It was late in 1996 at Daytona Beach, Florida that I met a very special and unique person. He was very nice, down to earth and seemed like a good mentor for me. I knew he had a couple of years on him, but his high spirit and strong will have kept him young. After a few conversations with him, it was evident we both shared a true love and passion for the Great outdoors, especially deer hunting and fishing.

During the following spring we made several trips to a couple of his favorite fishing holes. It was on one of these journeys that I learned that this man had never killed a trophy buck. It was at this time I made it a personal goal to help him achieve his dream of harvesting that trophy.

Over the next couple of years he and I would travel near and far, in all types of weather condition and over some of the roughest terrain looking for one of these majestic creatures. We started out by hunting a couple of my local hot spots here in Alabama. Several good deer were seen and one nice buck was taken, but not by my ol' buddy. We ventured up north to Sullivan County, PA. to hunt with Bob Walker of Walker's Game Ear. The weather conditions were very cold, wet, and snowy. The terrain was straight up and down and I would bet that most twenty year olds would have a hard time hunting in these conditions. I saw several nice bucks and was able to tag out on the second day.

After spending some more time here in Alabama and in Georgia we ventured out west to Kansas to hunt with a group from the International Motor Sports Hall of Fame. Again, we saw some great whitetails, but a problem with tag registration prohibited either one of us from taking a buck. The next hunt in Ohio my ol' buddy had to do alone, I had already committed to another hunt was unable to go.

This time would be "the same old story, but different place." situation. My ol' buddy was beginning to feel like he was cursed. I can recall several good laughs about his cursed feeling and I always told him,"Red, it will happen when you least expect it." But, how can you tell a man that has won over 740 stock car races and is labeled as one of the 50 Greatest NASCAR drivers of all time, to be patient?

For the past couple of years Red Farmer and I have made it a point to spend a couple of days at BUCKS Chapel Hunting Club in Sumpter County owned by the Tim Hayes family. I have been a member of this club for four years but have been hunting there for eight or nine years. This club has been under a strict deer management program for the past twelve years and the results can be found, if you "hunt" them. As Red and I began preparing for this trip I asked him "do you know what I want for Christmas, he said "no." I said "I would like to see you get your deer." Red chuckled a little bit and said, "Yeah, me too.

We loaded up our trucks and headed to Sumpter, Co. on December 18th. Due to our late arrival, I decided to put Red on a green field where I had seen a nice 8 point chasing some does just a few days before. No luck! The next morning I put Red on one of my climbing tree stands in a funnel overlooking a hardwood bottom. He had two nice bucks walk underneath his stand, but neither one was quite as big as he wanted. "The first one was a six point, he came out of the pines, walked across, the ridge, down into the bottom and stopped about five yards from my tree stand. The next one was not far behind him and was either a seven or eight point. I couldn't see the one brow tine, but he was a nice deer." stated Farmer.

After that morning hunt, Red told me he would like to try out a new tree lounge his wife had bought him from Marks Outdoors. He said he would like to do some scouting but his back had begun to hurt him due to surgery he had a few weeks before. I told him to stay at the camp and get some sleep and that I would take care of the rest. I put his stand overlooking a select cut between a large hardwood flat and a pine thicket. This was definitely a transition area. My strategy during the rut is to hunt the does, the bucks are looking for the does and I'm looking for the bucks. I went back to camp and told Red I wanted him to hunt this stand as much as he could the next day. That afternoon Red chose to go to the green field he had hunted the day before. Again, no luck!

The next morning, on December 20th, Red once again headed out for his tree stand. After fourteen does and six hours he decided to head back to camp. We discussed his morning hunt and he seemed a little concerned at seeing only does. I tried to reassure him that this was a good sign and to continue his hunt there that afternoon. As the afternoon began to wear off Red saw a lone doe moving through the select cut about 75 yards out. A few minutes later, around 4:30, the trophy Red had been waiting for stepped out chasing that doe. "All I could see was a big rack and it had at least eight points, I knew it was a trophy as soon as I saw him." After a single shot from his 30-06 Red knew he hit the deer, but didn't know how well.

As we all gathered back at camp, Red and I began to discuss his hunt. While he was telling me his story he mentioned that he had found some blood that he had marked with tracking tape, for about 50 or 60 yards. At that time his back gave out on him and he decided to wait until I had come back to camp to help. I told him to hang tight and I would be back in a bit. I gathered up a few of my hunting buddies and off we went to find Red Farmer's deer. We followed Red's tracking tape and continued to find blood. Fortunately just 20 yards away lay Red's trophy and my Christmas present-a 185 lb. 8 point sporting a 16" inside spread with 21" main beams-a true trophy for anyone!!!

We pulled up to camp and I found my ol' buddy trying to rest his back on the couch. I told him we didn't find his deer, but I found something near his tree stand and wanted him to come outside to see if this something was his. When he saw what we had brought back to him he was in disbelief. But after it had all settled in, he was like a kid experiencing his first Christmas.

CONGRATULATIONS RED!!!!!