Thanks for giving us some insight into your father's life Roy. Special memories indeed. I'm sure that many here can relate to what you said. Many.
My Dad is still here but suffers from vascular dementia, which turned much worse about a year ago. Things became very noticable when he began having trouble with executive functioning, as he always had a brilliant mind. Dad was a technical specialist, a published writer, and community organizer. In the field he was a natural; watching him set up a treestand was like viewing a skilled trapeze artist . . . a "monkey in a tree". Now he has lost virtually all of his memories of our hunts together which spanned 40 years.
When the Tall Tines arrived in the mail yesterday I took a chance that he might remember something and decided to show the bow to him. I described the hunt when he had taken the buck that produced the antler that was now - at least part of it, in the bow's riser. When my mother came by he pointed to the new bow and said "I helped make that bow."