old "mossyback" and photo difficulty

Recently I conversed with a young neighbor man who was crossing my property on a scouting mission. He rolled down his pick-up window while his two buddies sat silently in the front seat. Pleasantly stoned and with a beer in hand (him, not me, I had my camera in my hand) we danced the redneck dance of posturing and postulating, pedigree and critter sightings until we found common ground and had established rights and access, best deer paths and permissions. The end result is; I now have permission to fish in his pond, he can use my pasture to access his deer stand, and park in my drive in exchange for a haunch or shoulder.

It would have been a normal exchange except for the fact that the entire time he was looking deep into my eyes as we talked. I have been told that I also have this disconcerting habit, but I rarely see it reflected in a young person. It was an odd exchange, his very stoned young blue eyes and my old curious brown eyes firmly locked together for the entire length of the conversation.

So when he asked me if I had seen "old mossy back", I saw from his eyes that he had registered in my eyes the slight rounding of surprise. Except I could see in his eyes that he took my surprise as lying, when I replied that no, I had not seen this legendary old, large buck.

No, I was surprised because I had spent the last hour crawling around on the sides of the holler trying to get a half-way decent photograph of moss on tree stumps with ferns (an "important mission" I am sure) and referring to the stumps in my head as I sighted them in the distance as "mossybacks".

It wouldn't have worked to try and explain that to this feller, let him believe that I had seen old mossyback and that he is alive and well, but I will try and explain here that.... I am having a hell of time trying to capture how really lovely that moss and ferns look, all green when he rest of the holler is gray and brown. I post these two photo here with the hopes that I might post more later in the "before and after" effect...after I learn how to photograph moss!