story time "Luigi"

i'll let you know from the get-go, this may take a day, or two, or more to finish. the writing tenses will change and won't be perfect. i'll go with the flow of my memory. lots of pictures too.

it begins with being selected for a youth deer hunt in hale county on 30 January, this year. Ms. Sydney and I head up the evening before. spend the night in demopolis. i'm up for a shower at 0330, then dressed and ready. now it's time to wake the beast (9 years old) - 0345. our plan, formulated the night before, was to grab some breakfast at the huddle house in town and then head to the check station. well, nothing is open for breakfast at the odd hour we were heading out. thank goodness i had a couple of snacks in my bag.

arrive at the check station for the 0500 sign in (present license, hear the rules, and know what is legal to shoot). a state lands employee will escort the hunters to their respective stands. we will drive our personal vehicles. Ms. Sydney and I are the last in the convoy. we will travel to the v.i.p. north 40 stand (oooh, sounds cool to me!). *** state lands employee is not posted to this property and is not too familiar with exact locations.*** no worries. we understand. he apologizes. again, no worries - we understand. nice kid. it has rained a good bit here. the ground is soupy in spots. it was a working cattle ranch, the ground is very lumpy in spots. Sydney can't keep up with us. sedge grass is higher than her. whippy sticks are interspersed in the grass. we slow so she can stay with us. she's a trooper. never complained.

state lands employee (Michael) gets us in the general area of the stand and points that it's just ahead. asks if we can make it on our own. i assure him we are good. we continue through the sedge and whippy sticks, then mowed sedge areas, then more sedge and whippy sticks. we reach the stand - deluxe plywood shooting house. nice set of steps going up. no windows - not even cut out plywood that made the window openings. plastic patio chairs; clean inside; relatively new. cool, because i don't like buggy shooting houses! east southeast wind at 6. 43 degrees feels like 39. cloudy.

Ms. Sydney with a look i received from saying something "weird"


when i'm on "deer watch" she takes a reading break


view from the stand - right side


right side looking back


right side forward


front of stand


left side 1/3 view


left side 2/3 to rear


...more tomorrow

the morning dwindles on - hear plenty of duck hunters with their shots volleying through the distance. good for them. Ms. Sydney can't see very well at all when she is sitting in the patio chair. she's on my pack and her pack and still has to strain her neck. she's hunted enough to know the importance of being as quiet as possible. there is no carpet on the floor of the stand, so every little movement of her impatient feet makes a very slight grating sound. she alternates standing at the windows with the binoculars and sitting to read. i'm on deer watch and spot a coyote a little after 0700. he's to the front left at about 150 yards. i ask her if she wants to shoot it and she said yes. as i get her into position, the coyote starts into a trot and exits into the sedge about 100 yards out. the grass is tall. no way to see him again unless he circles back into a mowed section.

by 8:30ish, i need to stretch. i get up and move to the right side of the stand. take a picture.


Ms. Sydney is hungry and wants breakfast. i tell her to tough it out to 10:00 and we will go to town for lunch. she asks if she can stand on the steps. i tell her yes, but to be very, very quiet. she opens the door and steps outside. she's not out there a minute and i hear, "mama, there's a deer." i ask her if it's a buck or a doe and she said she couldn't tell. i turn to walk over to the door and she says, "it's a buck!"

me: "don't move a muscle." i walk to the door and look. approximately 240 yards out the back and to the right is a really nice buck. i tell Sydney to slowly back up and get inside. she takes a step back. the buck is looking straight at us. "oh no! he sees us! don't move!!!" i no longer got that out of my mouth and that buck starts running - not away, but directly toward us. i tell Sydney to get inside - she has one more step back. something's wrong! that buck shouldn't be running this way. as soon as my brain thought that, out pops a doe in a sprint. now it all clicks...he's not running toward us, he's chasing a doe. now the chaos begins.

