catching up

Hello again, blogfans!

Well, it's time to catch up.

This past weekend, I went on my first-ever deer hunt. It was a hoot!

I'll grant you; it's not what I thought it would be. Whenever I've thought about the term "deer hunting" in the past, I thought about quietly stalking the brush for that elusive creature and "freezing" when the prey was cornered, leveling the gun and squeezing off a shot as the startled herbivore stopped to listen and detect the intrusion of an interloper. The reality is a little less dramatic!

In actuality, the hunter hides in a "blind" as deer gather at a feeder that has been stocked with deer candy (corn), waiting for said feeder to "dump" some of said corn at a pre-set time. Naturally, the deer have been "programmed" to gather at a specific time by setting the feeder to dump at the same time each morning and evening. The challenge comes in choosing a deer that is worthy of "harvest" and actually hitting the deer that you're aiming at!

It's not as easy as it looks!

On Saturday, we sat in a blind on a hill, picking through countless fawns, small does, and immature males. One large deer worthy of a bullet came into view, but there were too many cows close by (the rancher wouldn't appreciate the "collateral damage" associated with a ricochet or a poorly aimed shot!) and the wily buck only presented himself for very short periods of time, making a shot at him unwise at best, so no shot was taken.

Later in the evening at a different blind, I took a shot at a nice 8-point buck, but missed (apparently high). Naturally, all of the deer that had gathered scattered wildly at the sound of the shot, so the hunt was over for the evening.

The next morning, we took to the blind again and waited. As before, the gathering of small fawns, does, and young bucks came to the feeder first. None of these were suitable for a shot, so we waited. Then, finally, a stout but apparently somewhat young 8-point buck came into view, so I determined to take a shot at him. I breathed deeply, then let it out. Having missed high last time, I aimed at a point about 2" from the bottom of the chest, and squeezed the trigger. The 30-o6 roared to life and, as I watched through the scope, the deer fell in place.

MDB's brother, who was my very helpful and accommodating guide, suggested that we wait for about 10 minutes to see if anything else came up and, more importantly, to make sure that the wounded buck was dead. It didn't move in all that time.

Meanwhile, a second, much larger buck came up from the left of the blind. This deer was "Bambi's Daddy" to be sure! He had a massive rack of antlers, a large, thick chest, and great definition through his neck and hindquarters. In short, he was a buck among bucks! MDB's brother said "I'll take a shot!", so he leveled the gun, aimed, and fired.

I saw a cloud of dust about 15 yards beyond the great deer as he turned and scrambled for the hills!

We left the blind and searched, just in case he'd been hit and didn't know it, but there was no sign that he'd been injured in any way and no sign of a wounded deer anywhere near the shot.

A real shame!

In any case, we then went to retrieve the deer that I'd shot earlier. It was in the same place it had been all along. He'd dropped at the very spot he'd been standing when shot. Even though I aimed low, the shot hit him in the spine just above his shoulder, instantly paralyzing and killing him. MDB's brother said that we'd missed the hard part because of the spot where I'd hit him. Apparently, it's typical to shoot the deer and then wander around for long periods of time trying to find the spot that it fell. My deer dropped instantly, so there was no long search involved!

Then the hard stuff began!

We had to cut a small hole in the gap behind each hind leg (between the bone and tendon) and sling the deer through it's hind legs so that we could hoist it upside-down from a tree. Then, with the deer hanging from the tree, we had to remove it's male parts, slice it open from pelvis to throat, and remove all of the entrails.

Fortunately, I hit the deer in a place that killed the deer quickly but did not cause any internal damage to speak of, so this process was mainly bloodless and relatively clean!

Once the deer was "field dressed," we lowered it back into the back of the truck and headed for the processor!

I LOVE deer sausage and, hopefully, we'll get plenty of it from 8-point #1!

I can't wait to go again!

When we go to pick up the meat from this one, I hope to get a chance to go for another hunt! Perhaps that big 10-point will be waiting for me next time!

Meanwhile, it would be really cool if I had my own gun next time and a chance to sight it in prior to the morning of the hunt!

MDB says that she's excited! She now has a goal for a birthday present (you know...for the guy who has everything he ever wanted AND a case of chips!) and I couldn't be happier!

Woo-hoo! Life is grand!