Mountain Magic: Two Walker County Bucks

By Rodney Simpson

The morning temp was in the upper 30s, and it was clear. I had a 25-mile drive from my house to my hunting land. The heater in my old truck had quit working the year before, but I had worked on it, and I thought I had fixed it. It was a cold drive, but it did start to warm up inside the truck, and by the time I got to my land, it was plum hot!

I got out to let the cable down at the entrance and drove into the woods.

A good warm truck in the dark woods is a good place to get some good sleep, so I decided to snooze a little. Before I knew it, it was almost daylight. I got out and started getting my things out of a tote that I keep my coveralls and vest in, and about that time “mother nature” was calling.

By this time, it was light enough to see without a flashlight. I got ready and walked to my box stand. It was now 7:10, and I was upset at myself for being late.

After sitting down, my glasses had fogged up, so I had taken them off to clean them. When I looked up, there at the end of my shooting lane was the biggest deer I had ever seen in those woods.

The time was 7:20. The deer looked up at me and started walking through the woods. I had to take a shot. I still didn’t have on my glasses, but I looked through my scope and could easily see him walking between some trees. I shot, and he ran off but looked hurt. I was so nervous, and I didn’t know what to do.

Then, 10 minutes later, I saw another deer to my left. It was the second biggest deer I had ever seen while hunting. I didn’t know what to do. Was the first deer down? Should I let this one go? He looked up at me and then stepped into an over-grown cutover.

I grunted, and he stepped back out and started walking away from me. I had to make a decision. I fired, and he went out of sight. There I sat. I had only been in the stand for 20 minutes and shot at two of the biggest deer I’d ever seen in my 40 years of hunting.

I climbed down and went to look for the second deer, and there he was, a very wide 7-point, even with part of one antler broken off.

I was now ready to go back and look for that first deer, and there he was, a very wide 8-point. To me, he was a monster. I was so nervous I could barely fill out my kill tag, but I got it done and got the deer loaded in my truck.

I looked up to give thanks to the Lord for my best hunting trip ever after 40 years.

I wondered, “Is this my last hunting trip? Because it has been great!”

But I am still here and can only hope to be alive and able to hunt again next year.

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