waaaay out past the clump of trees in the back pasture (?), is where Sydney first saw the buck. he chased the doe to the clump of trees and stopped. he was looking for her. she had entered the tall grass.


the doe runs up to us, about even with the shooting house. can't watch her. trying to get Sydney ready. this is all happening so fast it's unreal. the buck is now across from us and has stopped. the sedge is so tall, all you see are his antlers and his head. don't shoot the head - gross. wait. wait. no good shot at all. too much grass. he sniffs the air. he's lost his girl! he takes a step and there is a patch of brown. not sedge grass, buckskin. take the shot. boom! he lunges forward. stumbles. YESSSS! but, he's not going down. he's running. what? oh no! he's going to get away, he's running too hard. as he's crossing from the sedge grass to the cut area, we are getting the gun out of the window to the left and getting it into the front window all the while cycling a round. crap! it's not supposed to be like this!

as we get lined up for another shot, i see spray going down his right side. i know he is hit. by now he has crossed another row of sedge and is in a cut area. another shot. boom! no stumble. no drop. no flip. no dead. he cuts to his left and goes behind a cedar tree. i then see him again in a small opening of the trees. now, he's behind more trees. running on adrenaline. i listen. no crash. too far away now to hear. i hope he's dropped in the tree line. Sydney and i high five, hug, squeal, giggle. Yessss! breathe. get our bearing. get the buck's bearing.

i call the game warden/conservation officer. he's at least 30 minutes out, maybe more. no worries. we wait. at this moment, Pete texts and asks if we've seen anything. no need to text back. make the call to give him the riveting story of a huge deer chasing a doe. now, i need to tell you i'm not real familiar at all with seeing bucks chasing does out in the open. we aren't open in southwest alabama. it's thick here - yaupon holly, gallberry bush, scrub oaks. we aren't used to seeing the rut during hunting season either. ours hits about the last week of february/first week of march - that's why the buck standing still looking at us and then running toward us didn't click in my mind until i saw the doe.

the wait for the conservation officer isn't that long to me, but to Sydney, it must have seemed like days. she names her bucks. she tells me this one will be "LUIGI". finally, i hear and see the side by side. it's the conservation officer and the state lands employee from the drop off. there is also another young man. i forgot his name but he is the state lands employee posted to this property. i tell them the story of how it went down. Mr. Bill Mason is the conservation officer. he asks for my gun and one round (maybe two, can't remember exactly). we grab our packs and ride with them to the spot where i saw the deer go behind the cedar tree. Mr. Bill takes Sydney and the state lands guy that works with him. Michael and i are left with the side by side. i'm expecting them to find the deer at the big tree line. nope. here comes the other young fellow. he tells me and Michael to go look for blood in the sedge where the initial shot happened. we walk up there and begin looking. Mr. Bill, Sydney, and the other guy are looking for blood at the tree line. Sydney finds first blood at her location. i find first blood at my location - spray on the sedge grass. now the "other" hunt begins.

Sydney on point locating the blood. it's not much. not a good sign.


she's low to the ground and finds it quick.


nice spatters become droplets.


there are twists and turns. the five of us have our eyes peeled for sure. our ears too!


it's beginning to warm up per-ty good by now.


an old hunting stand. looks like a chair from school.


...to be continued

😳

Sounding very interesting so far very cool

the droplets of blood are becoming less noticeable. by now, Mr. Bill has left the party and ventured out ahead on his own. the state lands employee that works the ranch has gone to search a creek. the group now consists of me, Sydney, and Michael. i'm watching the clock - i didn't book the hotel room for two nights. i thought this hunt would play out one of two ways 1). Sydney would get her deer on the morning hunt. we would take the deer to Richey's Processing and have them clean and quarter the deer. we would check out of the hotel. 2). Sydney would not get a deer on the morning hunt and we would take a break before the afternoon hunt and check out of the hotel. well, those two thoughts didn't come to fruition. i called the hotel and asked for an extended check out. they granted me one hour. dang it!

