Have you ever heard or seen something long before daylight on the way to your deer stand? And I’m not talking about these sissy stands about 20 yards off the road with feeders, air conditioning and comfy chairs. I
mean one of those stands so far off that about halfway in, no matter your physical condition, you are wondering if you were in your right mind to put it so far away.
Yep. That stand. Now, my folks are from the mountains. We are solid Appalachian stock, and I grew up with stories of haints and boogers, panters (panthers or mountain lions), wild people, and outlaws. I heard my great-grandmother tell of hearing panthers scream at night and of her own grandmother walking home late at night and being stalked by them.
I’ve heard great uncles and cousins tell of ghosts and spirits that were lurking in the deep hollers of the Fannin and Gilmer County regions of Georgia. I love those old stories and I’d give anything to hear them again around those same fireplaces, on those same porches, in those same old hills.
But right now, I want to know if on one of those long walks toward a deep-woods stand, have you ever seen or heard something you just can’t explain?
Last year in Morgan County, for instance, there was a sighting of Big Foot. Now you may laugh, and you may scoff, but I won’t. I’m a bit too afraid to offend whatever that might be. Is Big Foot real? I have no idea, but my people have been telling stories of him since before there was time.
On a walk at night following hounds through a middle-Georgia swamp have you ever stopped walking and heard footsteps continue?
Have you ever peered through the mist of an early morning only to see bodies walking and the figures of those long since gone? All these things are commonplace among the people of the Appalachians. We settled in an area never wanted by anyone for centuries, with native peoples no one had seen when we arrived and histories no one knew.
To be honest, though, I’ve never seen Big Foot. I did go to his museum last year with my wife and kids, though. Pretty cool place just outside Blue Ridge. We had been up at Lake Blue Ridge with my aunt, cousin, and his family at their lake house.
On the way home my wife and I thought it would be fun to stop, and it was. It gave a fascinating history of the creature and its sightings and folklore, and in my family, we are suckers for old homes, battlefields, and museums. We all enjoyed it and spent way more than an hour in there that afternoon.
I have, however, seen a ghost, but that’s a story for a different day. I just thought that right before deer season opens and everyone gets out in the woods amongst all those creatures and beings that you ignored the rest of the year, remember a lot of them haven’t been ignoring you!
While you walk through the woods early one morning, think of all those who walked the same land, the same river bottoms, the same ridges before you. Even though it was long ago, let’s just hope they are pleasant companions for the trek.
In all seriousness, though, enjoy the coming season.
Tight lines and following seas, y’all!