Back from them thar hills

Boy did we have fun. We only got 2 this year. A 3 and an 8. My dad got 3 shots off at an 8 on the 1st day. It was at about 100 yards and on a full run. Then 20 min later he put his 30-06 down to take a leak. Just at the right point the 8 point ran back from the spot it came from. Needless to say by the time he got his self together it was gone. Then dad had a spike run up. He let it go because it was heading to my son. He was looking the other way and with the soft ground he did not hear it until it snorted at him from about 20 yards out. It had its head down and was running right at him. He jumped up out of the way and was yelling at it. He tried to get his gun off his shoulder but by the time he did the spike had turned and was over the fence. The deer was so close to him it kicked mud on him. Then at lunch I looked up and the @#$% 8 point ran out of the woods again. It was clear at the top of the ridge. As I got my scope up it was about to enter the woods. I popped of 1 shot and my son and I both saw it do a mule kick. We got up there as soon as we could. We found a hoof print with a little blood in it. I must have trimmed his nails a little close. The place where the buck entered the woods was about 320 yards. Not bad to nick a running deer at that distance. If I had pulled it off I may have stopped hunting.........Yeah right. Anyway, my father in-law missed a rack on the 1st day too. We made drives all 3 days and had deer all over us. We got about 3 in of snow on Wed. Needless to say my son loved hunting in the snow. We do not see much of it around here. My son and my nef. jumped the 8 one more time the last day. My nef. made a drive for my son. He was in the wrong place to cover the run ways the right way. All he saw was horns and a tail. But all was not lost. My boy took his 20ga. with him and got a few doves. We took them home and cooked it up for all the kids to try. There was not a lot to go around but they all liked it. All in all the trip and hunt was great.