I am still laughing at that story, but it reminded me of my =
own
experience where on a deer hunt a 13 yr old son of a friend had shot a very
large deer through the shoulder with a .223 which is not much larger than a=
.22
but supposedly higher powered. He had been in a ladder stand high up on a p=
ole
so the shot had been almost straight down. The deer of course was wounded b=
ut
only slightly. When I arrived the youngster related his story to me finishi=
ng
with, “ I got him good he should be down.”
So taking him at his word and believing the deer was as larg=
e as
he had described based on the size of the tracks it had left, I decided we
would have trouble dragging it out of the wood thicket it had disappeared i=
nto.
So with this in mind I suggested we lean our rifles up against a log and go=
get
it. Bad idea. Easily tracking the deer by the hoof prints and a sparse bloo=
d
trail we came upon it in a dead-end draw. It was indeed down, resting by a
tree. At that point I sized it up, it was very large and had a huge rack, w=
as
wounded only slightly, but I did not know that, and was apparently not at a=
ll
alarmed at our approach.
Thinking quickly (note: quickly does not always imply soundl=
y) I
remembered a very large knife I carried for just such purposes as this. I
unsheathed it and handed it to the boy carefully as it is razor sharp. I th=
en
instructed him that I was going to grab the deer by the antlers and hold hi=
m
down while he cut its throat. He looked at me in such a way as to suggest t=
hat
he was unsure of my sanity and refused to have any part in this plan. This =
left
me a bit perturbed because I thought it was a good plan and I didn’t =
have
another one. At that point several things happened very rapidly, the deer
decided he was tired of us being there, I remembered I had a 9mm pistol in =
a
holster on my belt, the deer stood up, lowered its head at us and began to
charge. I shoved the boy behind me telling him to run which he did with lit=
tle
encouragement.
I drew the pistol saying a quick prayer, fully believi=
ng I
was about to be killed, and dropping to one knee took careful aim where I k=
new
the heart was. By then the deer had covered the 30 or so yards between us a=
s I
fired. I recall the sound that deer made as the bullet struck him full in t=
he
heart, traveled the length of his torso and exited through a hindquarter, i=
t
was like a oomph sound, and he went limp and fell in full stride blowing hi=
s
last breath in my face. I just sat there on my knee staring into his rapidl=
y
glazing eyes.
It took me a few minutes to compose myself enough to call fo=
r
the boy and begin dragging the deer, who was bigger than both of us put
together out to the road. I was also saying thanks to our forefather’=
s
for the idea that the right to keep and bear arms such as that pistol shoul=
d be
and was still in effect after all these years, and to the U.S. military pis=
tol
instructor who had taught me to kneel and calmly fire my weapon so effectiv=
ely
under such stressful conditions. Yes folks deer are indeed dangerous animal=
s,
and should you find yourself in a position to have to defend yourself from =
one
I would suggest the most powerful and accurate weapon you can find barring =
a
bazooka as it would ruin too much of the meat.
From: TSCM-..._at_goog=
legroups.com
[mailto:TSCM-..._at_googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Its from Onion
Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2008 10:01 PM
Subject: [TSCM-L] {2990} Roping deer...
Actual letter from someone who farms tried this!
Onion
_______________________________________________________
I had this idea that I was going to rope a deer, put it in a stall, <=
br>
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. It should not be difficult to rope one,
get up to it and toss a ba=
g over
its head (to calm it down) then
hog tie it and transport i=
t 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 <=
br>
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 th=
rew
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 s=
till
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 educatio=
n.
That deer EXPLODED.
The second thing I learned is that pound for pound, a deer is a LOT <=
br>
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.
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 nea=
rly as
good an idea as I had originally imagined.
The only up side is that they do not have as much stamina as many other
animals. 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.
Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had <=
br>
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&n=
bsp;
of responsibility for the situation we were in, so I didn't want the deer&n=
bsp;
to have to suffer a slow death. I managed to get it lined back up in =
between my truck and the feeder - a little trap I had set before hand...kin=
d
of
like a squeeze chute.
I got it to back in there and I started moving up so I could get my rope
I was very surprised when =
to learn
this also! I reached up there to
grab that rope and the dee=
r
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 then let go. A deer bites you and shakes its head - =
almost like a pit bull.
They bite REALLY&n=
bsp;HARD
and it hurts REALLY BAD!
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 this ) tri=
cked
it.
While I kept it busy tearing the tendons out of my right arm, I reach=
ed
up with my left hand
and pulled that rope loose=
.
That was when I go=
t
my final lesson in deer behavior for the day.
Deer will strike at you with their front feet, right about head and shoulde=
r
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&nbs=
p;
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 yo=
u can
escape.
This was not a horse. This was a deer, so obviously, such trickery
The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run because
there is a good chance tha=
t it
will hit you in the back of the head.
Deer may not be so differe=
nt from
horses after all, other than being twice
as strong and 3 times as e=
vil,
because the second I turned to run, it hit me
right in the back of the h=
ead and
knocked my face to the dirt!
Now, when a deer paws at you and knocks you down, it does not
immediately leave. No, no, no
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.
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