Today was an interesting day. It was 29 degrees this morning and warmed up to around 70 by mid-afternoon. I saw a small 8-pointer and 7 does this morning. The buck was chasing some does around. He was young and stupid.
Around 8am dad came on the radio and told me that he shot a buck. He was somewhat disappointed because he passed it before electing to shoot it. He shot it because it was limping. Although it wasn’t dying or anything the deer looked uncomfortable. Since it was a decent deer he decided to take him.
He didn’t want to take him at first because he saw 8 bucks and 5 does. Of course one of the does was hot which is why all of the bucks were in the area. Two of the bucks were much larger than the one he shot.
When we got the deer on the ground we discovered why the deer looked uncomfortable. He had been shot head on and it was a really recent wound. The shot hit on the righ of the brisket and came out the arm-pit. It wasn’t anything more than a flesh wound and the deer would have easily recovered.
I called Brett and Doug to help us get the deer out. We dragged the deer to a place where it would be easy to cart him out. As we were latching the deer onto the cart three guys from Florida were on the ridge above us. They quickly made their way down to where we were. A taller thin guy, probably 10 years younger than me said “Hey, you got my deer there.” Confused we all said “What?”
He said “That’s my deer I shot him this morning and you stole him.” For a few minutes it was a little tense. After he learned that dad had shot him he said “What did you shoot him with?” We couldn’t figure out why he was asking. Ticked off at this point dad said “I shot him with a shotgun! What do you think I shot him with?” I jumped in and said “He shot him with a field-point.”
The guy got testy and asked to see the hole in it. Well, dad smoked him when he was quartering away so he hit every vital organ inside. Doug showed him the hole as well as the flesh wound that this guy had created.
After a few minutes of discussion we headed out. These guys were not happy, but we weren’t either. It was very easy to see that the deer wasn’t going to die from the wound that they had inflicted. The amazing part is that they were tracking the deer in short-sleeve shirts and no weapons at all.
I was glad when the episode ended. I hope we’re never in that situation again. I could understand the guy’s frustration, but it’s his responsibility to own up to the fact that he didn’t make a good shot. Actually I couldn’t figure out why he even would have shot at a deer head-on.
Here’s dad’s buck.
Dad's 8-pointer 11/10/2010