we pushed on and finally found the last of the blood that we were going to find. no deer. i asked Mr. Bill to call in a tracker. it was a nice deer; he deserved our best effort. the call went to Tommy Dale Strickland out of Meridian. he was on another track but would head our way when finished. good deal. Sydney and i would head to town (Demopolis), check out of the room (the hotel staff had packed our room for us and our gear was at the front desk), and grab lunch.

after lunch, we returned to the check station at the cattle ranch. Mr. Bill informed us that the tracker had taken another call and it would be 1600 or so before he would get to us. no problem; about an hour and a half wait. this was a great time to unpack and repack the bags, stretch our legs, and give us girls a nice restroom break. Michael came outside and informed us that we needed to go mark both sites where blood was found. we hop in the side by side and off we go. it's a long ride to the v.i.p. north 40 area. we find the blood across from the stand. easy peasy. we could not locate the original site at the wood line. we spent at least thirty to forty minutes looking. it was warm and the sun had dried the leaves. everything looked different to Sydney. back to the side by side to return to the check station.

view of the stand from one of the grass patches


Michael and Sydney at the initial shot site. it is now windy as all get out and the sedge grass is blowing. took a minute or three to find the spray.


behind this picture is the grass patch where Luigi was hit


rolling out of the bottom of the field, Michael is driving and i'm the passenger in the front seat. Sydney is in the back directly behind me. we are not flying. speed is what i would call normal. the giant azz hole we hit was not normal. it looked to have been where a tree had once stood and the stump had rotted away. i hit the windshield with my head. my left knee hit the dash. i asked Sydney if she was okay and she didn't answer. i turned around and she was crying giant crocodile tears. i jumped out and undid the mesh door and right then i saw a huge goose egg on her head. i did a quick assessment and said we needed to get some ice on her immediately. back at the check station, Michael found a bag and got ice from my ice chest. with Mr. Bill, Sydney's dad, and myself all in agreement, Sydney and i left for the nearest dock in a box - this was saturday. it was now close to 1630 hours. as i left the property, Michael texted me the address and phone number to the clinic. i called. no answer. crap that. i wasn't taking the time to ride to Demopolis if i had to chance nothing being open. i opted for Hale County Hospital and made hay while the sun was shining. lots of crying and asking why it happened made the trip rather quick. i'm sure i obeyed the posted speed limits!


mom's not getting any smile right now. the promise of ice cream later did help ease the tension in the room. the swelling has gone down a little with the ice packs. time 1702


questions, questions, and more questions from Sydney. i found them easy to answer. what was she most concerned with? not being there when Luigi was found! i called to let Mr. Mason and Michael know that Sydney was going to be okay and to ask if the tracker had arrived. he had not. new arrival time would be 1800 hours. we would make it back from the emergency room around that time, i hoped. as it turned out, we followed the tracker into the property.

after answering some questions from the tracker (actually a bunch of questions - to include what cartridge was in the gun when the deer was shot!), we loaded up in our vehicles and it was back to the general area of the stand - as close as we could get with our trucks. i wasn't able to get a good picture of the dogs, this was the best i had 1823 hours:


the tracker's instructions on what to do and what not to do were clear and concise. Sydney did have a tendency to want to be up front with him. i couldn't blame her. it had been a long day. it was going to be a long night - for Sydney, for me, for Michael, for Mr. Bill (who remained at the check station all day and into the night), for Tommy Strickland, and his dogs, Adalia and Hobo - this was their third track of the day, and they had traveled all over.

Pics didn't post up

...... waiting for rest of the story!!

sydney was reading an actual book! hallelujah!

i can see the pictures, not sure what is going on.

yes sir, no way José' on games, tablets, or phones in the deer woods. i will allow a book.

