I told about how the Nine Pine got its name in the first story of the tree. This is the further adventures I had in the same tree during the three years or so I hunted it.

The same season as I killed the nine point that gave the tree its name I also took a spike buck. It was a beautiful clear fall morning when the air was calm and the temperature was cold. I had climbed into the tree under star light and as was usual for me I ate breakfast there in the tree under the stars. I sat and watched and listened and marveled at the beauty of the day for maybe three hours or so when I heard a deer approaching from my left. I checked with my binoculars and saw a young spike buck slowly making his way along a trail in front of my stand. I put down the binoculars and took up my Remington Model 7-the same one I had used to shoot the nine point earlier. I made a clean shot through the lungs and he ran no more than 40 yards before piling up dead.

My next adventure in the Nine Pine was a strange one. The day dawned cold and wet. The temperature was hovering near the freezing mark and a slow misty rain was falling. I made my way to the Nine Pine in the damp darkness and climbed up. I put up my sniper shack and topped it with its roof to keep me dry. The rain soon turned to a freezing rain and a coat of ice formed on everything around me. The trees were bending with the weight of the ice on them. After an hour or so the rain stopped and the day began to warm. The ice soon melted and the day was looking better. I sat in the stand for several hours without seeing a deer. Suddenly I heard shots from the end of the big hollow near where I had parked my Bronco. I wasn't sure if someone was target practicing or had shot at a deer. I saw movement coming in my direction from where the shots had been fired. I looked with my binoculars for antlers. What I saw was a real shock. It was black and white spotted-no not a deer and not a dog. It was a feral goat with a pretty good set of horns. Now what it was doing way back up on Rattlesnake Mountain I have no idea. It came closer and closer at a slow walk. I fired into its chest with the same Remingtion Model 7 in 7MM-08 that had taken the nine point and spike earlier. It took 5 steps after being hit and fell over dead. I had my first "exotic" or non-native game animal. This was somewhere around 1989-90 I don't remember.

On the morning of November 23, 1993 I decided to go back to the Nine Pine again. I hadn't been there in a couple of years or more and felt it was worth another try. My oldest son Bob was just recently home from his stint in the Army which had prevented him from hunting more than a few days a year for the previous 9 years and he was hunting not too far away on another road. He had told me before we left that morning that he was going to get a deer on this day. We had both scouted well and both were confident of our chosen locations. I again climbed into the tree in pitch darkness-it was so dark in fact that I clearly heard two deer walk by within just a few feet of the base of my tree and couldn't even make them out in the inky black morning. I ate my breakfast in the tree and waited. I had plenty of company on this morning. Another hunter walked up the hollow not 50 yards in front of me even after I whistled at him and waved my orange hat. He just walked on by slowly as if he had a mission in life and wasn't to be deterred. He must have taken an hour to get out of sight and hearing of me. I heard another hunter nearby for most of the morning. He either had a bad cold or was a smoker because he coughed all morning. I was sure I wasn't going to see a deer under these circumstanses but decided to stick it out anyway. By noon I had the woods to myself. The other hunters had turned out to be only morning hunters and were back to their trucks and leaving by lunch. I sat in the Nine Pine and ate my lunch and waited. At about 1:30 PM I heard a deer approaching from behind me and to my left. I looked with my binoculars and could definately see antlers-not big but it was a buck. I was using my Remington Model 700 Mountain Rifle in 270 Wincheser on this day. I hit him in the lungs and he ran maybe 60 yards and fell dead. Another "Nine Pine" adventure ended in success. When I got back to my Bronco I found a note on the windshield from Bob-he had taken his first deer. It was a nice 7 point that would have been an 8 point if it had both brow tines-but didn't.

The Nine Pine was good to me and I had other days in it without making a kill but all were enjoyable. It is in a beautiful spot and is a pleasure to visit. I no longer go there because the trees have grown up in front of it and now I can't see more than 25 yards or so where I once could see for over 250 yards to the top of the next ridge. CWMA only has six days of gun hunting per season and another couple of days of black powder hunting so I wasn't there as much as I would like to have been before the trees grew up and ended by hunts there. The last time I visited I could barely get past all the trees that had been blown down when a rare hurricane paid a visit to our area. I will return again and hunt the Nine Pine - someday.