The Hunting Trip That Almost Didn’t Happen
By Christine Marie Johnson
Author of “Life Is To
Cheer About” which can be
ordered at any
major bookstore or online
at www.publishamerica.com
What do you mean
you can’t go hunting? You
are all set! You
rented the truck to drive
down to meet the other
guys, got your
license, gun ready,
everything packed! What
do you mean they sold
you the wrong license?”
These questions were
rolling out of my mouth
that Friday, the night
before my husband was
going to leave for
hunting camp.
Apparently the
clerk at the checkout
counter of the nearby
store sold him the WRONG
license! He was going
whitetail deer
hunting, and was given
the wrong one! There are
different licenses
for different wild game
in Idaho, and now that
sale for the license
was locked in! It was
Friday night and the Fish
and Game office
would be closed for three
days due to Veteren’s Day
coming up. There
would be no possible way
to have that changed
until Tuesday. He was
going to hunt from
Saturday through Tuesday!
We sat in the
living room just
absolutely stunned about the
whole thing! What a
disappointment for my
husband! We were going
over and over the whole
scenario about how he was
invited on this
hunt the NIGHT BEFORE we
moved to Northern Idaho
from the Boise area
from neighbors that we
had JUST met. We talked
about how he had to
travel on business quite
a bit during this period
of time and was
still able to take the
time to go on this
hunting trip. He took the
time to go to the
Sportsman’s Club to sight
his gun in. We grew up
in Michigan and all his
life he got to hunt
whitetail deer in
Michigan. This would be
the FIRST time he hunted
deer in several
years and he hadn’t
harvested one in over six
years! He was all
packed, clothes were
ready; he even made up
bags and bags of trail
mix to take. He rented a
vehicle to drive down the
200-mile distance
to the camp. Waiting for
him at the camp was our
former neighbor and
his brother who both were
now bummed out that Ron
couldn’t hunt with
them. The truck was
loaded and he was ready
to GO HUNTING. Only he
COULDN’T go hunting! He
was on the phone back and
forth that evening
with his “new” hunting
buddies, and they were
extremely disappointed
as well that Ron couldn’t
hunt with them.
We couldn’t
believe it! Now really,
most guys would go right
back to that store where
he bought the license and
express extreme
displeasure to the clerk
that sold him the WRONG
one! I imagine Ron
was sorely temped to do
just that! Well, he did
go back to the store
to see what could be done
about cancelling out that
license and
getting the right one! It
was probably a good thing
that the sales
clerk who sold him the
wrong one was not there.
Another clerk worked
for about 45 minutes to
see what could be done.
That license was
locked in the system and
there was absolutely
nothing that could be
done until possibly
Tuesday. That meant the
hunt was off! The clerk
told my husband to come
back in the morning to
talk to the manager
who would be there at
7:00 am.
Morning came and
at 7:00 am Ron went to
the store to talk
to the manager. I was
thinking about the whole
series of events and
still had a hard time
believing that his trip
would be cancelled
like that! Up until now
it surely looked like God
made the way for
him to be able to go on
this much-anticipated
hunt. So here I was at
home and started to read
in the bible; and my eyes
fell on this
verse in Psalm 18:25:
“With the kind, Thou does
show Thyself kind.”
WOW! I started thinking
about Ron meeting up with
that sales clerk
when he got to the store
and what he would do and
how he would
handle the whole thing,
as disappointed as he was!
But I knew right
there that he would keep
his cool and
everything would be okay!
God was going to be KIND
to my husband and
work this out and give
him favor! Ron would be
kind to the clerk and
store manager and God
would reward him and
return His kindness! And
it was exciting for me at
home because the Lord was
showing me what
was going on at the store!
Shortly, Ron
came home with a big grin
on his face! He
told me that as soon as
he got there, he met up
with the manager and
told him he did not want
the sales clerk to get in
any trouble over
this. He told the manager
not to be hard on the
clerk, just to let
it go. The manager was
very apologetic and felt
bad for my husband,
being a hunter himself.
He immediately started
making phone calls to
try to get this resolved.
He contacted a Fish and
Game officer’s
wife. She then made
contact with an employee
of the Department of
Fish and Game who
immediately got dressed
and went down to the
district office early
that morning on her day
off! She was able to
cancel out the wrong
license and give my
husband a new one, a
license for whitetail deer!
Soon, Ron was
backing out of the
driveway in the rented
truck heading for the
hunting camp! He was only
two hours behind
schedule. And that was
even better, because it
was probably a little
icy on the mountain roads
early in the morning.
Sunday morning he
shot his deer! He
spottted a beautiful
8-point buck about 175 yards
away. The deer was on the
run and Ron shot him
about 80 yards away.
He aimed his rifle at the
buck and said, “This
one’s for my dad.”
And God’s
kindness didn’t even stop
there! Kevin and Tony,
the hunting buddies, just
stopped everything to
help Ron get that
deer back to camp. They
skinned and field-dressed
the buck and the
three of them packed it
out of the mountains. The
brothers basically
gave up their first day
of hunting to help Ron
with his harvested
deer. And the story goes
on... the two brothers
were successful on
their hunt as well.
Tuesday Ron had to get
back home and to work,
and the next day Kevin
and Tony harvested their
bucks. Before Ron
left camp, he told them
it was their turn to
shoot one for their dad
as well. They did! In
this circumstance God
showed us again a
wonderful part of His
nature...He is KIND, and
“With the kind, Thou
does show Thyself kind.”
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