Paw Paw’s back pasture.

My father in law isn't a hunter. He only owns a couple of guns. One pistol was given too him for a retirement gift. I bought him a Winchester 30-30 for Christmas several years ago. I don't think he has shot a box of shells through it. He has a back pasture that joins some other bigger ranches. There have always been deer that travel through his back pasture.

When my wife and I were dating I killed my first deer with a muzzleloader in the back pasture. As the grandkids grew they started hunting his back pasture too. We live three hours away, so we don't ever get to hunt it. All of the grandsons have killed several nice bucks back there over the years.

This past week my son and I came to Stillwater and hunted on a lease we have with some rodeo friends. We saw several does, but not a buck one. The in-laws celebrated Thanksgiving the Sunday after. So, we left our hunting lease early Sunday morning and headed over to the in-laws for the Thanksgiving meal.

When we arrived they told Jakob they had been seeing several big bucks in the back pasture. He went hunting a little while before dinner and seen a small six point. He's never killed a decent buck before, so it was hard for him to pass the six point.

We ate dinner about one and after dinner Ryan, one of the older grandkids headed to the back pasture. Jakob asked if he could go and Ryan said come on, so they went to opposite ends of the field.

Jakob took a nap for awhile when he first sat down in the lawn chair he toted out there and sat down by an old brush pile. He had been told at last light the deer would come out of the woods from the neighbors, cut through the back pasture and go feed in the adjoining wheat field.

Years ago my father in-law planted old world bluestem in that back pasture. He never brush-hogs it so it's tall and hard to see the deer in the evening light. Jakob said the first thing he saw was horns coming through the tall grass at him. He was able to make a good shot on a decent eight point.

We were playing dominos in the house when he came running in and said I killed a big buck. So I went and helped him load it in the side by side. We brought it up to the house and everyone had to have a look at it and take pictures.

This year, Thanksgiving was extra special for our family. Although the buck isn't anywhere near a record book buck, it's a special thing for Jakob to have harvested it in his grandpa Paw Paw's back pasture. We caped it out and took it to the taxidermist as soon as we got home with it. It's kind of cool in a way, every grandson has taken a decent buck or two in that back pasture and Paw Paw doesn't even hunt.

James Lockhart lives near the Kiamichi mountains in southeast Oklahoma. He writes cowboy stories and fools with cows and horses.