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Yesterday, my oldest daughter (15) and I attended the Republican Party of Florida's Sunshine Summit in Orlando and had the opportunity to hear from and meet several of the top Republican Presidential candidates (Rubio, Cruz, Bush, Trump, Carson, Huckabee). I asked my youngest daughter (14) if she wanted to go with us, but she said no. That's o.k., the oldest had a great time and enjoyed a day truly worthy of missing school for. In lieu of staying in Orlando last night and attending the 2nd day of the Summit and hearing from the other Republican candidates today we got up early and decided we would return home and catch the Noles game. Somewhere along the way I decided I wanted to sit in a deer stand this afternoon, so we decided to leave the game at halftime and head to the woods. I asked my daughters if they wanted to go, the oldest said no because she had a paper to write and the youngest said yes she wanted to go, so off to the deer stand we went. 40 minutes in and the deer were moving. I saw a nice buck chasing a doe in the woods but we couldn't get a shot on it. A little while later another buck (8 point) showed up and entered the field we were hunting. I asked my daughter if she wanted to shoot it and she said yes. Like a champ she took her time, dialed him in and bam, dropped him in his tracks with one shot. Last November she also shot an 8 point with one shot and dropped him in his tracks as well. I told her it's hard to beat her record, shooting twice at deer, shooting just 2 shots total and scoring two 8-pointers.

In a nutshell, in less than 36 hours I got to spend time with my oldest daughter meeting the next President of the USA (hopefully), got to watch half a Noles game with my wife and daughters, and got to spend time in a deer stand with my youngest daughter where she harvested her 2nd deer.

It's been a great weekend so far, I'm hoping for a great Church Service tomorrow and spending some time in the deer stand tomorrow afternoon with my oldest daughter. As they say, I'm blessed beyond measure.

Sea Scoop: This report sits right up there with the BEST of them. Good to hear a daddy is taking time with his daughters to fish and hunt. The best part was about today and going to church. If only our nation……..! We need more men just like you! What an inspiring report.

CONGRATULATION S.S., YOU SOUND A LOT LIKE ME WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.
PA
SEMPER FI

As they say, I'm blessed beyond measure.

You certainly are! Both of my daughters are off at college. Can't hardly wait for Thanksgiving to get to see them.

Thanks Gents: Today was another stellar day. Our Church Sermon today was Spot On and it lead over to some good discussions in the deer stand this evening with my oldest daughter. She and I had some great talks (whispers) about today's world and the Bible, it was truly a great evening.

As for the hunt, we had some does in the field when a "Monster Buck" (my daughter's term) showed up in the woods adjacent to the field. He was on the trail of a doe and he never settled down enough for her to take a clean shot and instead of risking the chance of wounding the deer she held off (another proud moment). Amazingly, while concentrating on that buck in the woods, another buck slipped into the field and was all lined up for the taking. He was a solid 9-point and I told her to take him if she wanted. She told me that after seeing the Monster Buck she didn't feel right taking this deer and wanted to hold off until she had another opportunity to get the big boy. I find this quite amazing since she said that if she hadn't seen the big boy she would have been excited to take the 9-point. As luck would have it, about 10 minutes after the big boy cruised on through we heard a shot in the direction he was headed and we knew he had been taken. I asked her again if she wanted to shoot the 9-point and she said that although she was disappointed in knowing the big boy was gone she still was gonna hold off on taking the 9-point since we would have other hunting opportunities. I contacted the fella in the stand where the shot came from and he advised that he had a good one on the ground and he sent me some pictures. Luckily for us, he did have a fine deer on the ground, but he wasn't the Monster Buck. It looks like there's still hope in her getting the deer she held off for, we'll see. We'll hit the woods a couple times this week after work and see what happens.

In the end it was a great weekend all the way around.