16 June 2018

[TPC] - Bess Tuggle: Memoirs of Surviving Children - The Deer Stand



I have to admit it.  I messed up.  Not just a little mess up, but a BIG one.

 I bought my second son a deer stand for Christmas many years ago.

 Not just any deer stand – this was a NICE one.  It had a ladder and took us most of a day to put it together and put it up on a tree.  It had room for two seats.  He was even kind enough to take me hunting with him one time.  That was the only time.  Mama is not a happy camper before the sun comes up.  I can’t sit still, getting me and my coffee into the stand was a task and deer apparently can smell a cigarette a mile away.  What lovely bonding moments.

 The biggest problem, where I messed up, was not keeping the safety harness under wraps.  

 The deer stand came with a –really- nice safety harness.  It was a five point harness, like in a baby car seat.  Straps between the legs, around the waist, over the shoulders.. long rope to tie off to.  The boys figured that out.  (Expletives that I won’t share)

 The boys got the safety harness and started playing with it.  They took turns being “Superman.”  Then they found the pulley that I used for scraping and gutting pigs (yes, I did raise pigs and put a whole one on the grill once a year with home-made BBQ sauce to compliment it).  They took Superman to a whole new level.  They could raise and lower each other.  It wasn’t a problem until they put the smallest (not the youngest, mind you) into the harness then decided to tie him off and leave him hanging.  I’m not sure how long he was hanging there before I found him.  

 I’m just glad they didn’t boil and scrape him.  

 - Bess  (




A jack of all trades, Bess Tuggle has been a Covington resident since the late 70’s. She's been a K-Mart cashier, cabinet builder, vet tech, office manager for a beef cattle ranch and water well company (where she was able to hold benefits for D.A.R.E. and Scouts), a court reporter, business manager, assistant at a private investigation firm, legal assistant, convenience store clerk, landscaper and elementary school substitute teacher.  Her greatest pleasure is being a wife, mother and grandmother.  Her stories are all real, and all names will be withheld to protect the innocent, and also maybe the guilty, depending on the crime & the Statute of Limitations. 


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