MESSIN’ UP – Vol. I (2006) No. 1
“The Muddy Truth”
By Mike Faulk

September 26, 2006

Since I had to miss opening morning, I was excited to get the time after church to enjoy an afternoon on Sturm Island. I chose the ladder stand near the largest food plot with a good view of one of the draws that funnels deer off the Holston Army Ammunition property to the river’s edge.

Nothing stirred until late afternoon. I was facing west with the food plot to my left. As usual the noise came from behind me. Now I could tell something of size was shuffling toward me from behind – right to left. It was close.


The arrow was already knocked and my release was attached. I might get a shot if I were able to do a 180 degree turn after the deer passed to my left.

I’d performed this maneuver many times before. Much like a ballerina, I’d need to rise to my toes on one foot and raise the ball of my other foot to do the pirouette.

Just as I arose, “clink”! It was the sound of mud that had been lodged in the treads of my boots hitting the mesh metal gird of the footstep of the ladder stand.

Just as Santa’s reindeer, the whitetail was “away in a flash”!

Note to self: make sure the mud in your boot treads is cleared out before mounting the tree stand.