Hunter: Jacob Huff & Brandon Popham
Animal: 9 Point Whitetail & 6 Point Whitetail
Location: Alabama
Weapon: Thompson Center Venture .308

This past August, Blair and I were fortunate enough to meet Jacob Huff from Hamilton, Alabama in our local outdoor store. We were putting up flyers for our Catch-A-Dream Banquet for Dream Season Workin’ Man and learned that Jacob had been on a Catch-A-Dream hunt before. Jacob is 16 and was diagnosed with leukemia in December of 2008. I thought how cool it would be to invite Jacob on a hunt with us and film it for Dream Season TV. After a few days of planning, the dates and location were set for the hunt with Jacob. A few weeks later, I was contacted by a good friend from Georgia and asked if Blair and I would donate a hunt with us to be auctioned off at an St Jude’s Hunting for a Cure Banquet held in Atlanta, Georgia. I agreed and decided we could bring both kids in for this hunt.

December 27 found Blair and I traveling down to Hurricane Creek Lodge to meet up with Jacob and Brandon for our “kids” hunt. Brandon is a 15 year old from Cartersville, Georgia and was the winner of the hunt at the St Jude’s Hunting for a Cure Banquet. Hurricane Creek Lodge is a preserve and open range outfitting business in North Alabama. They were gracious enough to let us hunt on some of their open ranges leases and use their facilities for the hunt. Christmas festivities were over and we were excited to get back in the timber! After arriving and unpacking, Jacob and I were headed off to the deer stand. The plan was that I was going to film Jacob and Blair was going to film Brandon. The first evening was slow with hardly any deer movement. The temperatures were cold. So far, we have had a cold winter for North Alabama. Blair and Brandon had a slow first evening as well. The next morning we were up bright and early. The temperature was 17 and the kids were ready to get to the farm. With it being a hard freeze and snow still on the ground, I told Jacob that the deer probably wouldn’t start moving good until after 8. Around 8:35 A.M, Jacob and I have a mature 9 point step out in the food plot. Jacob got the TC Venture .308 up and ready. A couple minutes later, the 9 point was dropped in the food plot and the celebration began. Jacobs biggest buck to date and the first deer he has been able to kill in a couple years. Blair and Brandon hadn’t been so lucky that morning or evening of that day. The next morning Blair and Brandon headed out to the same box blind that Jacob killed the morning before. Around 9 A.M, two smalls bucks came out in the plot. With this being the last hunt, Brandon laid the smack on his first Alabama buck.

We have been fortunate enough to do several things this year that we don’t normally get to. This hunt was one of them. I have always seen how important the relationship is with Drury Outdoors and Catch-A-Dream through Dream Season the last couple of years, but this really hit home. Jacob is dealing with something that I wouldn’t know anything about. For that reason alone, he is a hero to me. I am very thankful for this opportunity to be able to give back to this great sport. Thanks to Dee Murphy at Hurricane Creek Lodge for having us, to Jordan for helping us lay it on video, to Randy Huff and Allen Popham for bringing their boys to hunt with us, and to Jacob for sharing this hunt with me. Can’t wait to do it again!

 

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