Father and Son Reunion on the J & J Hunting Ranch
Kevin A. Shufran
At the first Deadwood Daze Fundraiser of the SCI-Oklahoma Station Chapter in October 2006, I was the successful bidder on a whitetail hunt, donated by J&J Hunting of Arnett, OK. The donated hunt was for one hunter (valued at $2500) plus one full paying hunter. Due to a conflict with official travel in my capacity as Research Entomologist with the USDA, I was not able to hunt in 2006 as specified. However, John and Juanita Miller (proprietors of J&J Hunting) were too kind and accommodating, and allowed my Pap and I to hunt the last four days of the gun season during 2007.
Mom and Pap visited me from their home in Indiana for Thanksgiving and afterwards Pap and I headed to western Oklahoma. Mom stayed in Stillwater with my fiancé, Andrine, while we were away. They could do their "girl things" while Pap and I were doing our "guy things". This was a trip that both Pap and I were looking forward too with much anticipation. We had not hunted together in about ten years. The last time Pap and I had hunted together was with my uncles and him in the Allegheny National Forest (ANF) in Pennsylvania. Pap grew up in the Keystone State and it was there that I first became a hunter. Besides getting the chance to be together, Pap was excited too because he had been hearing of the good number of deer in Oklahoma and regularly receiving pictures of my bucks since I moved here in 1994.
The vast timbered plateau near Bradford, Pennsylvania where the ANF is located once had a large deer population, but in past years the herd was much reduced by extensive doe harvesting. Also, being a public area, the hunting pressure is heavy and the Shufran brothers were not having much luck in the last few years. In fact, it was becoming even more difficult to see any deer, much less one with antlers. Hunting on the Miller Ranch was going to be a perfect opportunity for me to give Pap a new experience of hunting the open range of Oklahoma, in contrast to the thick, dark forest he was accustomed to. Plus I knew he was excited about just getting the opportunity to see deer during a hunt. And with the reputation of the Miller Ranch at producing trophy bucks, I also knew we would both be seeing mature bucks and have a chance to take one.
Pap was a bit intimidated when I took him to the rifle range. I made him sight in his .270 Win. at 200 yards and shoot a group at 300 yards. "Trust me, Pap. Things are a lot different where we are going." In the big timber of Pennsylvania, 100 yards is a long shot. I taught him to use the range finder as well. At first he was reluctant, but when we finally began hunting, he was glad he had it, and I made him give it back to me to use as well. The wide open area, with short stands of sand shinnery oak and Eastern red cedar interspersed, made judging distance a real challenge. From the tower blinds we hunted from, the chance of a 300 yard or farther shot was conceivable.
Unfortunately for us, the sudden arrival of winter with cold winds gusting above 30 mph made the reality of taking such long shots doubtful. It was hard to believe that the Miller's clients had been sweating on opening day, just a week earlier. The wind was blowing hard each day and the temperature barely climbed into the 30s or 40s. One morning the mercury read 12 degrees. So when I had the first opportunity to take a mature, full-racked buck, I did so. I agonized whether he was big enough for maybe 5 minutes as he lazily ate at a feeder. But as I realized how cold I was, I killed him with one shot through the heart at 100 yards distance. He was no monster, but he was a beautiful 8 point with symmetrical rack. I had seen a few larger bucks, but they were almost a thousand yards away and my attempts at stalking them failed. My hope was for Pap to take a bigger buck.
There was once particular wide-racked buck with very white antlers that I had been observing for three days. He was very busy chasing lesser bucks away and running after does in heat. From the tower blind, I was able to watch him move along his scrape line. So in the afternoon on the last day of the hunt, I decided that we should move in on the buck's territory and hunt him from the ground. Pap had not taken a shot at a buck yet, so I was keen on having him kill "Big Boy". As we carefully moved along the ridge which was overlooking the trail, I caught a glimpse of Big Boy slinking away with head low. It was perhaps 1:30 PM and we still had about four hours of hunting yet.
Dad and I set up in a clump of shinnery and waited. The oak gave us good cover to hide, but little else to take a rest on to shoot. Sitting down greatly reduced our field of view. We stood together the rest of the day without seeing a single deer. Daylight was almost entirely gone, with only five minutes of legal shooting time left. Thinking we had been defeated, Pap and I began talking, but we kept scanning the brush with our glasses. I had long set my rifle down against a tree. Then Pap said, "Kevin, I see something white. Look at it. I can't tell what it is."
I lifted my glasses but could see nothing. There was vegetation obscuring my line of sight so I took two steps and got right up next to Pap. When I focused my glasses, two words leapt from my mouth. "That's him!" As soon as I dropped my binoculars, Big Boy turned and disappeared into the graying shinnery. The buck had come back towards us and was eyeing us at about 130 yards as we nonchalantly chatted about our experiences during the week. Even if Pap had been able to identify immediately what he was looking at, we knew that there was no way he could have made that shot. It would have to have been offhand, shooting at a deer from a completely head-on direction in poor light. We both agreed that if he had had shooting sticks, like the kind I used in Zimbabwe earlier that year, he might have had a chance. You know next year we’ll be equipped with shooting sticks for hunting.
We had a great time together hunting, Pap and I. We sorely needed to be alone with one another. There is nothing like taking your Pap hunting, when for years before he was taking you hunting. We had take 3 out of our limit of 4 deer. Dad killed a fat doe on the wheat field, and later I killed a button buck there as well. Again, distance is deceiving. I thought I had made a marvelous neck shot on a doe at 300 yards. Well, it turned out that I made a very good neck shot on a fawn at 200 yards (Pap had the range finder). At night, we enjoyed a gorgeous display of stars and planets, all made more memorable by a lonesome coyote's call. Pap is an amateur astronomer, so he was thrilled to be able to see and photograph the Comet Holmes, something not easily done at his Indiana home because of light pollution.
The Millers were fabulous hosts. It was very easy being around them. We ate way too much good food prepared by Juanita's skilled hands. Her deserts are truly wonderful. John was very generous. Even though the Black Angus steaks were deemed tough by John and Juanita, we found them to be a deliciously decadent lunch. John allowed us to drive one of his ranch trucks during our hunt, instead of making Pap drive his mint condition, clean Excursion around the farm. John was very laid back and allowed us to plan our own hunting, which is what Pap and I like. He gave us a tour of the farm the afternoon we arrived and suggested some spots. Then we were pretty much free to go where we wanted. I think this freedom was also given to us because we were his only clients during the last four days. Even though the Millers have something like 10,000 acres of ranch, we kept our hunting to within about a two to three section area. Previous clients that year had already taken trophy bucks from the same area, yet we still saw many bucks that were definitely in the "big" category. It was a delight to hunt on the private ranch with no other hunters, and be able to observe deer act naturally during the rut without human disturbance.
I hope Pap and I get another chance at Big Boy, or one of his offspring. We are very grateful to John and Juanita for donating the hunt to SCI. It was very generous of them to do so. The auctioned hunt helped further SCI's cause, and it afforded me the chance to take my Pap on a trophy whitetail hunt, something which I normally would have not been able to do. So to John and Juanita, I say, "thank you, again, for your hospitality and generosity. You helped make a reunion hunt between a father and his son possible".
John and Juanita Miller can be contacted by: phone, (580) 939-2498; email, millerranch1@pldi.net; or their website, (http://www.jjhunting.com).