Dillon Sapp poses with a twosome that were locked up when he came upon them; he shot the bigger one. The bucks were mounted by Shannon Little. Photo by Bill Cooper.

It’s not easy to give someone a gift that will last a lifetime, but that’s exactly what Jim Sapp of Cordele did last September for his son Dillon’s 14th birthday. The gift, a Georgia lifetime hunting license, will in the years ahead no doubt serve as the foundation for many memorable moments afield in the Peach State.

However, it’ll be a real accomplishment if any of those future events top what Jim and Dillon experienced on a Crisp County deer hunt a few weeks after the teenager’s big day.

At daybreak on the second Saturday of the 2005 gun season, the two were sitting in a box blind situated in the middle of a large cornfield. The corn having already been combined, the hunters had a clear view of the bordering woodsline.

“We hunted the same location the previous weekend, on opening day,” Jim recalled. “That also happened to be Dillon’s first deer hunt with his own rifle. Understandably, being excited, he was a little fidgety and anxious that morning, but overall he did really well. It just happened to be one of those times when the deer weren’t moving.”

As the two sat watching the surrounding terrain, Jim thought he saw a flash of white far down the field near the woods’ edge and pointed out the spot to Dillon. Neither saw any further movement, however.

“Minutes later, a cloud of dust suddenly appeared at the same location,” Jim continued. “Dillon immediately said it was a deer, but even though I knew his eyes were better than mine, I couldn’t see anything that even resembled a deer.

“The area we were watching was near a wooded bottom, slightly downhill from the stand and about 300 yards away. I finally told Dillon some turkeys could have come out of the woods and were dusting along the edge of the field.

“About 30 minutes after seeing all the dust, a deer stood up at the exact same spot. Despite the distance, there was no problem determining that it was a buck, but something was obviously wrong; the deer’s head was down and it appeared to be stumbling. I told my son the buck was injured and may have been wounded by another hunter.”

At his dad’s direction, Dillon aimed and fired at the buck, but missed. When his rifle temporarily jammed, Jim hurriedly shot at the deer, but he also missed. Having quickly corrected his gun’s problem, Dillon fired a second round; this time the buck dropped.

“After waiting a few minutes to see if the deer might get back up, we started walking across the field,” said Jim. “As we cautiously approached the buck, I couldn’t believe the pile of antlers I was seeing. Then I spotted a second deer, and realized there were two bucks lying there with their racks locked together.”