Tim Bays was recently at Old Place Hunting Club on a trip sponsored by the Hunt Of A Lifetime program. To understand the entire story, I need to go back and start at the beginning.
About two years ago, after a conversation with a friend and reading a magazine article about the Make-A-Wish program, I was convinced I wanted to offer the use of our hunting club and host a young person with a serious health issue for a hunt. I first contacted the Make-A-Wish program and after speaking with a representative discovered they do not offer hunting trips. I later found out that they did send youths on hunting trips at one time but gave into anti-hunting pressure in the mid 90's and changed their policy. A few months later I read an article in Turkey Call, a publication by the National Wild Turkey Federation, which described the story of a sick youngster that went on a hunting trip offered by the Hunt-of-a-Lifetime program. With this information I was back on track.
I contacted Tina Pattison, founder of Hunt Of A Lifetime, and explained what I wanted to offer. At the time she indicated she did not have many outfitters from Arkansas registered with her. After completing the paperwork and reference checks she contacted me and said I was setup. Now we would wait for a young person to request a deer or turkey hunt in Arkansas.
Well, this summer I got a call from Tina and she asked if I would be interested in hosting a young man from Wisconsin with Burkitt's lymphoma named Tim Bays. I told her I was and she gave me his contact information. I called Tim and introduced myself. Tim had been in remission since June but had just learned the tumors were back. I gave him my contact information and told him we would talk later. A few weeks later he called me and said he was scheduled for a stem cell transplant in early November. We needed to set some dates for his hunt and we agreed on the last four days of our modern gun season. This would give him as much time as possible to recover from the transplant before his hunt.
Tim called me the week before Thanksgiving and said his transplant had gone good. His body had accepted the transplant and was responding well - well enough that his was to be released with the OK to deer hunt during his upcoming season on Nov. 22. That was good news but not near as good as the call I got from Tim in early December. An excited Tim told me the doctor had just called with the results of his recent scan and he was cancer free. I can only try to imagine what it must have been like for Tim to hear that news.
On Wednesday Dec. 10th I met Tim and his dad, Jim, at the Monroe airport. Tim rode with me from the airport to the camp while his dad followed in a rental truck. By 3:00pm we were at the camp. After Tim checked his rifle for accuracy, it was off to the stand. I elected to put Tim and his dad on a stand we call the "Best Western". Traditionally this stand is known for seeing a lot of deer. Now, this is where I am going to pick on Tim a little (what are friends for). We had a strong cold front move through during the day. It was in the high 30's, overcast with a northwest wind gusting near 20 mph. Tim had made several comments about how mild the weather was here and to back it up, he was going out with a mid-weight jacket over a short sleeve shirt and blue jeans. Jay Kavanaugh and myself strongly encouraged him to put on some more clothes put he insisted he had plenty. To make a long story, short, he was mighty cold when I picked him up at dark. LOL He did agree there may be something to the theory that cold in the South is different than that up North. With the wind howling, they didn't see a deer.
Thursday we awoke to the same strong wind. They hunted the RC stand. This is a stand in a thinned pine plantation that is once again usually produces a number of sightings but not with this much wind. I met them walking up the logging road shortly after 11:00 am. Once again they didn't see a deer.
Jay had contacted several individuals about Tim's hunt and we had a big lunch planned. Representatives from Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, Eldorado News Times and J.T. Hunting Club joined us to welcome Tim and his Dad to Arkansas. With fried deer steaks, hot water cornbread, turnip greens and chocolate pie we all feasted. Tim was given several gifts as mementos of his trip. He ended up speaking with Jerry Thomas and Jerry James of J.T. Hunting Club and they offered him an almost guaranteed stand of theirs to hunt that afternoon. We went to the stand bushed up a ground blind after lunch. The wind did seem to lay just before sunset but they still didn't see a deer. Tim did get his first look at an armadillo on the way back to the camp that night. He said they looked pretty scary.
Now Tim has made three hunts and has yet to see a deer from the stand. While Tim was hunting Thurs. morning I went to a stand called the North 40 to remove a game camera and see what was coming in. When I approached the stand, I spooked a buck within sight of the stand. With this info. Tim knew where he wanted to hunt Friday morning. We had pictures of several bucks with two different ones being shooters.
Tim ask me to go hunting with him on Friday morning, so it was off to the North 40 we headed. The no wind and clear skies, things were looking very promising. At 6:45am a doe entered the lane in front of the stand. Tim was excited and I was excited for him. I instructed him to wait for clean broadside shot. Just as the doe was getting turned right for a shot, she threw her head up fixed her focus on the back of the shooting lane. I quickly told Tim to wait as I thought another deer may be entering the lane. Sure enough, out stepped a 7 point buck. Now Tim and I really got excited. As the buck moved down the shooting lane, a rabbit bound off spooking the buck momentarily. He bolted but quickly turned right back headed straight at us.
As the buck turned broadside Tim said "I can take him" and I replied "go ahead". With the shot the buck buckled and took off carrying himself low in the front end - the shot looked good. We hooped, hollered and high-fived and then noticed the doe had only run about 15 yards and was looking back at us. Tim got her in his sights and fired again. This impact just about took her to the ground but she managed to stay on her feet and enter the woods.
After a post shot video interview, we got down to see if we could find blood. We were standing where the buck was when a looked into the woods and I saw a white belly about 35 yards inside the woods. Tim headed towards it and his quest for a racked buck was over. I was videoing him standing over his buck when he glanced to the east and spotted his doe a mere 30 yards away. Two deer in one morning, this was what it was all about.
Tim saw deer on each of his remaining hunts but the bucks were not big enough to harvest and the does he saw never presented a clear shot. Jay and Mike Rainwater kept our bellies full with plenty of good food. My boys, Jared and Jordan made it out Friday evening and Tim pretty much got the tour of lease while riding 4-wheelers over the next couple of days. Between hunts there was plenty of plinking with .22's to exercise the trigger finger.
Tim was asked several times how he chose Arkansas and he always said "Dad and I have never been to Arkansas and thought it would be a nice place to visit". I truely believe Tim really enjoyed himself and whether he realized it or not he touched the lives of several men while here was here. The memories and friendships made will never be forgotten.
Brent Coleman
