passions, and harvest the biggest buck of my life using primitive equipment. In today’s world we are all guilty in getting caught up with expectations of things happening at the drop of a hat. Instead, if we trusted God’s timing and put our faith in his hands, we would witness everything falling into place better than we could ever imagine.
"Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20
Thank you for your encouraging words in the past because without them I would not be where I am today. God Bless each and every one of y’all!
The last Picture is of Addy and I on our honeymoon, another proudest moments of my life so I figured i'd share!
October 28th 2015 I had completed all my treatments and was declared 100% cancer free! If it wasn’t for my friends, family, faith, and girlfriend I wouldn’t of made it through this storm. Exactly a month after I had finished my last day of treatment I asked the girl of my dreams to marry me. She said Yes!
Fast forward to October 8th 2016…… That incredible girl became my wife! God is so amazing in his timing and he has a way of teaching us these lessons of patience and perseverance in different situations, we just have to keep our eyes open in order to not miss these opportunities.
Fast forward another two weeks to the morning of Saturday October 22nd. At about 6:30 a.m. I had gotten settled into my climber. I was sitting off a cut road in the middle of some thick pines, overlooking a couple water oaks that were the main food source within this particular property. At about 7:45 I had a lone doe come through feeding on natural vegetation and acorns. Within 30 minutes another deer had walked up from the opposite direction but spotted me. It then made sure to warn any others of my presence. At this point I was sure the morning of eventfulness was coming to a close but boy was I wrong! 8:30 rolls around with two new visitors to my spot. The mature doe and her yearling fed on acorns at about 10 yards for about 10 minutes before they were interrupted by a loud grunt coming from the thick pines behind me. At this point I was thinking it could be one of the younger bucks I had on camera daily in this area. The buck then let out a long deep grunt, I had still not laid my eyes on him. The problem was if I turned to look back the doe or yearling in front of me could easily spot me. Soon I heard a couple limbs break to my left. I moved my head as little and slowly as possible to see what was standing on the road I was overlooking. To my surprise it was not a younger buck but a monster making a scrape 15 yards from my tree! The doe and yearling ran off and at the same time I took the opportunity to reposition my hand on the bow and string while I was sitting down. All I could think was please lord let this deer take ten more steps and then let my arrow hit its mark. The buck began to walk down the road but stopped after a few steps and looked straight up at me, my heart sank to the bottom of my gut. He stomped his front leg a few times and tuned around to leave. At this point I believe God answered my prayers and took over because before I knew it I had drawn and released my arrow without thinking. The buck stopped to look back at me but by then it was too late, the arrow hit him hard. He mule kicked and ran off down another cut road like he was shot from a cannon!
I called my wife, Addy, but couldn’t even keep it together on the phone. I then decided to get down, give him some time, and go back home to pick up a buddy along with my wife to go look for the buck. When we arrived back at the spot where he was standing when I released my shot we did not find my arrow but we did find a thick trail of blood leading to the other road he ran down. Even though Addy had killed her first deer with me in the 2015 season she had not yet experienced the art of blood trailing. Not long after explaining to her the importance of not moving forward until we spotted the next drop of blood she asked something I was not expecting. “What is that down there?” as she pointed to the end of the cut road. As I looked up all I could see was the underside of my buck’s chin that was behind a dead tree laying across the road! I know that was the fastest I have ever run the forty-yard dash. The buck ended up being 197lbs on the hoof and was nineteen and a half inches inside!
In the past, I have doubted God’s life plan for me and where he wanted me. In less than a year he allowed me to beat cancer, marry a woman that supports me in all my passions, and harvest the biggest buck of my life using primitive equipment. In today’s world we are all guilty in getting caught up with expectations of things happening at the drop of a hat. Instead, if we trusted God’s timing and put our faith in his hands, we would witness everything falling into place better than we could ever imagine.
"Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20
Thank you for your encouraging words in the past because without them I would not be where I am today. God Bless each and every one of y’all!
The last Picture is of Addy and I on our honeymoon, another proudest moments of my life so I figured i'd share!
and kicking cancer.
