Keith Davis, aka B, was one of the guys that hunted allot with. (I continue to hunt with him in some form to this day.) From his father, we were able to hunt on some property in Georgiana Alabama. This property was owned by a timber mill of which Mr. Claude Davis, B's daddy, was a manager. The land was called Kokomo. Most of the men that hunted in it were however not management. It may have been in our imagination, but we did allot of hunting with these guys but never killed a deer. Heck we seldom saw one. Most of the time, it seemed that we sort of got stuck off in the wrong stands. Some of the time they would even forget about us and would leave us! My memories of most of these hunts is that we spent more time helping look for the dogs than we did hunting. But we loved to hunt and enjoyed working with the dogs as well. Those were fun times. It was very interactive and it gave us boys to socialize.
Well we went to college. I began reading hunting magazines. I had to buy myself a bolt action rifle. It was a Winchester Model 70 chambered in 7mm Rem Mag. (I do wish I had that semi custom gun but it was stolen. I had a nice Leupold 3x9x50 on it and it was very accurate, but I digress.) I even got myself a Chevy Tahoe 4x4. We read about passing up little bucks and allowed them to grow. I admit that it was a shock as deer seemed to be around every corner. The idea of letting a legal buck pass was unheard of! But we slowly sold in on the idea of tree stands, camo, big bucks, and a different way of hunting. We joked of educated hunters, but we were closely going to that side. We hunted with dogs less, and spent time in stands and shooting houses.
One weekend, my good friend B and I decided to go back hunting with the gang at Kokomo. We joined up with them. I remember them looking at us. I showed up with real tree camo and nice little 4x4. All of the regulars were there. As usual, B and I were sent to the back side of the property. We were promised that it to be a good spot. We never even heard the dogs. We couldn't tell you when the drive began or ended. B and I were sitting there smoking Marlboro lights leaning against my Chevy , when a buck ran out. I raised my 1100 and fired! The buck didn't go down but instead charged us. I fired 2 more into the buck. I thought he would kill us! B began firing his 1100 as well. We both unloaded upon the Buck. B screamed "Reload!" That poor beast however made to within about 10 yards of us before one of those buckshot kicked in. We were screaming and laughing, it was the best. I can remember the excitement as the buck charged and how proud we were of the deer afterwards. During the attack, We were standing near our vehicle in the middle of grown up, clear cut. I don't really know if the buck was even the result of the dog hunt, but that didn't matter to us. What a fun time and a sweet memory that day was, but I digress.
Back to the Buck! He was grand buck. He was only a 6 point but what a 6 point. He was tall and high. I guesstimate that he was a 3 and 1/2 or 4 and 1/2. We promptly went and found the other hunters. We had to find them as they were already on the next drive. We showed off the buck to the other hunter's disbelief. After they had all seen the buck, we packed up our belongings and went back to Greenville Alabama. For all the years that we had hunted and brought hunters to these hunts, this was our only deer we killed with them. I am confident that neither B Davis or myself went back to the club again but it was nice farewell to the group!!
B had the rack plaque mounted. It now proudly resides at his hunting cabin. I have nothing against hunting with hounds, but have changed my tactics over the years. I still stay in touch with my friend. Several of us friends get together once a year in Bama to hunt and meet. We occasionally tell the story of the buck that charged us. Its nice to have good outdoor memories, but when those memories are with one of your Best Friends----Its all the better!
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