Marking The Dark

A buck works a licking branch in the dead of night, head tilted back, mouth open, laying scent on the limb overhead. The flash-lit scene looks like something pulled straight off a trail camera—harsh light on his body, the forest falling away into black behind him. Dried leaves cover the ground beneath the scrape he's been working all season. This is what happens when you're not there: a buck running his route in the dark, hitting every signpost, advertising to does and warning off rivals. There's something primal about catching him in the act, frozen mid-ritual in a moment most hunters never see.