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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nMarrying Martha, the boy who\u2019d grown up hunting and fishing with his family became the husband and father who often filled his free time outdoors year-round. Hunting and fishing were part of the rhythm of their days. Martha always got up early to make sure the love of her life had a good breakfast before he left for the outdoors, never complaining. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Skip recalled his earliest white-tailed deer hunts on Carter\u2019s Mountain in Franklin County when the state\u2019s first deer hunting season opened. Hunters were allowed to harvest two deer, signaling that the deer populations across the state were growing, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Federation\u2019s website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019d sit for days \u2014 snow, wind, rain \u2014 and wouldn\u2019t see a deer for hours upon hours, from daylight to dark, and may not see any,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Herd management successfully led to more frequent sightings and larger deer, and Skip continued to pursue them. He shoots only bucks, and his passion feeds others. Tennessee\u2019s Hunters for the Hungry partners with area\u00a0meat processors to provide fresh, lean meat to citizens in need. For more than 25 years, Skip donated his venison through the program, helping stock area food banks, soup kitchens, and shelters feeding hungry families. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reels of his memories highlight a lifetime of trophies from local hunts and those in Canada, South Dakota, Colorado, Texas, Alabama, Illinois, and Kentucky, among others. But his memories of Martha outshine them all, and their theme song, Vince Gill\u2019s \u201cLook at Us,\u201d provides the soundtrack. In an unforgettable display of his love and dedication to her, he took Martha to a Vince Gill Christmas concert for their 72nd wedding anniversary. The holiday songs stopped as Gill acknowledged the Parkes\u2019 special occasion and sang their song. For a moment, the world and the Ryman Auditorium belonged just to them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the song\u2019s last notes faded, the audience erupted in applause, all captured on video by a stranger seated nearby. Today, replaying it is bittersweet but priceless. Many hunt for such a true, lasting love and never find it. Skip might have missed the trophy of his life if he had not said yes to a blind date. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been blessed far beyond what I deserve,\u201d he said. GN <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" AS THE late afternoon sun cast its last shadows over the Kentucky woods, she limped into the open field, her young fawn following along playfully.\u00a0 \u201cTake my coat off,\u201d James \u201cSkip\u201d Parkes said to his grandson-in-law, Jim Cortner, who watched over Skip\u2019s shoulder through binoculars. The small wooden hut blended naturally with the surroundings, camouflaging […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":23139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n