An enlightened redneck doesn’t stray far from his gun-clinging roots and absolutely must have “antlers up on the wall.”

I shot this buck my senior year of high school. It was my first and had one of the biggest racks of any deer ever taken on my grandfather’s farm. I used a .32-caliber rifle, one of two antique guns that Grandpa Tumblebug owned. It’s similar to today’s 30/30.

In our first home, my wife made me keep the antlers in the dungeon-like basement that no one but me used, as an office. The antlers remained in the basement in our second home, but it was a finished basement and served as our television room — an upgrade.

These days, in the house we have called home the past five years, Bambi is prominently displayed over the fireplace in the living room, the social focal point of the house. My redneck ways have worn her down!