I do a lot of driving around for my job and this particular Monday was no exception. I had ended my day at the Health Department in Clinton when my wife texted me that Dad (Big Papaw) had killed a deer and needed my help dragging and loading it. Since it was buck only season I texted back asking his location not only needing to know where to go but I was also curious as to where he had found this buck. She replied that he was home.........This is not impossible by any stretch of the imagination but you are more likely to see a three legged dog in my Dad's neighborhood then a antlered deer. If you are wondering why Big Papaw needs help, it is due to emphysema which has dogged him for years and makes dragging deer a long way rough. My father fears that his days hunting in the hills my be limited by his inability to breath. By the time I got to his house I saw him in the field behind his house on his Polaris four wheeler heading in. I jumped the fence and met him half way. he had a rope around the back rack of the ATV and around the bucks antlers. After loading it into the back of the truck he explained how he had seen the buck in the swampy thicket and dropped it with a neck shot. The slug from his 12 gauge tore through the deer's neck essentially breaking it and immediately killing it. He was able to back the four wheeler right up to the deer, making it possible for him to retrieve the deer himself. The picture makes the Buck look like a 4 pointer but the main beam was broke off on both sides from fighting during the rut . I guessed that it had forked making it a 6 pointer most likely. The deer weighed 85lbs field dressed and is schedule to become summer sausage. It was a great day for Dad since he had proven that even as his health fails him he can still get out and be a successful hunter. I thank God for these moments of happiness.
Here is a picture of the deer my friend Big Ron killed this year.....I'd say he thanked God as well. Your pal the Envirocapitalist.
