In life all is not fun and games.  Sometime or another there will be something that comes along and breaks your heart or really saddens you.  This happened to me yesterday.

A bit of background.

We took camp up into the Crawfords last Friday and got it set up.  During the week prior, I was visiting the Utah Wildlife Network forum and a man on there named “Vaporpest” messaged me and talked about he and his father going into the Crawfords the same day to set up their camp.  He and I exchanged messages back and forth and both were very excited.  His excitement was for his father to finally get a chance to shoot something with 4 points on each side, as he has never done that in his entire life.  I gave him pointers like “hold his caps, and don’t let him take the first one he sees” etc. etc.

Saturday morning found us enjoying the hunt and in the early afternoon we had to go into town and gas up.  On our way back into the mountains, a side by side rig was coming out.  I pulled to a stop and the man driving said…”Are you Bears Butt”?  Of course I answered affirmative and got out of the rig to meet the two gentlemen in the rig.

Sure enough the young man sitting in the passenger seat was Vaporpest and his father, Kevin, was the driver.

I gladly gave the tag holder, Kevin, one of the dream catchers I had made up for this occasion and wished him all the luck in the world.  We shared a couple of quick stories, including the fact that his wife was one of the “Hilton” girls (Cache Valley Rendezvous) and then we went our own ways.

Later that evening they stopped into our camp to share with us the wonderful stories they had about the deer they had seen during the day.  Grins were everywhere as you can see in this picture.

Matt and Kevin Hardman

We had a wonderful visit with the two of them and of course some of the stories got a bit exaggerated.  Including one about the color of the flames the fire was putting out.  “Alterwood” makes the flames do that Matt.

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Yesterday I read about a tragic accident out on the Great Salt Lake, where two young duck hunters had lost their lives when the waves capsized their boat and they succumbed to hypothermia.  One of the men was a son of  Kevins  and brother to Matt.

They would have received the text message just after leaving our camp as they cruised out of the canyon just a short mile away.

My heart goes out to them and their family, as well as to the family of the other young man who also passed in that tragic accident.

From the four of us who were in the camp and got to meet the two of you, we are all very, very sorry for your loss.  I personally hope you make it back up into the Crawford Mountains after the funerals as part of the healing process.  As tough as it might seem right now your lives will still go on, only now there is  a piece missing.  Your son and brother would want you to head on back to the mountain and bring home your long deserved prize.

I said a prayer for your families last night.

Bears Butt

Nov. 20, 2012