Thursday, November 4, 2010

Boone Bags a Buck!

by Pa Rock
Proud Grampa


My grandson Boone is eleven-years-old and in the sixth grade.  He lives on the outskirts of West Plains, Missouri, and  goes to Junction Hill, a small K-8 elementary/middle school.  When he finishes 8th grade he will go to the big high school in West Plains.  He is well-mannered, smart, inquisitive, and a very good student.  His parents are proud of him and so is Pa Rock.  (I got my nickname from Boone.)

I'm not a hunter and barely a fisherman.  I have never owned a gun and never will.  Somehow, with no encouragement from me, Boone's father, my oldest son, managed to turn himself into a talented hunter and fisherman.  Nick, Boone's father, takes full advantage of the rugged area in which they live to pursue his outdoor activities, and he has fully acclimated Boone into the local hunter/fisherman culture.

Two days ago I received a email from Boone's mother announcing that he had gotten his first deer.  (Deer season is really huge in southern Missouri, with many of the schools officially closing part of that week because so many students are absent anyway as they try to get their deer.  It's a relatively poor area and some families are actually dependent on the deer meat that they acquire during the annual deer "harvest.")

Today Boone wrote to clarify that the deer he shot this week was his first buck.  He got a doe last year at the tender age of ten!  He also informed me that he used the knife that he inherited from my Dad to skin his buck.

I am not a fan of hunting because:  it's dangerous, quite a few "hunters" are also drunks, and...it's not really a "sport" unless the deer are armed.  But I am a fan of my son and grandson, and I know that Nick and Boone's other grandfather take every precaution to be protective of Boone when he is hunting.   I am also a fan of father-son bonding and spending time together.  Nick has done an amazing job with Boone and I know that he will go on into adulthood and make us all proud!

Great job, Boone.  Pa Rock loves you and is very, very proud of you!

2 comments:

Reed said...

Did he send you any pictures?

Unknown said...

It is nice to read about family and not politicians.