Cannot buy a break. I can’t.
So yesterday and today, I spend several hours afield, looking to put some meat in the freezer.
No, I’m not looking for a trophy buck, I’m not interested in rack size, I want meat. Seen the price of beef lately?
So I find a likely spot. I set up. I’ve spent hours scrubbing clothes with non-scented soaps. I wear scent-blocking outergarments. I have perfume-free deodorant. I used Beano at turkey dinner so I wouldn’t have smelly farts. I find a place downwind of where any deer can possibly be. I sit in an area invisible to anyone. Three times yesterday, a hunter stood less than two feet from me and didn’t see me. Today, a turkey called and walked in front of me. A field mouse crawled up my leg and sat on my knee, eating a piece of corn. I was immoble through it all.
Didn’t see a deer. Oh, they’re out there, buckets of tracks all around where I’m hunting.
So I left at around noon, startling a few squirrels in the process, and go see a friend of mine in Cicero. On my way back, I see three bucks walking across the Bishop Ford Freeway, and further down, a guy in an Escalade has hit one.
The cops have stopped by and given him a permit to posess the deer. He’s hit it badly enough that the meat is pretty much toast, but he wants the rack. he has no way to remove the rack.
So he has the tire iron out of the back of the escalade, and is using it to
Beat.The.Head.Off.The.Deer.
He’s not even using the pointy end. He has gotten about halfway through the neck, and is shattering the neck bones with the big end of his tire iron. He’s apparently just gotten off work at some office, because his white shirt and paisley tie now have been covered with a fine spray of deer blood. the escalade is gonna need a bath.
I stop and use my knife to help him separate the rest of the head from the carcase, unwilling to see any more nastiness. He’s gonna have the head mounted. I wonder if he’ll hang a picture of his weapon below the head. “Killed with a 7.2 liter Escalade’
Sheesh.
I’m gonna try a new preserve tomorrow and see if a change of venue changes my luck.
Yuck on the road kill story. Why keep a trophy when the dear commited suicide against your huge SUV? Where’s the sport in that? Anywhooo.
My Father-in-law, the official hunter and meat processor in our family, finally got his first deer this week. We have teased him a good bit because it was rather small or as we put it “dog sized” but we’re still glad to see meat going into the freezer.
I don’t know about where you are (or even where it is that you are) but in North Central Idaho where I am the deer seldom come out until an hour or so before dark. I got my one deer (road kill–I don’t hunt) just before dark.
best wishes on your hunt. get those deer off of the roads. they are a hazard unlike any other. until recently i drove about 150 miles a day, mostly highway, mostly rural, mostly infested with bambi spawn. absolutely terrifying at real road speeds, at dusk, in November. i’ve seen more than my share. so far, i’ve been able to avoid a collision. please kill bambi with a gun so i don’t have to with my suv.
about cleaning up, all i can say is get the blood out of your dead bambi as soon as you can or the meat will spoil.
That bastard in the Escalade is disgusting. Someone ought to bash him over the head. Geesh. He’s probably anti hunting too!
As far as meat goes (or the lack thereof), you and me both are in the same boat. There’s more frickin deer around here than I could ever dream of, but the liberal twits in NoVA won’t let me shoot them (and I don’t bow hunt – maybe next year) requiring me to instead head out into the mountains for meat. Thats good, as the terrain is gorgeous – but as much as I enjoy being out in the field, its a bit frustrating to wait for hours on end in the misting rain for nada.
Well, the seasons still young – and I am gonna hit up some big buck habitat over Xmas – so I’ll get a couple of more chances to stock the fridge. . . . its just the wait. . . . .
I killed a deer with a Honda Civic a few years ago, on I-40 just east of OKC. And believe me, if I hadn’t been in an ambulance, I would’ve beaten her with a tire iron too.
Good luck in Brazil.