Deer Update

So using my super-cool GIS skills this morning I brought up a photo and traced the road I used on the drag out. Looks like it was a half-mile drag versus a third of a mile! I must have been hustling right along pulling that critter.

Uhm...I went up to Butch's place yesterday afternoon to begin cutting. After FINALLY getting all my stuff set up, I went outside to cut off the front shoulders. Again, within 10 minutes I touched...touched...that Buck knife to my thumb knuckle and whammo! SUNUVABEECH! So there I was, bandaging myself up...dripping blood all over Butch's shop. Luckily I had brought my own "trauma kit" (i.e. = Tom just cut his hand with a knife again kit), so had enough gear to sufficiently cut off ALL the blood to my thumb. I noticed that after 30 minutes or so when I couldn't feel my thumb...so had to re-bandage.

Now, in my defense, the woodshed is dark and cramped. Combine that with awkward angles and cold fingers...it gets easier and easier to knick yourself. But then again, I don't seem to have much respect for my left hand no matter where I am. I'm beginning to think my right hand has a personal vendetta against it.

After a couple hours I took down all my stuff to get the shop back in order....so all told, I didn't get much done. I'll be back up there this afternoon to finish up, hopefully taking my time and NOT cutting myself again. Overall it doesn't look like I'm going to get very much meat out of this deer. There is the same amount of connective tissue as a bigger animal, but with less meat attached to it. I'm being meticulous per my routine and I'm hoping the hind quarters will have a little bit more substance to them.

Timing is a little more critical now as our "winter" is performing the same way it always does in CDA. All that snow is basically gone and it is POUNDING rain. On top of that is the all-t0-familiar windstorm predicted. Not ideal conditions to store meat in...

Oh, and just to clarify, that last photo in the previous post was just like that. I wasn't posing to say thanks, I had just happened to close my eyes when the timer tripped...but it seemed like a fitting image to tie up the post. Just so you know.

2011 Deer Hunt Success

After dealing with a pretty substantial sinus infection for the better part of two months, I was finally feeling well enough to start poking around in the woods. Well, I guess I felt good enough prior to that, but the weather wasn't very conducive to hunting. Finally, it decided to snow in CDA and the wind died down...time to hunt!

After meeting with an Ear Nose and Throat specialist Friday to go over the results of my CT scan (everything is fine by the way) I went on a drive to check out activity near a spot I typically hunt late in the season. Fifty yards from where I normally park, I glanced to my left and saw a BIG deer standing in an opening. I backed up, rolled down the window, and this five point buck just stood there staring at me at about 40 yards. When I was JUST starting to think about grabbing a handgun and going after him, he meandered into the woods. Oh well, with none of my gear with me it was a good decision to just keep moving. I knew I was going up there in the morning and was pretty confident I might run into this guy. He's a really distinctive buck as I remember seeing him last year. Nice symetrical rack with short tines...but DARK antlers...very pretty deer.

Well, Sarah's car was making a weird noise and she chose to leave it at work so she could get it towed Saturday morning. This meant she needed a ride up to her office, so we did that early and I headed out to see what I could see. It was peculiar, on the drive up I actually felt NERVOUS for some unknown reason. But, I got to my parking spot and felt better once I started moving around in the new foot of snow. The trees were covered in snow and it was a nice 19 degrees...perfect still hunting weather! Well, I made my way into the seedtree cut and looked back across the canyon to see a deer right above where I had seen that buck the day before! So I hunkered down and got it in the scope...just a doe, but I had already made a decision to shoot the first legal thing I saw. After ranging her at 430 yards, I decided I really didn't want to try it. I was curious about my abilities, but decided a living target wasn't the best thing to test myself with. Plus, it was nice quiet snow and I wanted to poke around a bit more. So, up the hill I went. Within a half an hour I spooked a doe from the creek bottom and she headed up the hill. Rather than follow her through the thick stuff, I cut a road and just started creeping along.

After another 30 minutes I was coming to a drainage and noticed movement on the road...coming my way! I plopped on my butt and waited for this deer to make an appearance, breathing out the side of my mouth to keep from fogging up the scope. When I was finally able to make her out at about 40 yards, she turned to go up the draw. I pulled the trigger on her in a perfect quartering-away shot. When I looked up from the scope, she had just dropped where she was! The second time that's happened in my life, the second year in a row, and about 1/3 of a mile from each other.


This is how she fell.


Looks oddly serene


But kinda sad in a sense

Well, I was just sitting there looking at her when I noticed more movement coming up the road! Shoot! I bet myself it was a buck following her, but it was another doe! This deer went up and looked at the dead deer, looked at me, and just stood there. I moved up to it, and it wouldn't spook. I waved my arms around and told her to beat it, and she still stayed. When I finally made it to the doe, she decided to leave...but I could still hear her crunching around nearby.

So of course, I feel like a murderer. I personify critters an awful lot and could just imagine the confusion on this other deer's mind. "Why did you lay down! He's coming! Get up, we have to go!" *sigh* that's a sad thought.

So, I took some hurried photos and did my business. I hooked a rope up to a stick and drug her the 1/3 mile back down to the truck. Again, a nice easy drag downhill in 12 inches of snow...I'm starting to appreciate hunting in that area.

Within an hour and a half, on my first day out, I was done with deer season.


Solemn happiness

Well, I made it to Butch's shop and hung her up in the woodshed...again, using the truck to get her up into the rafters. Per my routine, after less than 10 minutes of skinning, I managed to cut a nice divot out of my left finger. Ahh, wouldn't be complete without becoming blood brothers with my prey I guess. I was able to trace my shot through her vitals and then out to the front right of her neck...again, the bullet passing within 2 inches of her spine. I think that plus catching these deer without them seeing me makes them fall where they stand. They don't have that surge of adrenaline that they might have otherwise had if they had seen me first. For me it's been a blessing as both times I've come away with absolutely no blood shot or ruined meat.

The next two afternoons will find me processing it before heading to Lolo for Thanksgiving. I'm going to make it hard for even a bird to get a meal out of what's left.

Now? I think ducks and geese are on the horizon. I haven't done that since I left Montana, and for some reason, have really developed the itch this year. My goal is to try out duck and goose jerky and sausage. Worth a shot! (Pardon the pun.)

With that, you can join me in thanking this year's deer.