The bow hunting season for deer came in over a month ago and I never gave it a seconds thought. With only one functional arm, Lido did not bow hunt. The muzzle loading season for deer came in last week and the regular gun season will be in in about a week or two. This was his favorite time of the year. He loved nothing more than to sit silently in the woods and wait for his chance to get a shot.
Yesterday I was working some smaller colts that need some miles on them and it flashed through my mind that Lido would ride these out for me. It is amazing how often, for just a fraction of a second, I forget. This weather, the sound of gunfire, and the smiles of the young boys who recount in tremendous detail how they killed a nice buck really brings it all back.
Perhaps the best way to deal with all of this is to recount a few incidents when Lido cracked me up. At about age 12 Lido was riding with me in the truck that I had at the time. It had a smaller section behind the front seats that could hold two people. My saddle was in that part of the truck. I told Lido that the saddle needed some repair work and that while I was cantering Honey on the Sand Path a stirrup leather broke in two.
He asked me if I was able to fix it and I explained that I had pieced it together with a leather thong. His face lit up and he dived over the seat to exam the saddle as we drove along. He looked with great disappointment at the tie job that I had done with the thong.
"Daawn, he said. "Ah thought dat a fong had sompin to do wif gurl's draws."
This was another "good one". I miss him, too.
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