6th Prize
Hunting Journal with Weatherby Logo (100 awarded)
Joseph Bryson, Georgia
“If I could have one dream hunt, it would have to be a hunt for giant whitetails in Saskatchewan, Canada. I grew up hunting whitetails in North Carolina. I shot my first buck, a small button buck when I was nine years old. To this day, that is still my most memorable hunt because my dad was right beside me. I have the picture on the wall in my home today. His smile is twice the size of mine!!
Since then I have been on many hunting trips. All the knowledge of hunting I owe to him. Hunting is a family passion. What my dad passed down to me his father passed to him. It seems to be in our blood. My plan is to pass my knowledge down to my children so they too can experience the thrill of hunting in God’s great outdoors.
I’ve shot a few good deer and elk, but nothing of record book quality. For me, hunting was never about the size of the animal, but the time spent with friends and family. Being in hunting camp with my dad is worth more than any trophy I could ever shoot. Whether shooting caribou on frozen lakes in Quebec, or skinning elk on the side of a mountain in Colorado, my dad and I have been through some awesome times together. If I could win a dream hunt there is no doubt that Saskatchewan is place I’d go, but not without my dad.
For years we have always dreamed of hunting those snow-covered, three-hundred pound deer. However, it has always been a hunt that was just too expensive for us. I am a school teacher and basketball coach, so my time in the deer woods are very limited these days. A few years ago, my wife and three kids moved to Georgia for financial reasons. Since then, my hunting time with my dad is few and far between. Before my dad gets too old to go on any more adventures, I am determined some how for the two of us to hunt the deep woods of Canada. I pray that some day the good Lord will allow us an opportunity to face the cold and snow to have a chance at a shot at a giant whitetail buck in Saskatchewan. I don’t play the lottery and I’ve never won a contest of any kind, so I know I have a long shot to win this hunt. But, I thought what the heck, this just might be the break I’ve been waiting for to go on my hunt of a lifetime.”