Why we shoot deer

[daitai]

Why we shoot deer in the wild (A letter from

someone who wants to remain anonymous, who farms, writes well and actually

tried this)

 

I had this idea that I could rope a deer, put it in

a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it.

The first step in this adventure was getting a deer. I figured that, since

they congregate at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much fear of me

when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the

bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not 4 feet away), it should

not be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to

calm it down) then hog tie it and transport it home.

 

I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end

with my rope. The cattle, having seen the roping thing before, stayed well

back. They were not having any of it. After about 20 minutes, my deer showed

up-- 3 of them I picked out a likely looking one, stepped out from the end

of the feeder, and threw my rope. The deer just stood there and stared at

me. I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would have a

good hold.

 

The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you

could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation. I took a

step towards it, it took a step away. I put a little tension on the rope ..,

and then received an education. The first thing that I learned is that,

while a deer may just stand there looking at you funny while you rope it,

they are spurred to action when you start pulling on that rope.

 

That deer EXPLODED. The second thing I learned is

that pound for pound, a deer is a LOT stronger than a cow or a colt.. A cow

or a colt in that weight range I could fight down with a rope and with some

dignity. A deer-- no Chance. That thing ran and bucked and twisted and

pulled. There was no controlling it and certainly no getting close to it. As

it jerked me off my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it

occurred to me that having a deer on a rope was not nearly as good an idea

as I had originally imagined. The only upside is that they do not have as

much stamina as many other animals.

 

A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired and not

nearly as quick to jerk me off my feet and drag me when I managed to get up.

It took me a few minutes to realize this, since I was mostly blinded by the

blood flowing out of the big gash in my head. At that point, I had lost my

taste for corn-fed venison. I just wanted to get that devil creature off the

end of that rope.

 

I figured if I just let it go with the rope hanging

around its neck, it would likely die slow and painfully somewhere. At the

time, there was no love at all between me and that deer. At that moment, I

hated the thing, and I would venture a guess that the feeling was mutual.

Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had cleverly

arrested the deer's momentum by bracing my head against various large rocks

as it dragged me across the ground, I could still think clearly enough to

recognize that there was a small chance that I shared some tiny amount of

responsibility for the situation we were in. I didn't want the deer to have

to suffer a slow death, so I managed to get it lined back up in between my

truck and the feeder - a little trap I had set before hand...kind of like a

squeeze chute. I got it to back in there and I started moving up so I could

get my rope back.

 

Did you know that deer bite?

 

They do! I never in a million years would have

thought that a deer would bite somebody, so I was very surprised when .....

I reached up there to grab that rope and the deer grabbed hold of my wrist.

Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where they

just bite you and slide off to then let go. A deer bites you and shakes its

head--almost like a pit bull. They bite HARD and it hurts.

 

The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is

probably to freeze and draw back slowly. I tried screaming and shaking

instead. My method was ineffective.

 

It seems like the deer was biting and shaking for

several minutes, but it was likely only several seconds. I, being smarter

than a deer (though you may be questioning that claim by now), tricked it.

While I kept it busy tearing the tendons out of my right arm, I reached up

with my left hand and pulled that rope loose.

 

That was when I got my final lesson in deer

behavior for the day.

 

Deer will strike at you with their front feet. They

rear right up on their back feet and strike right about head and shoulder

level, and their hooves are surprisingly sharp... I learned a long time ago

that, when an animal -like a horse --strikes at you with their hooves and

you can't get away easily, the best thing to do is try to make a loud noise

and make an aggressive move towards the animal. This will usually cause them

to back down a bit so you can escape.

 

This was not a horse. This was a deer, so

obviously, such trickery would not work. In the course of a millisecond, I

devised a different strategy. I screamed like a woman and tried to turn and

run. The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a

horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will hit you

in the back of the head. Deer may not be so different from horses after all,

besides being twice as strong and 3 times as evil, because the second I

turned to run, it hit me right in the back of the head and knocked me down.

 

Now, when a deer paws at you and knocks you down,

it does not immediately leave. I suspect it does not recognize that the

danger has passed. What they do instead is paw your back and jump up and

down on you while you are laying there crying like a little girl and

covering your head.

 

I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the

deer went away. So now I know why when people go deer hunting they bring a

rifle with a scope......to sort of even the odds!!

 

All these events are true so help me God... An

Educated Farmer

[JBS]

Brilliant read, thanks for sharing!

[mpk]

That was brilliant

[rabbit_stu]

fantastic read, thanks! hope you recover well

[provarmint]

****........... :lol:

[Jim Sarakun]

Yes, very good. I will learn from this and not try to rope one, ever!

[cocker3]

sounds like alot of painfull work to me hahaha think i will stick to the good old cross hair l.m.f.ao

Edited November 11, 2011 by cocker3

[yickdaz]

i don,t stalk deer meself but like jim sarkum said if i do i won,t try and lasoo one like a rodeo horse

[alastair0903]

you are a legend , i would have loved to watch this all unfold

[12borejimbo]

It was probably a 25 odd stone rutting red stag. haha.

[Crouch valley]

As a stalker my self I nearly wet my self reading that

[kenelmh]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[onslow52]

That sounds one hell of a mad muntjac !!!!

[southamptonshooter]

You live and learn I guess!!!

[lukeyboi]

Best read of the year was crying while reading ....... SECOND ATTEMPT.... Haha

[the gunner]

What a legend you are mate first for your honesty & secondly for sharing a great write up with us , you had me in pieces mate ! I wonder if anyone else has any tales of woe to share with us ! Great story ! 👌

Still laughing mate !