king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Best of 2007 Feb-March 2008 - Index

by nICK MICKelSOn
OREGON 2007
SUCCESS
My love for hunting and
fi shing started nineteen
years ago when my
great-grandpa put a .22 in my hands
when I was just six years old. I
couldn’t wait to turn twelve so that
I could go deer hunting. My fi rst
year was a memorable one. I had an
old Fred Bear bow that my parents
bought at a garage sale. The spray
paint was chipping off and the red
was showing through the camo. My
step-dad rattled in a doe for me and I
got a ten-yard shot from the ground.
48 HUNTING ILLUSTRATED.com
A SOLDIER RETURNS TO CONTINUE
HIS PASSION OF HUNTING
I had a smile on my face from ear to
ear. I fi gured that that doe would be the
most exiting hunt that I would be a part
of - boy, was I wrong.
I hunted every year of my
life since that fi rst year until I joined
the military. When I was nineteen, I
joined the army and was on active duty
for fi ve years and did a year tour in
Iraq. I didn’t get to hunt while I was
in the service, but there was not a day
that went by where I didn’t think about
hunting. I would often close my eyes
for just a minute and imagine myself
in Mossy Oak instead of my desert
BDU’s with my Fred Bear bow in
my hands instead of my M16. I
missed the smell of the juniper and
sagebrush.
I usually hunt on Walker
Mountain which is about four miles
from Chemult, Oregon. The drive
takes about an hour and a half from
my house which is a long drive
after work. So, I decided to fi nd a
place closer to home and set up a
tree stand. I scouted an area right
outside of Sisters, Oregon up by