Three Heads Are Better Than None

Hick is a man outstanding in his field. More accurately, Hick was, last week, a man out standing in his field. Literally. I'm not sure what he was doing. Maybe putting junk on his burn pile. In any case, our next-field neighbor saw Hick, and stopped. By "stopped," I mean he drove through the ditch and down into the BARn field to talk to Hick.

"Neighbor asked if I wanted three deer heads. He's had them hanging on his living room wall, and his wife said she's ready to get rid of them. He doesn't know of anyone who might use them, so he offered them to me. I told him sure I'll take 'em!"

"For nothing? He just GAVE them to you?"

"He don't need 'em. He asked for $100 for them. I said okay. I'll put one in my shop, and hang the other two in my other shop. Somebody'll want 'em. I can get $100 apiece for them. Maybe more. Depends on who wants them."

"Well, that's good for you. At least somebody will have a use for them. A head is a terrible thing to waste."

Hick has long had a love of deer heads. When the kids were young, that's what The Pony wanted to give Hick for Christmas one year. It didn't hurt that Hick had said he wanted this particular deer head, which was at an indoor flea market/thrift store he frequented. A guy working there had to carry it out for us. Then Genius helped hide it in the BARn until Christmas. I think Hick put that one down in his creekside cabin. And was disappointed a couple years later to see that mice had eaten the skin off of it!

Anyhoo... I'm sure Neighbor's deer heads were ones that he himself had harvested. He's a big hunter, with regular guns, black powder rifles, and bows. I imagine they came right here off his land or ours. He has a standing invitation to hunt on our property.

Yesterday evening, on my way home from town, I slowed down to watch four deer on another neighbor's property. Imagine my surprise when I looked up and saw three more crossing the gravel road and walking into our own woods. Seven at a time is the most I've seen. They were all does, not a buck among them. Several of them hang out in our front yard, and drive my little dog Jack crazy. They will not heed his bark.

Hick had also allowed one of his buddies to come out here to hunt this year. He said he saw four, but he could not entice them off the neighbor's field and into ours. Somebody must have gotten one recently, because Hick caught Jack with a rib cage on the front porch. Right now it's black powder season, and also bow season. Somebody needs to thin the herd, so they won't slowly starve through the winter.

Hick is not a hunter, but he won't turn down a deer head.