WEST VIRGINIA — A local hunter reviewing his trail-camera photographs Thursday discovered that the buck he had spent months describing as unpredictable maintained a schedule that would qualify it for several employee attendance awards.
According to camera records, the eight-point arrived at 6:12 a.m. Monday, 6:11 Tuesday, and 6:13 Wednesday.
Kevin Hensley arrived Saturday at 7:46 after returning home for a cushion.
“He’s hard to pattern,” Hensley said.
The deer had appeared in the same clearing on fourteen of the previous sixteen mornings.
On one missing morning, the camera batteries were dead.
On the other, Hensley was photographed standing in front of the lens at 6:09 explaining to his brother-in-law where the deer usually came through.
Wildlife observers said the buck’s behavior suggested a stable routine involving feeding, travel, and avoiding a man who regularly announced his location with a thermos.
Hensley’s routine remained less established.
Preparations for his most recent hunt included locating his gloves, charging a headlamp, remembering where he had charged the headlamp, and deciding that it was too late to make coffee before making coffee anyway.
He then spent eleven minutes looking for his truck keys.
They were in his hunting pants.
“He gets up at four-thirty,” his wife, Melissa, said. “That’s just when the search begins.”
After reviewing the photographs, Hensley concluded that the buck was “coming through earlier now.”
The timestamps indicated a change of approximately one minute.
Hensley responded by purchasing another camera.
Asked whether arriving earlier himself might be more effective, he explained that there were several factors people did not understand.
He began listing them.
At press time, the buck had returned to the clearing on schedule.
The hunter was at a gas station buying batteries for a device he had left at home.
The Holler Herald — West Virginia’s Least Reliable News Source.
