George 'Buster' Singleton's 'Somewhere in Time' from Feb. 7, 1985

George 'Buster' Singleton

(For decades, local historian and paranormal investigator George “Buster” Singleton published a weekly newspaper column called “Somewhere in Time.” The column below, which was titled “One day in a hunter’s life,” was originally published in the Feb. 7, 1985 edition of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)

There are those who, during the past hunting season, had all kinds of luck except good. To those determined hunters who gave it their all, this article is dedicated.

This is the schedule of one of the less fortunate deer hunters of our area, step by step.

1 a.m. – Alarm clock rings.

2 a.m. – Hunting partners arrive, drag you out of bed.

2:30 a.m. – Load everything but the kitchen sink in pickup.

3 a.m. – Leave for hunt in deep woods.

3:20 a.m. – Arrive back home and pick up gun.

3:30 a.m. – Drive like heck to get to woods before daylight.

4 a.m. – Set up camp; forget darn tent.

4:30 a.m. – Head into the deep woods.

6:01 a.m. – See eight deer.

6:02 a.m. – Take careful aim; squeeze trigger.

6:03 a.m. – Gun clicks – forgot to load.

6:04 a.m. – Load gun while deer disappear over hill.

8 a.m. – Head back to camp for breakfast.

10:30 a.m. – Still looking for camp.

High noon – Fire gun for help; eat wild berries.

12:31 p.m. – Run out of cartridges; eight deer come back.

12:36 p.m. – Strange feeling in stomach.

12:54 p.m. – Rescued.

12:55 p.m. – Rushed to hospital to have stomach pumped out.

3 p.m. – Arrive back at camp.

3:30 p.m. – Leave camp for deep woods and to kill deer.

4 p.m. – Return to camp for cartridges.

4:01 p.m. – Load gun; leave camp for deep woods again.

5 p.m. – Empty gun at squirrel that’s bugging you.

6 p.m. – Arrive back at camp to see deer grazing nearby.

6:01 p.m. – Load gun.

6:02 p.m. – Fire gun.

6:03 p.m. – One dead pickup.

6:05 p.m. – Hunting partner returns to camp dragging large deer.

6:06 p.m. – Trying to repress strong desire to shoot hunting partner.

6:08 p.m. – Trip over vine and fall in fire.

6:13 p.m. – Change clothing, throw badly burned ones in fire.

6:20 p.m. – Take pickup; leave partner with deer in woods.

6:41 p.m. – Radiator boils; truck runs hot; hole shot in engine block.

6:47 p.m. – Begin walking toward home.

6:48 p.m. – Stumble and fall – drop gun in mud hole.

6:51 p.m. – Meet wild boar in road.

6:52 p.m. – Take quick and careful aim.

6:53 p.m. – Gun fires; barrel blows up; plugged with mud.

6:54 p.m. – Run like hell – among other things.

9 p.m. – Leave wild boar way behind – wrap gun barrel around sweet-gum tree.

Midnight – Home in sight; badly need clean trousers.

Sunday – Watch football game on television while slowly tearing hunting license into small pieces, placing it in envelope and mailing it to local game warden with written instructions, telling him in no uncertain terms what he can do with it.

To those hunters who might have had this kind of luck, I hope you have a better year with the coming season. But remember, hunting can be very dangerous.

(Singleton, the author of the 1991 book “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers,” passed away at the age of 79 on July 19, 2007. A longtime resident of Monroeville, he was born on Dec. 14, 1927 in Marengo County. He is buried in Pineville Cemetery in Monroeville. The column above and all of Singleton’s other columns are available to the public through the microfilm records at the Monroe County Public Library in Monroeville. Singleton’s columns are presented here each week for research and scholarship purposes and as part of an effort to keep his work and memory alive.)