The Redneck Diaries

Part of my personality is to always tell a story, as accurately as possible. It always bothers me when I can’t remember a detail and have to say “about” or “approximately,” rather than to provide real data. No one who knows Larry Potterfield would be surprised to see me waiving around a piece of paper called the Redneck Diary and reading out loud about the deer, turkeys and coyotes I saw from a particular deer stand — and what time.
There was no such thing as a Redneck stand when my deer hunting career got started; they’re a modern-day convenience. And convenience they are; windproof and rainproof. I normally carry in a heater (when it’s cold) — and stay a few hours at a time; but with some food, water and a sleeping bag, you could practically live in one. It’s fair to say that I’m spoiled and don’t know if I’ll ever return to a conventional ladder stand.
It seems a shame not to document the details of a hunt — things like the date, weather, location and any guest(s). But, equally important is what I see and when – even details of the bucks; for instance, “medium 8

pointer, broken G2 on the right side.” That way I’ll know if he is the same one that comes out later.
I’m not an “all-day” deer hunter, but like to stay in the stand till mid or late morning, take a break and return in the middle of the afternoon. It’s dark when I climb in of a morning, so there isn’t anything to see until first light; in the afternoon often I’ll bump deer on the way to the stand or they will be in the food plot when I arrive. Writing everything down is a bit of a challenge; you have to be looking all around, all the time – and looking hard. There are times when a deer is in sight for only a few seconds, and he might be the shooter I’m looking for.
The actual recording of the data is simple but not easy; sometimes things are happening faster than I can write them down. The binoculars are always in hand, so after I’ve looked things over, it’s time to grab the clipboard and write everything down. Even if I don’t fire a shot, there’s always a souvenir of the hunt – the Redneck Diary.