March Dep Deer

March Dep Deer ... (Attraction Wins Over Enigma)

Assuming there would be an endless supply of deer, and passing on any deer that weren't surely big, and anything but a high percentage shot, and ill-posed shots, and taking my time to get my act together ...

By the time I met Eric, he said there weren’t as many deer. `Don’t know why…maybe the weather.’ As it would turn out the deer were hitting the bluegrass fields – off his property. But by the sheer number of deer – it was inevitable that I would get one.


		Latah County, Idaho, early March 2007. Grass, with bluegrass beyond, and [Delete] Mountain in the background.

I was choosy – I wanted a big deer, and a perfect shot – a shot that would be a clean kill, without damaging much meat. That meant a lung shot, or perhaps, a head shot – and with the deer standing still or CLOSE, or both.

And so, as the hunt progressed, I passed up or didn’t take many shots. Some of which due to just being ‘rusty’ – not getting set up fast enough, or spooking them/being too noisy. Some I wasn’t sure they were not ‘little’. And some I was able to get really close to, but they definitely were little. I was hunting some of the time in brush, and getting a steady standing shot was not easy (both me and deer standing steady). And many would manage to slip through fences and off property before I could get a perfect shot.

And they were ‘spooky’…perhaps due to the regular seasons not to many months just past, and due perhaps to several of their number being killed earlier by other depredation tag holders…

But I stuck with it, and persevered.


		Things just beginning to `green' ... snow in the shady spots, ground soaked ... and a hint of springtime.

I saw lots of turkey, ducks, geese, and even some beautiful mature drake Pintail.


		Healthy herd of wild turkey. Eric invited me back - for deer this fall, and turkey this spring. These birds were not on his property ... but others were.

But I was also a tiny bit afraid of pattern…of enigma. Just as I would be able to get fully set up for the shot…ugh…they would slip through a fence and wander or feed just off property.

Eric’s property is somewhat limited but I decided I would not shot shoot outside of it, even a little; I would not take a little one; and I would only take a high-percentage shot. And so, now started, I so stuck with it.

I even ran into one of his neighbors, who invited me over to shoot one out of his something-grass field, but I couldn’t. Rules are rules. I had to stay on Eric's.

But aside from mild enigma setting in and mild accompanying frustration – I stuck with it, and explored, scouted, looked ... perhaps a hunting spot for fall, or spring turkey, bear.

I ran into some somewhat already defeated dep tag holders.

But,

I am reading The Secret (Rhonda Byrne) and decided, yes! … The Law of Attraction wins out over `Enigma’.

So, on Sunday evening I returned. I came in the back way. There where three deer just off property. (There were dozens and dozens of deer to the east.) Two of them only thirty yards off the road, ten yards outside the fence. I walked up to them, had to whistle pretty loud to get their attention, and, as intended, they jumped in to Eric’s property, and the chase was on. I flanked them as they moved west … trying to get a glimpse, a look, a shot. It was working somewhat – but I just couldn’t get the shot. Whitetail deer are different – they may stand and look – but once they move – they generally don’t stop for a while, while Mule Deer will move a short distance, stop, and look back (often to their doom). I chased them over the hill, and caught them again going through a small clearing on the other side, now joined by the third. But it didn’t come together, and they now slipped back out through the fence, and again off the property.

So I drove around. Two or three deer watched me from the lower grass field. I kept driving around the corner as though not noticing and to maneuver out of sight. The wind was weird. I quickly off-loaded, and ran way around to get around and down on them. But by the time I got into position - they had moved down to the fence, and yes, slipped through, and continued grazing just on the other side.

Enigma!

No! … Law of Attraction!

I decided to head into the draw via game trails and then a skid road. Law of Attraction would win out, and I would run into something, a deer, a nice doe, my prize.

And indeed, as I neared the upper end, a nice doe appeared in a clearing on the other side of a ravine of sorts, followed by another, or two, slowly feeding up hill. Ninety yards? I would have to get up on the embankment of the skid road to get over the brush and be able to get prone, steady for a shot. I slid the pack ahead of me – it getting stuck by its long straps (straps will go when I get home)…as I finally got pack and self up the embankment, and readied for the shot, she noticed me. Hmmmm…this situation might not last forever…crosshairs 3 inches behind the shoulder at mid-height…and the sound of my shot filled the canyon.

At the shot she ran up the hill into the trees, followed by a couple others. She did not appear hit – but she probably was. A second or so later she came back out, running downhill, kind of ‘leaning’ (hurt) and disappeared into the brush and trees below. Her run, plus the fact that she broke off from the others … I knew that she was mortally wounded. Silence. I listened. I watched. A fourth deer appeared - though probably not her. Then I heard a bit of a sneeze. Probably her lungs now full of blood – she’s expiring.

I went down, around, and over, slow, and up to where she was standing at the shot - and found small bright red-pink spots and what looked like the pass-through bullet entry hole into the soft earth beyond. It would be getting dark soon – I didn’t want to wait too long. I followed blood and tracks, marking my way with fluorescent flagging. But the blood stopped. I decided to go straight to the ravine where I last got a glimpse of her – and there I found her, very dead.

I had all my stuff – and so I proceeded to de-meat her. As I progressed, I had the mild feeling I was being watched, and so every now and then I looked up and around, and consciously made note of the location of my other knife. Maybe it was from reading too many Bigfoot sighting reports, or maybe I was being watched.

Finished and now dark, I loaded up and hiked out of the canyon. The load was heavy, but once on top, yeah! – It was a good heavy; I felt a good tired.

Attraction won out over Enigma!

JRF