JIM CRUMLEY'S BIG DEER

Crumley Gets The Best Of The Guides

EDITOR'S NOTE: James Woodley works as the lodge manager at Heartland Outfitters near Quincy, Illinois.

QUESTION: James, tell me about when you went up to pick up Jim.
WOODLEY: We hadn't really talked about where I was going to pick him up, whether he was going to walk out the way he had walked in, or if I was going to come in through the field to get him. I went in through the field, and of course, he wasn't there. He had walked out the way he had entered the field. He wasn't in the stand. When I turned around, I saw the buck lying there.

QUESTION: What did you think when you saw that big buck?
WOODLEY: I threw the truck in park before it stopped and ran out there. I looked the buck over real quick and figured it was probably the one he'd been seeing. When I got back in the truck, I drove about 80 miles an hour down the bumpy road. Jim was out there waiting on me where I had dropped him off in the morning. He was going to try and pull one over on me. He didn't know I'd seen the buck already. I got him before he could say anything. I should have gone along with him. But I was so excited for him, I had a hard time not saying anything.

QUESTION: What joke did you play on the other guide M.R.?
WOODLEY: Well, I kind of made him feel like Jim had a low hit. I told him I found some blood, but I didn't know whether we had a deer or not. We needed a good expert on a blood trail. So M.R. got real serious and started asking questions about where Jim had hit him and what the buck did.

CRUMLEY: I told him about the buck running and then stopping, standing and stomping his foot three times. M.R. didn't seem to like that at all. He said, "Oh, he did what?" We took M.R. over there and told him the story of what the deer did that morning. I had left my arrow there. We came right down through there and M.R. said, "Here's the arrow and there's blood. Where was the last place you saw him?" I told him up on that little rise. M.R. was standing between James and me. He asked where was it hit. James said, "Right over there." M.R. replied, "Oh, you mean right up there where he is laying. You dog."

To learn more about Trebark camouflage, call 1-800-843-2266 or visit www.trebark.com. For more information about Heartland Lodge, write RR #1 Box 8A Nebo, IL 62355, call 1-800-717-4868, or visit www.heartlandlodge.com.

TOMORROW: CRUMLEY'S PREFERRED EQUIPMENT