re: Update from Big Ben's place

Years ago I was in Illinois heading to my lease to hang a stand for the afternoon hunt. I was several miles down a gravel road in an area the locals call The Bottoms. There is a stretch there of about 15 miles where there isn't a single house Nothing but tractor sheds, fields and woods.

I see this hunter walking towards me, bow in hand, literally 5 miles from the nearest home. I slow down and immediately recognize it's Ben McDonald. I ask him if he's okay and he tells me that he's hunting with a local outfitter. He's shot a deer but has to make a flight out of Evansville, Indiana in the next couple of hours and needs to get back to the lodge. The guide had forgotten about him needing to leave early.

Anyway, I'm in my old Toyota 4Runner and watching Ben try and fold himself into the front seat was pretty funny.

We get turned around and I start messing with him. Where you from buddy? What do you do for a living? Baseball player? Hell you say! Would I know you? So he starts telling me about his pro career and you can tell he's not really fond of talking about himself.

We reach the lodge and we get out to get his bow from the back and I say, "and didn't you play a little ball at LSU"? I reach into a bag by his bow, pull out my LSU cap and stick it on my head. He looks at me, starts grinning and says, "you sorry arse."

He signed my cap for me and off I went. Good guy.