From our good friend Zane Keen:
Mike: Thought I’d drop a line and say hello. I retired from the Army last year after 28 years of service. Still living here near Ft. Bragg, NC.
Last few years I haven’t been able to get into the woods much, but I’ve been able to hunt a few times this season and have a cool story for you.
I was lucky enough to harvest one of the oldest deer the Ft. Bragg biologists can remember recording. They aged him at 8 1/2 years old. His rack was in significant decline: 19-inch inside spread with only 3 score-able points. His back molars were completely ground to the gums, and he had no lower teeth. His ears were that of a warrior, cut, mangled and scarred from years of fighting. His scalp at the base of his antlers was torn away from the skull…looked like the wounds were several weeks old. Just a monarch of a deer, I had tremendous reverence for the old bull!
I love watching your show. And incredibly honored to see the combat flag on your wall! That was a week of hunting memories that I talk about often and will cherish. Thank you again for that amazing opportunity to hunt with you. Sincerely, Zane
No Zane, thank you for your service and for your friendship. That combat flag you gave me—it flew over the hospital in Iraq where Zane served—is one of my most prized possessions, it hangs in my office proudly between two of my largest buck mounts. And that episode we filmed with you way back in Season 1 of Big Deer TV remains one of the highest rated in the history of our series. Thanks brother!
