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Lessons are often learned in ways and at times that nobody expects. Patience, perseverance, and hard work were the lessons taught to Isaiah and myself yesterday. Isaiah is my brother in law. He has been for a few years now and we've spent quite a few hours in search of a tag worthy buck together. Tag worthy bucks for Isaiah are generally have very few requirements. Actually they pretty much only have one; they have to have horns. This year was no different. We began our day with hard work as we normally do. We hiked into some rock infested country rushing to make it to high ground before glassing light. Neither of us had hunted here before. I had glassed the area from a distance the month earlier so I knew it held whitetail, but I also knew it held very little deer compared to other areas in the state. We made it to where we wanted to be about a half hour before sunup and started to glass. We turned up nothing. It would have been very easy to turn right around and head straight back to the quad at this point. The country seemed lifeless... And dry. This country had to have deer. We were determined to find them too. We changed hills to get a better angle on some stuff and about a half hour into glassing I found a doe and a fawn about a mile away on a distant hill closer to the main road. We started to fill better about the situation then. About 5 minutes later I found two tag worthy bucks bedded only 500 yards away. We cut the distance to under 300 and got setup. Isaiah layed prone for about 5 minutes when both bucks stood up and immediately walked over the hill and out of sight with no shot presented. We crossed the canyon Adjacent to the bowl that they went into and got to where we could see all of it. We never could find them but we found something much better. He seemed like he would stay put long enough for us to cut the distance so we did. Unfortunately Isaiah missed a somewhat rushed shot as he neared the top of the hill. He was feeling pretty crappy so I tried to cheer him up by saying that well find him even though I knew deep inside that we probably wouldn't. We hiked up onto another hill that would allow us to see the big bowl that the deer he missed headed Into. I couldn't believe my eyes when I found him tucked in a bush across the canyon from us. I don't believe that he knew he had been shot at and he had no clue that there was a 13 year old kid looking for redemption across the canyon from him. We changed positions and set up at 330 yards from the buck. We got Isaiah a solid rest. He didn't want to mess this oppurtunity up. He pulled the trigger and I watched the deer jump up and head uphill. He was obviously hurt. He laid down and taught us a thing or two about patience. We didn't know where he was hit but we assumed it was back. We spent the next 6 hours waiting for a shot opportunity. We couldn't get any closer without getting on the same hill as the deer so we waited it out. What a Long six hours. Just before dark we decided that we have to mAke something happen. We headed for a small finger that was just below him. On our way there the deer stood up. We crept in to 160 yards. Isaiah took aim and the whop of the bullet signaled to all of us the end to a gruesome standoff with a stud of a deer. Patience payed off big time for us. The ever-so-sweet one shot, one kill eluded us, but fortunately we learned from it and still got to bring home the bacon. It never ceases to amaze me how much I learn from hunting with kids. I'm proud to say that I got to be a part of Isaiah's biggest buck to date. Good job Isaiah. Thanks for looking. -creed