We took Taylor on a deer hunt and the story is below. It is also on our web site. Here is a direct link:
http://www.ahuntabove.org/TayO.php
Stalking the Plains
This story begins in Texas with a young lady named Taylor Hargrove that through her fight with cancer had a dream of hunting a trophy buck. After making her wish known to "A Hunt Above", contact was made with Shawn Green of Eagle Chief Outfitters in Alva, Oklahoma, and plans were made to make this dream come true on
November 12th-14th 2010.
On Friday the 12th, "A Hunt Above", co-director Randy Arfele, met with Taylor, her family, and Shawn at the house where Taylor would be staying for the weekend. After introductions and greetings, dinner was eaten and everyone retired for a night's sleep with excitement for the next morning's hunt.
Early the next morning, the alarm woke them to a windy and cold Oklahoma day. They loaded up and drove to the hunting area that Shawn had chosen for their first morning hunt, and began their walk to the position before the sun began its slow accent to show itself. After a short wait, the sun peaked over the horizon, showing a beautiful picture of God's creation as though painted on a painters canvas, and they were given a wonderful concert by a few distance birds that also basked in the beauty and warmth of the sunrise. They had settled in on a short ledge overlooking a small valley and across from a hillside that rose above their location.
While Taylor and her stepdad, Randy, readied the crossbow and shooting stick, and checked for shooting lanes, Randy Arfele, Shawn, and Taylor's brother, Koby, kept their eyes peeled for any deer activity in the area.
Within a short time, a nice buck was spotted to the left about 800 to 900 yards from them, and Shawn began "rattling" and "grunting" using a set of antlers and a store bought call that sounds like a buck doing their territory grunt. Just as though it was scripted, the buck stopped, looked their direction, and began trotting straight toward them. As the buck approached and stopped at a fence approx.400 yards from them, Shawn went thru the "rattling and grunting" sequence again, and the buck jumped the fence and began his jog toward them again. As the excitement escalated, Taylor prepared her weapon for the opportunity to harvest the buck at the first chance the buck gave.
As the buck drew closer, it seemed as though his antlers and body mass doubled, and he once again stopping about 200 yards from Taylor. Shawn gave one shorter grunt, and the buck started slowly walking in our direction with ears raised and senses on full alert. He entered shooting range to the left of Taylor, and continued to walk from the left to right, and stopped behind the only tree between Taylor and himself. Taylor took that time to carefully shift herself to prepare for a shot once the buck came out to the right side of the tree.
For some reason, the buck bounded out from behind the tree with 4 to 5 quick jumps, and stopped again just out of shooting range. After, what seemed forever, about 1 minute, the buck started walking again towards the right of Taylor, and she once again carefully shifted to prepare for a shot. As he walked in the same direction, the buck began to look intently toward the area on the other side of the ledge we were on, and once again stopped just out of shooting distance. We waited with no movement from him for about 3 to 4 minutes, and the decision was made to once again give a short light grunt.
As Shawn made the grunt sound, the buck quickly raised his tail, and turned and ran toward, and up, the hillside directly across from Taylor. Randy Arfele turned to motion to Shawn who was sitting directly behind them, and noticed movement on the other side of the small hill they were on top of, which turned out to be a larger buck which had responded, unknown to the hunting party, to the sound of the "rattling and grunting" sounds Shawn had created. They both ran in opposite directions until they were both out of sight, and as best they could figure, the two bucks saw each other just prior to the last grunt sound, and both ran once the last grunt sound was made fearing that there was another, and possible bigger buck, somewhere in the area.
After sitting there for a short time recounting the incredible incident they all had just witnessed, they gathered their gear and headed back to camp to recount the story with Taylor's mom, Kendra, and have lunch.
They spent the rest of the weekend hunting several other locations, with many deer sightings, but none entering into crossbow range for Taylor.
The hospitality, food, and accommodations of Shawn Green and Eagle Chief Outfitters staff were second to none, and a great big "A Hunt Above" thank you goes out to them.
Also thanks to the donors who made this trip possible for Taylor.
Eagle Chief Outfitters can be reached at the address and phone number below. Tell Shawn that "A Hunt Above" sent you.
Eagle Chief Outfitters
1109 SanteFe
Alva, OK, 73717
580-430-5833
As an announcement, Taylor had the opportunity to join her step dad Randy hunting on a friends land in Texas within a couple of weeks of this trip, and she did connect with a great deer. Here is that deer. Congrats Taylor!!!!!!!!!
Please continue to be in prayer for Taylor, as she has a long way ahead of her to beat this nasty thing called "CANCER"
