Beaver10;
Good afternoon my friend, I trust your section of Oregon is getting weather it needs and you're all healthy.

Thanks for the kind words, I am honestly touched by them. Very kind.

This fellow here is responsible for my love of the hunt for sure Beaver. I remember him taking me shooting Snowshoe hare - "bush rabbits" - in Dad's Saskatchewan farmer parlance, before I was in school.

When my wife and I moved out here in '84, he had given me his hunting rifle which was a Model 100 in .308 that didn't always function and frankly shot patterns most days. He'd had a pace maker installed and his doctor cleared him for shooting, but with less recoil than a .308.

To say we were on a budget then is a gross understatement, but my good wife agreed to the project so I picked up an "extra clean" surplus 96 from Century Arms in Montreal and reworked it into a sporter for him. I know, I know Beaver, I wrecked a classic, but it was 1985 by then too.

Here he is with the rifle I put together for him.

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He and I hunted together for about a decade after that and we had some grand, grand times afield.

By about 2000 he was unable to go up in the mountains anymore with me and gave the Swede back to me, saying that he hoped one of his many grand kids might be able to use it sometime.

When our two daughters decided to take up hunting, the eldest saw it in the back of the safe, asked about it and when she found out it was once her Grandad's, well Beaver it was her rifle from that day forward.

This is her with it with their first bucks - taken about 20 yards and 15 seconds apart.

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All that to say then Beaver, I have been blessed far, FAR beyond anything I could ever have done to deserve.

Having a father who encouraged me to hunt, then hunted with me, then a wife who also encouraged and hunted with me for years until the girls were born and finally having kids who spent time afield with me. The eldest still does Beaver and we were up in the fresh snow yesterday morning looking for mulies and whitetail bucks, finding none but having a wonderful visit as usual. It was her 6th anniversary yesterday too - again a reminder of how fast this trip is. wink

Thanks again sir, you're kindness is appreciated.

All the best and good hunting.

Dwayne

The most important stuff in life isn't "stuff"