What may have started out as a deer hunting story or folktale is very real to me now. As I have grown up, deer hunting stories and pictures have gone around so much that sometimes it is hard to tell where the exaggerations are. Lots of people talk about big bucks getting away and the flustered mess they were in as the gun jammed and the deer ran over the ridge in front of them. If you have never experienced that you will have to try it some time.
This folktale has deer hunting stories and photos to go with it. So I hope you enjoy my family history stories and the hunting we have participated in.
My great-grandpa Harold Merrell always had a giant deer hanging in his house. It was a little spooky looking to me as a young child. It was hung on the wall in the small hallway that lead to the bedrooms of the small house that he live in and it faced into the living room.
It was always dark in the hallway because it was an old house and there were no lights in that part of the house. The doorway leading into the hall was also narrow so as you looked in the door made the deer look even bigger than it was. This was because it took up the entire width of the door way.
Great-grandpa always told the story that he had shot this deer out by Red Fleet reservoir near Vernal, Utah. That is where we currently hunt and I have never seen anything even close to that size of deer. He also said that that deer wasn’t even the biggest deer he had ever shot.
Great-Grandpa kept going hunting until he couldn’t see and was too old to get out and hike, but he still loved to ride along on many of our adventures even after he was over 100 years old.
Great-Grandpa’s deer was put into the book “Utah’s Biggest Bucks.” This was way back in the 1970’s when there were a lot bigger bucks, and a lot more bucks around. I would be his was always the biggest, at least that is how the story went. Great-Grandpa always had that book on the shelf near the deer and it was one I always looked at. Grandpa always wanted to share the picture and show everybody.
Not too many years ago I got the book for my dad. It was cool to get the book that had a little bit about the buck in it.
Lately the deer was remounted with a new cape and it looks amazing with the upgrade. My grandpa (Harold Merrell’s son) shot the deer and wanted to use it to put the horns on a new head and it looks awesome. Here I am with the buck.
Do you have some deer hunting stories and photos to share? You can send us your family stories (with your family hobbies) and we can share it with the readers on the blog. Thanks and happy hunting!
Email your stories to: merrelltyler@yahoo.com
