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The Family That Preys Together
By: Tom Alford
To know my family is to know that we are
outdoorsman. As Father’s Day is right around the corner and my wife is
due to give birth to our son I have been reflecting on growing up in a
family that is passionate about the outdoors. If I had to put our lives
in a category it would be (1) Faith (2) Family and (3) Hunting in that
order and I would be a liar if I told you that they never jockey for
position.
Dad grew up in Northeast Alabama in the 1950’s and 60’s. He was the
second youngest of 5 kids with 4 female siblings. I too have four
sisters and no brothers so I can understand his urge to be outside. Dad
was always interested in hunting but it really sparked when he saw Fred
Bear and some of the amazing things he did with a bow. He purchased the
“Archer’s Bible” in the early 1970’s and started bowhunting in Alabama.
He later moved to Texas to pursue a career in ministry and that’s where
he met my mother and started a family. His love of hunting only
increased when he moved to Texas and saw all the new and exciting game
it had to offer.
 I
was born in 1980 and began a life in the outdoors not too long after I
learned to talk. I accompanied dad on hunting adventures well before I
reached double digits and was fortunate enough to take my first deer at
age 11. I too have a love for bowhunting and shot at my first deer that
same year. When I drew back my facemask covered part of my eye but with
my heart pumping out of my chest I let the arrow fly only to miss my
first shot opportunity but not by much. When we inspected the shot we
found no blood but did find a single hair on the arrow. That single
strand of hair was enough to hook me for life. Since then I have been
fortunate to hunt in a handful of states and a couple of countries and
Dad has been with me on many of those excursions.
At family gatherings our conversation topics quickly shift to our
favorite pastime. We discuss the previous year’s successes and failures,
plan new hunting strategies, plan hunts for the next year, and discuss
how to not get divorced during the season. It has become a family
tradition that includes uncles, cousins, and in-laws all getting in on
the action. I said earlier that I have a son on the way, I also have a
beautiful 2 year old little girl. One of the things I learned from my
dad was how to juggle hunting and family and knowing when to let one bow
to the other. I can’t wait to continue with the growth of my family but
know that the cost is less days in the field while the benefit is
relationships that will last a lifetime. Were there ever times when we
had to cancel a hunt because of family issues?...you bet. Was it the
right decision?...sure, but not to a kid who was chomping at the bit to
go pluck a string. There is a perfect balance that I am still working on
when it comes to hunting and family that dad somehow figured out. Not
making your wife a widow during the season is something I guess comes
with experience.
 When
I was a young hunter I always wanted to hunt by myself but now I miss
those times with Dad. We still hunt together but are usually in
different stand locations or different places in the mountains and only
see each other after the hunt or in the evenings at base camp. A few
years ago dad and I were hunting several hundred yards apart on our
lease in South East Texas. I shot a buck crossing the field in front of
me and before climbing down looked off in the distance to see a mature
deer making its way to my stand. Glassing the deer I knew he was a giant
so I climbed down and ran through the woods to get Dad. When we got back
to my stand he was about 600 yards away and across the fence line so we
climbed into my 2 man stand to wait him out. We tried calling, rattling,
anything we could think of but that old deer didn’t get that big because
he was stupid. Even though we didn’t get that buck it’s one of my most
memorable hunts because I got to sit stand at least one more time with
the man who made it all possible.
I don’t know who is happier when one of us takes an animal. When he
called to tell me about the bruiser he just shot in Kansas I was jumping
up and down in the living room and when he saw me shoot my first deer I
am sure he was even more excited. More than anything it’s the bond that
is shared between father and son when they are away from all the
pressures of the world in pursuit of the same goal. Sometimes the
memories that are shared around a campfire are more important than those
bones on the wall. He didn’t just teach me to hunt but also how to live
as a man of integrity and fortunately I finally figured out what that
was. One example is all the meat from that first deer I killed went to a
man in Flatonia, TX that towed my dad all the way from Flatonia to our
town outside of Houston. I killed that buck on January 3rd and there
wouldn’t be another weekend to make it back to the ranch. He promised
the man he would bring him some venison if we got another deer and
although my first reaction was “No way, this is my first one and I’m
keeping every last drop”, I understand what he was saying to me. He
would have let me keep that deer if I wanted but I knew what was right.
The look on the guys face was pure astonishment when we knocked on the
door. He never believed Dad would actually follow through with his
promise.
It’s tough to put into words why Dad, myself, and so many other hunters
love being in the
outdoors. There is a calling inside of us that craves the rush of
excitement you get when you’re chasing elk in the mountains and you hear
a roaring bugle in the dark timber. It’s glassing the South Texas brush
country and seeing a mesquite tree shaking violently from the thrashing
antlers of a Muy Grande. It’s sitting in a stand with your dad waiting
for that buck of a lifetime to cross the field in front of you. It’s the
bond that is unbreakable between fathers and sons. To put it simply,
living life at full draw is what makes us come alive.
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