Let me start off first by thanking everyone who organized this event, and Lance (Crapshoot) for convincing me to come. I had no idea something like this existed and to this extent. It was a great break form the winter with temperatures of -40 (without the windchill) when we got home.
For those of you who don't know the story of how we ended up in Globe, I will give you a bit of background. Kids here in Canada cannot hunt anything but gophers, crows and rabbit until 12. IMO, that is getting too old, as they need to be hooked younger these days. By the time a boy is 12, it’s not cool to hang out with dad anymore, unless he has a reason to choose his own cool - a cool that his friends might never understand. It’s that kind of cool that we as hunters need to pass on to our kids.
I had promised Dakotah some time ago that I would take him to Texas before he turned 10 and get him some antlers for his wall. I missed the chance last fall 2005 because I was too busy. He had just turned 9 in July of that year. With the deadline approaching, I set up a fallow deer hunt for the summer of 2006. He was to turn 10 on July 19th, last year. On June 11th, 2006, I crashed a motorcycle (Suzuki GSX-R750) on the highway and when I woke up in the hospital, I had a broken shoulder, broken ribs, a concussion, and many other injuries. I couldn't walk for nearly two weeks and had trouble doing just about anything for a time afterwards. I lost the whole summer and couldn’t even go camping or fishing, so he soon turned 10 and my promise was broken. Dakotah understood and said he was just happy to have his Papa around. Talk about heart!
By the end of the summer I was feeling pretty good. I planned a management buck hunt in Texas for the fall 2006 (better late than never) then in early September, my father had surgery for his carotid artery. He never made it out of the hospital. He spent the next couple of months in intensive care, and since he was 4 hours away, we spent a lot of time traveling to see him as often as possible. On October 27th, he was airlifted from Yorkton to Regina, SK and I got a call that I had to get down there right away. I took off with my boys and got there just in time for us to be there when he passed. It was a very difficult thing for the kids to witness and even though I was told they should be in the room, I will always wonder if I made the right call. While on our hunt, Dakotah told me he has felt different ever since, but he can't explain how. He also said that something happened to him in that room, but he can’t explain what. I know exactly what he means and I found it quite remarkable a 10 year old could relate such a thing so concisely. It was vague but yet made complete sense.
My father did not have a will, and I ended up being consumed with his affairs for the next couple of months. Needless to say we had to cancel the management buck hunt. It was very hard but Dakotah understood again and told me not to worry about it. He was sad too and just happy once again to have me around. The hunt could come later.
When Lance suggested we come, I thought that although it wasn't a deer or something he could hang on his wall with antlers, this might be the very thing to fulfill my promise. I asked him about it and he said he would love to go. I booked the flights and the rest is history.
Since my ex-wife and I divorced a couple of years back, and share custody every other week, I have not really had time to spend alone with my boys separately, as I am a single dad every second week, and a lonely one the next. This also gave me a chance to hang out with Dakotah one on one. I learned a lot about him I had missed, and I am even more proud of him now that we are home. I always knew he was a good boy, but he is also turning out to be a fine young man.
Now to the hunting story:
I brought Dakotah out two weekends in a row here in the frozen north to practice setting up and sitting still, even though it was REALLY cold. We didn't call anything in. It was so cold and windy that our eyelids would tear up and freeze shut, forcing us to use one eye, then finally reach up and pull ice balls off our eyelashes so we could see again. It was so cold, one Sunday that we experienced a phenomenon that some call “three suns” or “sun dogs.” It causes a rainbow effect around the sun in a large circle with flares at both sides. Personally, I call it the Eye of God.
These were all taken the Sunday before we left:
Here you can see how desolate it is on the prairies. Right after I took this photo, he let out a happy squeal and fell to the ground laughing his little butt off. The wind was so strong and cold, that when Dakotah had to smile for the photo, his teeth froze like when you bite into ice cream! Now THAT is cold!
He definitely earned his coyotes by bearing this weather!
Dakotah flew on a plane for the first time and was pretty excited. I urge you all with kids to save up and bring them next year. You won’t regret it.
Satellite TV on the plane!
Wow! Rocky Mountains from 40,000 feet!
Getting ready to land in Phoenix
We arrived in Globe on Wednesday afternoon. The airline lost our largest piece of luggage with all of our clothes and most of our camo. I took Dakotah to Sportsman's warehouse and got geared up. We had hoped our luggage would be by morning, so we didn't buy long underwear to replace the "just-in-case" stuff we had in our bag, as it would likely be warm anyway. Yeah right. Our luggage didn't get there until the third day so we were soon to be a little chilly….
See Part Two...
See Part Three...
.Tell your son,good shooting.I hope you both make it back next year and I'll see ya there 
.take care,daveyboy 
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