Fall wuz in the air an we had dun made our way ta the high mountains fer ta git us sum more ven meat fer the meat pole.  Raif wuz there, as wuz his son, Butt Shot.  Now the year afor, Butt Shot dun had pert near nuff of huntin while ridin in my wagon an he dun told his pa that they needed ta hunt a differnt spot than Bears Butts wagon wuz gonin.  Well his pa don’t much keer where he hunts long as he is huntin.

Mornin cumed an we all dun goes ta git us sum ven.  When we dun git back ta camp, they wuz sum what had got a ven an hung it on the meat pole.  That wuz gud an we wuz happy.  There woodn’t be no starving this cumin winter time what with meat on the meat pole.

Next day we all goes out agin lookin fer ven.  We been seenin plenty of em out an about, but the buck ones wuz the hardest ta see close nuff fer a shot.  So we goes on an on lookin an tryin ta figger out how we is gonna git us sum more fer the meat pole.

In the travellin of my wagon, we dun seed  Raif and Butt Shot comin outa sum heavy timber neer the bottom of a riveen.  They dun had seed sum moose, but ain’t seed no buck deer.  An they wuz gonna try a differnt spot next time.  An so they goes back up the trail frum whenst my wagon dun just cummed down.  I keep drivin my wagon on ta a spot I figgger got a big buck er two hidin.  We dun git ta where I think a big buck is an we gits out an go ta huntin through the thicket, but no bucks wuz found.  Back ta the wagon an on ta a nuther spot.  By this time it be gittin sorta late in the day an bout time ta head back ta camp.

We goed on up the trail passed camp just in case they might be a buck up the trail sum an then we plans on cumin back ta camp whenst it be pert neer ta dark.  On our way we dun seed Raif an Butt Shots ponies tied up neer the trail, but they wuz no wherst ta be seed.  We figger they dun probably spotted a buck an wuz in hot pursuit afoot.

We gits back ta camp pert late like an Raif an Butt Shot wuz there standin by the meat pole.  They wuz a grinning like nobody had no business.  Butt Shot he was showin off sum, proud bout his pa dun gitted a buck.  We unloaded frum the wagon an head ta the meat pole ta look an lordy, lordy, Raif he dun gitted hisself one big ol big of a big ol big buck!  What I is tryin ta say is he dun gitted hisself what cud be said wuz the biggest buck what wuz around them parts fer sure!  Whenst we dun seed it, we cudn’t believe our eyes!  I ain’t never seed such a big ol buck afore.

Everone wuz happy, but not neer so happy as Raif an Butt Shot.  They dun rid off by theys selves an cummed back with a big ol buck.  Butt Shot he dun said his pa is what the other mountain men wishes they wuz.  He kin look at a mountain an tell zackly where a big buck is hidin.  An not only that, he kin sneek in an shoot that big ol buck right then an there.  Sure nuff, I kint argue that.  I’m seein it with my own eyes!  So we dun asked Raif ta tell us zackly the story of his gittin this here big ol buck.

Me reckolectin of the story goes like this here;

Wellst, oncest we dun seed the wagon filled with you guys an we dun talked a spell, me an Butt Shot decided that you guys wuz probably jaw jackin an not lookin reel close fer bucks when you dun commed offn that their trail.  So we decided we wuz gonna go back up an maybe find a buck what wuz there.  So we dun did that.  An here it is ta show ya.

We said, there gotta be more story than that an we talked Raif inta tellin more.  Well he said, we wuz ridin reel slow down that there trail an all sudden I kin see where the trail had dun got all tore up like wid tracks.  This here told me there wuz a big ol buck sum place close.  So we dun tied up the hoss’ an started ta sneek inta the thick pines.  We been sneekin fer sum time an all sudden we dun cud see a deer standin right there.  We had dun sneeked in so quiet like that deer never did knowed we wuz there.  On further lookin we cud see it twernt no buck.  It moved out reel slow like an behind it cummed another, an another, an sum more.  An they all did move offn reel slow like an disappeared inta the far reaches of our sight.

Then this here reel strange thing dun happened.  I cudn’t seed nuttin, but I cud heered sumpin.  An I aint never dun heerd nuttin  like this here never afor.  I aint reel sure I kin tell ya what the sound I dun heered sounded like, but it wuz reel high pich, like a elk, but not neer as loud, nor as long a noise.  Jus sorta weird like.  Anyways, soon I dun cud see a horn movin through the trees bout where we dun seed them other deers.  An it stepped reel slow like an moved reel quiet, seppen the noise what it wuz makin.  I seed it one time stretch its neck out long and open up his mouth an then I heered that noise, so I knowed it wuz him what wuz makin that noise.  Then I seed them doe deer dun cumin back like they wuz cumin ta play with him.  He wuz all happy lookin as they cummed back too, an that is when he dun made his big mistake.  I pulled up my ol trusty an cocked the hammer slow and quiet and waited.  Pert soon he dun stepped right inta a clearin in the trees an gave me a pert neer perfect broad side view of his vitals.

BOOM!  Went the gun an down he did go with a big ol thud.  Twernt nuttin left ta do, but git him back ta camp.  Course, we didn’t knowed it at the moment, but that wuz a heap of a big ol buck what we dun just got, an we wuz a long way frum the hoss’.  Twern’t no way ta git the hoss’ inta this here thick pine, so it wuz our job ta drag that big ol buck outn there by hand.

So, there ya have the story bout Raifes big ol buck.  Perhaps Butt Shot kin add er subtract sum when ya talk at him next.  After all he wuz right there.  Oh, an here is a picture of that big ol buck an Raif.

That there is one BIG, Big Ol Buck!

Bears Butt

July 3, 2011