My parents had a 350 acre farm outside of Valdosta, at 9 years old I would move cows from one pasture to the next on horseback. I would always see a bunch of deer and I would lose track of what I was supposed to be doing and just sit and watch the deer. My dad must have noticed and we woke up one morning went and plowed about 1/2 acre on the edge of pasture. My first plot that I ever planted was pink eye purple hull peas. He built me a wooden ladder stand, I would jump off the school bus quickly do my chores and run all the way to the ladder stand with no gun just to watch the pea patch. I guess I did that for about a year, just watching and learning. Christmas rolled around and Santa brought me a 30-30 H&R single shot. Took me till 11 years old to finally figure out how to get the gun up without them running off. First one was a doe, we didn’t weigh them back then. I shot her in the neck and she started hollering and trying to get up and I was scared to death, dad taught me to cut the throat, and I couldn’t figure out how to do it with her still moving, so I shot her again. I have been hooked ever since and really enjoy watching them to this day, I usually pick a buck and hunt him until we cross paths, more often than not they must die of old age …lol. Hunting is an addiction that I can not shake. Never had money for other addictions because I spent all my money on hunting.