On October 4th, the Central Missouri Chapter granted a Safari Wish hunting adventure to Nathan Coleman from Auxvasse. Nathan has always wanted to harvest a "big" buck.. Walter, his father, talked to Bill Moore and then filled out the application from our web site which began the selection process. We contacted Charlie Redden of Halls Creek Whitetails www.hallscreek.com and he was gracious enough to allow us to hunt on very short notice. The hunt date had to be moved up because Nathan was scheduled for another operation on October 12th.

We arrived at Halls Creek around 10:00 a.m. and met Brock Ray of Better Built Outdoor Adventures. Brock's show airs on the Outdoor Channel. I got all of the introductions out of the way and then had some lunch. Then it was off to the firing range. Nathan brought his own rifle but wanted to try out the club's .270. One shot at 100 yards and a hole in the 10-ring. This rifle had just a little too much kick. He picked up his rifle again and shot an impressive 8-ring hit. Everybody agreed there was no need for any more target practice.

Nathan, Brock, Walter and the cameraman headed out to the field Charlie had suggested around 3:45 p.m. The rest of us hung around the cabin waiting to hear the sound of Nathan's rifle. Sure enough, around 4:45 we heard a bang followed by one more a few minutes later.

We all headed towards stand and there was a 14-point buck lying approximately 150 yards from Nathan's position. Nathan was very excited to say the least. When asked if it was as much fun as he thought it would be, he said "no". We all looked at each other, and then he smiled and said, "it was much better".

Nathan made sure that the old timers of the group knew the proper way to count points on a whitetail. When he finished counting them, there were 16 points not 14. According to Nathan, if you can hang a ring on them, they count! Thus, he surpassed his dad's whitetail by 6 points.

Thanks to Nathan and Walter for allowing our chapter to be a part of his hunting adventure. Thanks also to chapter members Bill Moore and Allen Stark for assisting in the outing, Jack Pawlak of Linn Creek Safaris for capping and donating the taxidermy work, Brock Ray for agreeing to videotape and make a television show of the hunt and especially Charlie Redden of Halls Creek Whitetails for hosting another successful and rewarding Safari Wish hunt.

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