Thought I Had Him …

I had been waiting six months to see the big buck roaming near The Cabin.

My friend Jason had seen the buck a couple of times this year and didn’t believe his eyes.  Jason grew up in the area around Lake Sinclair in Georgia, and he knows very well the area between Twin Bridges and Old Plantation, both roads off Highway 212.  Knows it as well as he knows each of his four sons.

“It’s the biggest I’ve ever seen in this area,” Jason said earlier this year of the buck. “Got to be at least an eight-point, but most likely a ten, maybe even more.”  This from a long-time hunter not prone to exaggerate.  And, my lake neighbor Bill confirmed a couple of sightings as well: “Eight-point or bigger.”

So it was January when I started strapping a trail camera to different tree trunks in the area, guessing where deer might move.  As noted in a January 30 blog, the camera snapped many pictures of wildlife, including plenty of deer, but nothing close to an eight-pointer.  Being basically a city slicker – at least that’s what my WW calls me from time to time – I was just guessing and using my city slicker common sense when picking places for the camera.

Then, just a couple months ago, Jason gave me some rural country advice.  “If you want to see deer, get a bag of corn,” he said.  “Toss a few handfuls out in the woods.”

But, that wouldn’t be fair.  I’d rather let nature take its course without introducing any artificial advantages.  Then again, corn just might serve as an equalizer and be an offset to my city slickerness.  After all, I wasn’t going to shoot this big buck; I just wanted a picture of it.  But, I decided against a bag of corn.

As August approached, the buck was still winning this game, but I wanted a fair and legitimate victory.  The camera was getting plenty of pictures of deer but mostly fawns and does and a couple of spikes.  No big buck. I just needed patience.

Then, around the first of August, neighbor Bill, who lives full-time at the lake, mentioned he had been seeing a lot of deer, including bucks, on his property and mine.  More deer than usual.  Jason came by The Cabin, smiled and repeated: “Get some corn.”

I did not get a bag of corn.  However, I started some serious rationalization.  And then, before leaving The Cabin two weekends ago, I did my normal check of our refrigerator and noticed four ears of corn sorta hidden in the vegetable bin.  Surely this was a sign from above.  I could carry that corn away with our trash to the nearby dumpster, or I could shuck it, cut it off the cob . . . and . . .

Well, four ears of corn equal two or three handfuls.  When thrown in the woods it easily scatters.  I mean, after all, deer need to eat.  And corn is a vegetable which means it is a healthy food.  I also rationalized in a number of ways that the corn should be thrown in the woods in an area just in front of the pine tree on which the trail camera just happened to be strapped.  So much for my sportsmanship and hunting ethics.

Upon arrival a week later, I unstrapped the camera and toted it into the cabin.  The first few frames showed the usual – pest control guy was on time, yard service was punctual as always, neighborhood fox was right on schedule, and then . . . there it was . . . August 15, 2018, 6:01 AM . . . beautiful big buck, eight-point rack stretching high with The Cabin in the background as a bonus (picture above).

The saga should end there, but it does not.  I texted several pictures of the buck to Jason and others.  Jason came by The Cabin the next day with some bittersweet news:  “That’s a very nice eight-point, but it’s not the one I’ve been seeing.  No doubt about it after looking at the pictures.  The big one, at least a ten-point, is still out there.”

So this city slicker is going to buy a bag of corn.