One thing that I can truly appreciate about hunting and fishing is that it is always good to find a solid partner.

Over the years, I have seen and had many partners as I tromped through the fields and streams of North America. Partners change at times and some are lifelong buddies who do just about everything together. I met a family years ago that was much like that … if you saw one, the other wasn’t far behind. In the early years of our acquaintance, they were always throwing the baseball around the yard.

Eventually, the boys became pretty good baseball players and one of the sons became very interested in hunting. The eldest son, Greg, married and became a father. He too had a son whom he named Hunter, who also became a baseball player and loved the outdoors. My wife told me that she wasn’t surprised about the lad taking to hunting as much as his father, grandfather Gary and great-grandfather Buck Fitzingo loved the Pennsylvania countryside.

After four generations, the tradition of hunting grew within the Fitzingo family. I would often see Greg and Hunter and most likely they would be dressed in camo, heading for the woods and scouting for deer or turkey or getting ready for some other adventure.

Grandpa Gary told me that I needed to see a video of a recent hunt that Greg and Hunter experienced in Butler County. Most hunters are aware of the archery season being in full swing in Pennsylvania. On top of the archery season, the rut has kicked in full swing and bucks are on the move both day and night. This important information wasn’t lost on the Fitzingo family as they spent as much time as possible in the woods. Hunter either talked his dad or grandfather into taking him afield every chance he could after school and on the weekends. They had seen some bucks and Hunter was determined to score on one of them if he could. He was in the PGC Youth Mentored Program since age six and harvested his first gobbler at that tender age. Now at age 13, he was a fairly accomplished hunter with a half dozen deer under his belt, including a 10-point last year.

Unfortunately, Hunter was hauled off to the dentist last Friday and didn’t get home until late. The time element really limited his hunting options, so Greg and Hunter decided to hunt close to their home the last few hours of daylight. Greg reported that Hunter can be outspoken when they decide on strategies in the woods and they argued over which trails to take.

Greg reported that for the fun of it, he bleated a doe call and to their surprise they were greeted back by a buck grunt. With no time to get set up, the two sat down on a jumble of logs and called again. Immediately, a buck grunted and worked his way into the Fitzingo ambush. Greg took a video of the buck as it worked steadily toward them. It was a 7-point and Hunter was going to take a shot. The deer kept coming and at 10 yards Hunter made a solid hit for his seventh deer in as many years.

The partners were celebrating when they heard another grunt in the thickets. Hunter handed his bow over to his father, who wasn’t carrying one with him on this trip. Hunter said to his dad, “Let’s try to get a double”.

A bleat call had the buck coming in on the same trail as the other deer. It too was a legal 7-point buck. Greg knew it wasn’t the biggest buck that he had ever seen or even taken. However, it was his chance to double harvest a buck in fair chase, 10 minutes apart from his son, his hunting partner, and have it on video.

Greg got ready and Hunter became the video man as the buck came closer. Both of the fellows were shaking as the excitement mounted. Could they pull off this highly unlikely hunting experience? The clock would later show that Hunter harvested his deer at 4:31 p.m. and Greg at 4:41, exactly ten minutes apart.

As the partners celebrated their victory, I could only think, that’s double trouble for bucks for many years to come!

Don’t forget the bear archery season starts Monday and runs through Friday. The bear rifle season then starts on Saturday and ends by Thanksgiving Day.

Be safe and check out your firearms and equipment before you hit the woods. Good Hunting!

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.