You got me on the hook.

i had another installment almost finished and my computer shut down and i lost it !!!

three things to mention:
1. our original track was 650 yards into the hardwoods. the droplets became too sparse and we were having to make circles to find more. there was no consistent pattern. no line, no rhyme or reason. Luigi would go a little ways and turn and this wasn't getting us anywhere. the woods went on and on and we were just creating more scent. that is when i asked for a tracker to be brought in.
2. the E.R. doctor said the location of Sydney's goose egg would cause a black eye . poor baby got 2 swollen black eyes !!
3. when the dogs got on the scent at the initial shot site, they hightailed it to the wood line where we were unable to mark blood earlier in the day. at this point, the tracker pointed out a piece of bone fragment. it was amazing to see the dogs work the path Luigi took and be able to "see" things we didn't see ourselves. (i saved the bone fragment)

the dogs tracked Luigi to the last place we had found blood and i was able to retrieve my hat (my marker). they continued on and every time we could see visible blood, Sydney, Michael, and i would stay at that spot. there were several times the dogs had to be redirected and brought back to a blood spot. we zigged and zagged and crossed and bobbed and weaved until we were in dense brush/bamboo/thorns/briars/whippy stick vegetation. at 1955 hours and close to another four hundred or so yards, Tommy Strickland called us ahead. Adalia and Hobo had bumped Luigi from his wound bed (or whatever you call it where they rest, go to die).

this is where Luigi had bedded. look at all that blood - the most we had found after getting the dogs


Mr. Strickland called for us again and he explained that if things didn't go "right", Ms. Sydney would still go home with something - he found an awesome deadhead


another view:


Adalia and Hobo kept going and when we met up, they were wanting to cross a really big creek really bad. there was no way i was going to make Sydney get in the creek. i'm not talking little branch. i'm talking water to your you-know-what or deeper. Mr. Strickland asked if we'd be okay and i told him yes, to go ahead. we watched Adalia, Hobo, Mr. Strickland, and Michael slowly and carefully go down about a twelve to fifteen foot bank, cross the creek, and climb back up the other side. we watched their lights until it went dark.

there was nothing for Sydney and I to do but wait. i'm a tick magnet so i tried to lay out my pack and jacket the best i could. without all the movement, Sydney got cold and i had to give her my jacket/ground cloth (please don't let us get bugs, please don't let us get bugs ). she got warm and then she got REALLY GRUMPY. i've been through this before - God Bless her, she was exhausted. i comforted her the best i could and she went to sleep. every so often, there would be some big noises in those ol' dark woods. no guns allowed except for the tracker, and he had his on his person. the only thing out there that concerned me was if a big hog showed up. i lifted her head from my lap and turned on my light to look for a sturdy stick. everything i could find on the ground was rotten. oh well! what will be, will be.

Mr. Strickland, Michael, and the dogs were gone for days. days i tell ya! no, but when you're sitting out there with noth-thing to do, it seems forever. i did get a phone call from Mr. Mason. he was concerned. i told him everything we had discovered and been through and to the best of my ability, our location. at some point in time, Michael called me to say they were headed back. they had been through everything on the other side of the creek...more water, more swamps, more woods, and ***ponds***. a nice buck had been jumped but it wasn't ours. the guys did however see a set of eyes in a pond. unfortunately, the eyes went under. we made the long trek back through all the brush/bamboo/thorns/briars/whippy stick vegetation that we'd been through before. we crossed through muck and mud and finally heard the side by side. we kept on going and then we saw the lights of the side by side. Mr. Bill Mason was waiting on us. it was misting rain. Sydney was good for a picture with the deadhead and then it was time to get back to our trucks. we drove to the check station and said our thank you's and goodbye's. poor Michael kept apologizing. it was 2230 hours when i rolled through the cattle plantation gate and Ms. Sydney was sound asleep - she was an absolute trooper - missed breakfast, got injured, missed supper, didn't recover "her Luigi" and was up from 0345 to 2230. I was going to try and make it to Jackson and get a hotel room. as i got out on the highway (bloody 80), i knew i couldn't make it and wasn't going to risk it. i went back to the same hotel in Demopolis to see if they had an available room (i couldn't stay over as they were booked). they had four cancellations. i got our same room that we had the previous night!

