Hunter Cumberland developed a passion for hunting at a young age. The young man learned the ways of the woods and waters while tagging along with his dad, Johnny Cumberland, one of the most successful hunters in our state. Now Hunter has a young son of his own, 4-year-old Jaeger Cumberland, who’s also going to the woods at a very young age.

Hunter Cumberland knew the rut was coming on and started hunting every chance he got, and he took Jaeger as much as he could. The young man took to hunting like a duck to water and learned to be very still and quiet when hunting with his dad.

“I’d been hunting a pipeline as often as I could and saw plenty of deer, including small bucks,” Hunter Cumberland said. “We just didn’t see anything we wanted to shoot, and we knew that there was a shooter somewhere nearby, we just had to keep after him and hope for a chance during daylight hours.”

When the snow started last Tuesday, Cumberland picked up his son and headed to the woods. This time Hunter picked out a likely looking spot and sat down for the afternoon.

“By the time we got to the woods it was snowing bad,” Cumberland said. “I fashioned one of my bigger coats over him like a tent and put a propane cooker in front of him to help keep him warm. He was doing really good, being quiet and staying warm in his tent, but I was about to freeze.”

The wind was blowing bad but Cumberland was determined to tough it out until dark.

“We had a doe and spike come out and the spike chased the doe around the area,” Cumberland said. “Later on, several more deer came out and we had six deer in the field and they were all sticking in one little area.”

Then another deer appeared just past the does and Cumberland’s moment of truth was fast approaching.

“A big deer came out at 5:05 about 250 yards and was walking diagonally away from me,” Cumberland said. “I raised my scope to check him out and it kept fogging up. All I could see was that he had main beams outside his ears, but I couldn’t see the tines and didn’t want to shoot a young deer.”

At 300 yards Cumberland couldn’t make out the rack clearly, try as he might.

“When he got to 325 yards I was really getting nervous because I just couldn’t tell how big he was,” Cumberland said. “He was about to go in the woods, but he turned for an instant and looked back toward the does so I put the crosshairs at the top of his back and squeezed the trigger.”

“Ka-boom” Roared Cumberland’s 7MM Magnum Browning rifle and the buck vanished. It remained to be seen whether he’d made a good shot or missed altogether.

“I couldn’t see the deer because of the snow after I shot,” Cumberland said. “I questioned my shot and was hoping that I’m made a good shot on a mature buck, but I just didn’t know.”

Cumberland got his son up and started walking toward the buck, hoping to find the deer somewhere near the shot zone.

“I walked through a creek and looked up on the ridge above it and suddenly saw horns sticking up about 25 yards from me,” Cumberland said. “We had a celebration and Jaeger started dancing around after he spotted the buck and knew we’d got him.”

“It was absolutely the best moment for me,” Cumberland said. “To be able to harvest such a good buck with my son made it really special.”

The buck sported a rocking chair rack with 10 points, an 18-inch spread, and it weighed in at 168 pounds, but more than that it provided a wonderful memory that will be cherished forever between a father and son.

Call Mike Giles at 601-917-3898 or email mikegiles18@comast.net.