I was visiting a friend in Mississippi this past December 2010. He is passionate about deer hunting and goes all out for it. He is a member of a deer camp in South Mississippi. He invited me to go with him while I was visiting. I had never been to a deer camp and my imagination was piqued when he told me about it. So I decided to go on this adventure.
We pulled into the camp area early in the day. Trailers and cabins were lined up in two rolls, In a very heavy wooded area. I think there were about twenty in all. As we pulled in another pickup was leaving and we stop to chat with the man driving. He said everyone was at the camp and getting ready to go out to their stands for the day. One gentleman had already shot a deer early that morning. Lots of doe had been sighted at several feed plots that belonged to the camp. The man said he was going into town and would be right back and asked if we needed anything from town, and then he left. We pulled up to the trailer and unloaded the truck. My friend took a shower to get any scent off him and started putting on his camo gear. He told me I needed to do the same if I wanted to go to the deer stand that evening. So I showered too. He had some extra camo clothing for me to wear. So I put on camo from my head to my boots. This was my first time to wear clothing like this. So it was all new to me.
I took my camera with me and we rode the four wheeler to the area where the deer stand was that he was hunting out of for the evening. We parked and walked down a path about six hundred feet to an open area called a feed plot. The deer stand was a big box on a stand about fifteen feet off the ground. It was painted camo and had only two chairs in it. We climbed the ladder up to the small door and climbed in. I sat down into the chair and propped my feet up on a board in front of me. There were openings about eye level all around the box. The openings had burlap curtains that were camo too. I moved the one in front and to the left side of me over, so I could see out over the green feed plot area. My friend climbed in and sat in the chair beside me, and closed the small door to the deer stand or box as I call it.
We sat there quietly for a hour or two, whispering about this or that. My tummy started growling from hunger, and I was getting tired of just sitting so long. Just then we saw a turkey walking down a path toward the green feed plot, and there were more following him. We sat there watching as twelve big turkeys wobbled their way down the path to the open area in front of us. I took some pictures of these big birds and watched them for about thirty minutes eating, before they started wondering off into the woods.
It was starting to get dark when two big doe came out of the timber onto the green feed plot next. We watched them for a while and it was getting darker, we would need to use a flashlight to see how to walk back to the four wheeler if we didn’t leave soon. Just then a big buck came out of the woods to feed. Wow! "I had never seen one this big before, he was a ten point; his antlers were a big spread outside his ears. His front legs were black and his body was big." It was really exciting to see him and be this close to a big buck. My friend raised his rifle and took aim and shot the big buck. It happened so fast the buck dashed out into the woods when the shot went off. My friend was so excited he said, I got it! it's hit! Wow!
My ears were still ringing and my heart was racing, we climbed down the ladder and walked over to the spot where the deer was shot. We followed the blood trail to where the big buck lay about fifteen feet into the wooded area. My friend marked the area, and then we went to get the four wheeler so we could load the deer to take him to the camp. When we arrived at the camp other hunters had heard the shot and came to get a look at the big buck, and hear about the shooting of it.
When I think about the time, sitting and waiting, for the big buck to show up. I think It’s over rated! To sit in a box, fifteen feet in the air, over looking a green feed plot in the middle of the woods. Where you can’t talk or move for hours, well that’s just not what I imagined at all! Not something I would want to do very often.
trm copyright 2011
