Entry Forty-five: Sitting in the Stand.

[A story in many parts: Part Fourteen]

I learned some interesting things on this trip. How to load and unload a gun. How to sight a gun. What to cram into your backpack for the sitting sessions in the stands. This may not have been an officially sanctioned list but I found that carrying a personal stash of bug spray (unscented), bottled water, snacks, binoculars, ammunition, books, toilet paper and sinus/headache medicine served me well. I also learned that men are born storytellers. Whether it was about golf or hunting, there was nothing quite like rehashing the same shot over and over again. I found it humorous that, no matter how boring it may have been to sit through someone else's story, the story that I had to tell was incredibly interesting and well thought out. If only everyone else were as clever as me…

The good news was that Pablo and Tony picked me up a little after nine and we headed back to the lodge. The bad news was that my "special" spot wasn't very special. I didn't see a thing. In fact, none of us saw anything. Upon returning, I changed my clothes with every intention of being done for the day. My back was killing me and, having been shut out, I decided to eat lunch, stretch out and watch college football fed through the satellite dish. For lunch, dad, Jeff and I drove into Walterboro, bought subs and brought them back to the lodge to watch football. Everyone else headed back to Rachael's for their farewell lunch. I noticed that everyone had been telling a lot of snake stories and it was creeping me out. Our party had killed three copperheads since we had been there and news like that made me think twice before visiting the little men's room in the woods. Jason (the taxidermist) shot the biggest deer of the weekend on Saturday morning. In fact, it was so big that dad and I got our picture made with it. I figured it was like telling all of those stories. Before too long, dad and I would be arguing over which one of us shot it. Jason said he wanted to create a full body mount of the deer when he returned home. I'm not sure who was happier, Jason or his dad. I‘m pretty sure the deer was not pleased.

All words and images ©2005/J. Colle