Smith: Taking revenge on does after wreck in road trip
SWAINSBORO — Although this home of the Pine Tree Festival is a mere 25 miles or so from where I grew up, I had not visited the county seat of Emanuel County lately — until last week.
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The trip to Swainsboro certainly was not intended, but the good news ending to a bad news start had me leaving town with a lift in spirits, paying tribute to the good neighborly folk along the way.
Before explaining how my latest stop in Swainsboro came about, it is important to discourse a bit on the wildlife population in Georgia.
Some suggest the state’s deer population is declining. The last official estimate I have seen is 1.2 million, which doesn’t reflect much of a decline — though I have sat in a deer stand for three hours or more without ever seeing a single deer.
So how is it that I can return home late at night from a long trip and find a big buck and a couple of does bedding down in my liriope? Or get up early in the morning to fetch the paper and see a buck and three does prancing down the street? Who says the deer are declining?
When it comes to deer, I want them to stay in their place. If they had the railroad crossing mentality — look both ways before crossing — then I wouldn’t have one bit of antipathy for them. I don’t mind them bedding down in my liriope or startling me when I head out for my paper when it is darkest before dawn.
They are, however, persona non grata with me when they dart in my vehicle’s path, as a couple of does did on Georgia Highway 15 just north of Sparta last week.
With an early morning appointment in Savannah, I chose to leave at 4:30 a.m. Wouldn’t you know it, right at first light, here they came. I never saw them until they appeared in my headlights.
It was a small doe and not a big crash, or so I thought. After taking a look at the damage to the right fender, I concluded the car was drivable and in operating condition. But I began cursi
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