there was a lot of quiet contemplation after breakfast and on the drive home the next morning. baby girl understood that we did everything we could possibly do to get her deer, her Luigi. we ended on the thought that Luigi wasn't mortally wounded and that he would heal and maybe, just maybe, she might get another opportunity at him. she was good with that.

time keeps on ticking, ticking into...well, the story ain't over 'til...you know . the days go by, of course every now and then on the way to or from school, Sydney thinks of Luigi. i tell her he's probably chasing girlfriends and eating his leafy green vegetables. Pete receives a text from Mr. Bill Mason. there is a picture or three attached. he wants to know if the deer in the picture is Sydney's. without a doubt...NO! fine buck, real fine buck; but no, NOT Luigi. Luigi was tall, not wide. we thank him again for looking and letting us know what he found.

now would be a good time to reference ponds

fast forward almost a month later (a lot has happened, there had been almost a week of terribly cold weather. pipes, buried three feet under had froze. lots and lots of work had to be done). then, there was time to send another text with attached pictures. was this buck Sydney's? without a doubt, without a second look, YESSSS! that looks like Luigi. so the story goes like this- the state lands employee that is posted to the cattle ranch was on one of the tractor's working by the ponds. Mr. Bill had been out checking traps and came up to the ponds. he called out to his employee, "what's that in the pond?" young fella replies, "it's a deer." Mr. Mason dons his waders and goes out to retrieve the deer (from the same pond Tommy Dale Strickland and Michael had seen the eyes go under). The deer had froze underwater during the bad weather. then he was still out there for another two weeks before being pulled out. nose is swollen, looks like a moose:


was a nine year old little huntress excited? you couldn't contain it if you tried!!! the biggest questions were when could we get it and when could we get it mounted? we made arrangements with Mr. Bill that as soon as volleyball scheduling allowed, we would make a road trip. that happened Good Friday. here is Sydney, Mr. Mason, Luigi's rack and Syd's dog:


for those that have the book of faces, you can look up Blue Dog Tracking and go to his post for January 31th. he has a synopsis of his tracks from the previous day. Sydney's story is track number three. thanks for reading. ya'll have a good day!

Good story and ending. Wish i could see the pics. I could see the ones in the first post but can't see any today.

Awesome story. Paints a beautiful picture! Congrats to you and Sydney!

Wow ... What a great story. Thanks so much.

That was a great read

Awesome

Great Story, Great ending , Great deer... and I admire your commitment to getting your daughter outside and working hard to give her a great adventure. Hats off to you.

Great story!!

Velvet tines what an awesome story and beautiful little girl. Awesome deer and congrats - hunting spot looked good and where U stayed - Demopolis is part of my old stomping grounds

Great story that ended just as it should’ve, thanks for sharing! Glad Sydney got her buck!

Awesome

She can still mount it my brother is a taxidermist. He could get you a cape and mount it for her

Great story! Mr Bill is a fine fella!

Awesome story glad she got her buck!

I don’t know what is causing that. Image host maybe?

Thank you for the offer. A taxidermist in mobile said he can take care of it if we bring him a cape in the fall.

Thank you for the compliments. It was a great day and we had no problem sleeping that night, it was earned sleep!

double, triple wow ...

Great Story congrats Sydney

Yes indeed! Congrats

Congrats Sydney!! Great story and picture post Brenda

Awesome!

Thanks for an incredible story, great pictures and an adorable little girl

Velvet tines check your.pm's

Enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing.

I can't even see the pics while logged in on PC

Very cool story and pics and awesome deer!

That was awesome!

Side note: I had the pleasure of watching Tommy, Hobo, & the pup work this year as well. A great fella and even better dogs.

Wow!! Great story. I was hanging on every word and the pics were great too. Congratulations to the both of you.