The Chronicles Of Luke Bryan and I (Part One) This Too Shall Pass

Father Daughter Hunting Trip

Luke and Chris stood by my bedroom door, waiting for me to come out and show my hunting gear. Dad took me shopping for hunting clothes and my own shotgun. I had my own box of bullets and my own hunting knife. I also got some awesome fishing gear.

Luke was taking me on my first ever hunting/fishing trip... I was so excited, just me and him. I never had daddy time growing up, so this was big! I opened the door, and stepped out. Tate and Bo took turns taking pictures of me with my new camera. It was small and compact, but took really good quality pictures. Even with the boys taking them.

Tate and Bo smiled and jumped up and down with excitement when they saw me with my gear. Chris whistled and dad got teary eyed as he clapped. "Alright guys, settle down, I will be signing autographs in ten!" I laughed.

Dad and I got in the truck and were driving deep into the woods that was notorious for huge deer and wild turkeys. Dad pulled up by a tree and we set up camp.

Dad set up his tent in minutes. It took me hours to learn, but my stuborn self wouldn't let him help me. I had always been stuborn. "Have you always been that stuborn?"

"It started long ago... When mom told me to clean my room..." We laughed.

We got a fire going first so we would have light and something to cook with. I took my cantine, and filled it with water from the ten gallon jug in the bed of dad's truck.

A short while later we start off by going fishing. We sit on the peir by the camp site and set the spot up for fishing.

It was actually pretty funny... I had never been fishing before, and by the time dad caught three catfish and one trout, I had already caught four catfish and two big trout, not including the baby trouts I had to throw back.

"Abbie-Marie, you're doing really good!"

"I am your daughter..." I smiled. He hugged me, and my hook got stuck in his hat. I laugh as I help him get it out. "I don't know dad, I think I like it there." I burst out laughing at the site of him struggle.

"Whatever, let's go get all this fish cleaned. Your brothers will be happy, they love trout."

We clean the fish and de-scale them and de-bone them. Then we cut them into patty form. We each have a fish patty for dinner along with some water.

"Dad, you make some mean catfish!"

He smiled. "Thanks honey... Get some rest, we have a long day tomorrow. Our goal is to get a deer, two wild turkeys, and four rabbits. If we get it all, we leave early."

"Can I keep the rabbit feet for good luck?"

"Sure." He smiled.

I walk off to my tent and turn on my lantern. I get a good night's rest, which is surprising, since I've never slept in a tent on the ground before... I wake the next morning to the smell of something I didn't recognize.

"Snake jerky... Delicious... I caught a whole nest of snakes, non poisonous, so don't worry about that. But if you think catfish is good, try this jerky..."

I took a bite of snake jerky, and damn was it good! "Damn dad!"

"Language please..."

"What, I said Damm, see, the beavers made one in the river... See, right there..." I smiled at the smoothe recovery.

"You win this time Abbie-Marie."

We started on the search for the Rabbits first. He pointed to some tracks in the mud, they were fresh. I pointed to the right and he nodded. It took only five minutes to come across a small rabbit. It was white with brown spots. Although it was small, it was obviously fully grown. I looked to Luke, who nodded. This one was mine... I raised my gun, going for a head shot, to not cause the rabbit any pain... God it was so hard to pull that trigger... BANG! The rabbit hit the ground as my gun fired. I was teary eyed, but seeing the look on dad's face, I was so proud.

Luke picked me up and swung me around. "That's my girl!" He smiled and I laughed through the tears. We caught the last three rabbits, the last three were actually pretty sizable.

We sat by the fire, cleaning and skinning the rabbits, gutting them and de-boning them. Dad made some of it into jerky, but put the rest in the special meat preserving cooler. That night we feasted on fish again for dinner. We caught so much fish today, that we cut and cleaned it, and put the majority in the cooler to take home.

Next morning

I crawled out of my tent and walked over to dad. "What are we looking for today?"

"That depends. Do you want practice by getting the turkeys, or test your skill by getting the deer?"

"Practice. So turkeys it is."

The next few days flew by, and we caught more than we came to catch. We actually got five turkeys! We got one medium sized deer. Luke let me keep the antlers to put above my bed. As a memory of my first hunt.

We packed up and headed back home.