The Hunting Trip That Almost Didn’t Happen




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.”