At 7:36 A.M., a little over an hour after my uncle David dropped me off at the deer stand, my pocket vibrated, the short notification of an incoming text message: “Will pick you up closer to 9, unless I hear you shoot, then I’ll be by at 8:30. Please acknowledge.”
I felt ridiculous sending my reply from “the swamp,” but later found out he was browsing the web the whole morning!
After I was done fumbling with my phone to send the requested reply, I saw motion just past the far end of the field, and three deer walked past. They never ventured in to the field and I wonder I spooked them with all the moving around it took to take off my gloves, fish the phone out of my pocket, send the message, and put the phone back in my pocket. They never paused once I spotted them, but I bet they were watching me the whole time.