Big Bucks Tangle

Dear GON,

My name is John Payne. I am an avid reader of your great magazine. Last year, I had an interesting hunting experience that I would like to share with you.

In December of 1998, while dove hunting in Laurens County, I had a dove fall into a wooded ditch that borders the field I was hunting. While searching for my dove, I came across a startling discovery. There was an antler lying in the leaves. As I picked it up, I was amazed to discover two complete deer skulls intact. Upon closer inspection, I saw the horns were locked together with electric fence wire. The area I was hunting at one time held cows which had broken the fence. The fence was still up in places, which clearly showed where the wire was missing since an insulator was still hooked in the wire, wrapped around the antlers.

The picture clearly shows how much the two deer must have struggled because of the number of times the two stands of electric fence wire are wrapped around the antlers.

The deer were shown to a local taxidermist, Jay Cameron, of Dexter, who was mounting a deer for a friend of mine. He told me he would mount them for free, but I wanted to keep them just as I found them. Just thought you might like to see my first unusual find.

Your pleased reader,

John M. Payne, Dublin

Editor’s Note: GON wants to thank John Payne for submitting this letter and his interesting story involving these two Laurens County bucks. If it weren’t for people like John, we’d be missing out on a lot of interesting stories. If anything out of the ordinary happens to you in your hunting adventures, we’d enjoy hearing about. Please write and send photos to [email protected].