Posted on 11/19/2009 5:28:48 PM PST by 1776 Reborn
I had this idea that I was going to 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, so 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 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.
Landru it looks like you have been on FR a long time.
Did you every hear of Russia giving the U.S. a 9/11
monument? I just heard about this today. Here is a
link to one of the stories about it.
http://www.russiablog.org/2006/07/russia_donates_911_memorial
Yes, long time.
"Did you every hear of Russia giving the U.S. a 9/11 monument?"
Whoaaaaaa, WTH??
No, not a peep from anyone or thing. Ever.
"I just heard about this today. Here is a link to one of the stories about it."
Thank you, my friend.
Comes as a complete & total surprise to me.
I did notice this, though: "Associated Press Writer Amy Westfeldt contributed to this report."
That outfit's serious poison.
What AP chooses to print usually isn't nearly as important as what they don't. This one stumps me. What do they want, and who're they shilling for is all I'm left wondering.
That an article appeared a'tall, in view of every single person I pinged above probably never heard of this gift, is a mystery in & of itself.
How in the world did we miss this?
By the way, 1776 Reborn, welcome to Free Republic!
There are other references to it on the web, perhaps some will have better pics. Apparently it has been there for years, didn’t the article say something like 2004?
If you would like to post it on FR please do.
As a newbie on FR I can’t post more than once in
24 hours.
Got me, I'm thoroughly flummoxed.
Why I pinged abb.
The man's RUN the "Dinosaur Media DeathWatch" threads for a longgggggg time. Knows well of the AP & the rest of the print *&* broadcast media scoundrels better than anyone whose ever graced this forum. I'm betting even he's not heard of this memorial gift.
How about pinging your people to #40 or #41, steph.
Something smells here and as many as possible really should be made aware some kind of shenanigan's been pulled on us all. . ;^)
"By the way, 1776 Reborn, welcome to Free Republic!"
I'll second that.
Can't tell if they're a him or her; but, they're smart & aware.
That's all that matters to me. ;^)
Thank you kindly, my friend.
Didn't know the old man put restriction(s) on newcomers. Now I do.
Hey, steph?
How's about starting a stand alone thread on this matter?
I'd do it myself, but am on my way out the door & will be tied up for a few hours.
This is really pretty important, y'know?
If you can, you da man!! LOL
Thanks, my friendS. ;^)
This must be one of the funniest stories I have ever read. Certainly, it accurately represents fact, though the story itself may not be true. I’d guess that it is true.
FWIW, Snopes says it’s real. Don’t recall us here at FR discussing it, though.
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/tributes/teardrop.asp
Tear Drop Monument
Incredible. Just like hand to hand combat!
“him” Grant
I posted this yesterday on another thread about deer, perhaps after hearing about your buddy I would not have been so excited as I was -
This is a true story, and my hand on a bible it happened exactly like this -
I came home from work a few years ago and it was a couple of days after opening day for firearm. It was a bad day and as I walked into the bedroom upstairs my wife was getting ready for work, she was stressed from dealing with the kids so neither of us were pleasant company.
We were bickering about this and that while I changed clothes and I happened to glance out the window to the front yard. Standing on the hill was a nice 8 point buck, and just behind it was a smaller 4 pointer grazing on my grass.
I thought about it for about a 1/2 second then without saying a word I walked into the closet, grabbed my shotgun loaded a couple of shells and then walked over and took the screen down. As I was cranking the window open my wife was just staring at me, she didn’t see the deer yet and was wondering what I was doing.
As I chambered a slug and raised it my wife said:
“Are you going to shoot that thing in the house?!?!”
“Yep”
“Is it going to be loud?”
*snicker* “No honey, it’s never loud when you shoot a shotgun inside the house.”
*BOOM*
“Oh you jackass!...”
*snicker again*
The big buck dropped after about 4 steps, kicked a few times and then expired. Now that I was feeling instantly better about the day and my wife was even more irate than she had been I walked outside to see if it needed a finishing shot.
As I walked up to it to make sure I heard a “snort” coming from the trees, I look over and the little buck was just standing there staring at me. I didn’t think anything of it so I went back to rolling the dead one over when I heard another snort, this time he had walked about ten yards closer and was pawing with one hoof at the dirt.
I was only allowed the one deer so I pointed my gun towards the hillside behind him and shot another round to scare him off. (I have no neighbors withing 3/4 miles, rural Indiana)
The damn thing didn’t even blink an eye, just took a couple of more steps closer and snorted again. I though to myself “no way is the C.O. going to believe I had to kill this deer in self defense”. I then realized I only put two shells in the gun, and I now all I had was a Mossberg shaped club.
It started walking closer and I put the gun on my shoulder like a baseball bat, and I will never forget how much I was enjoying the thought of going close quarters with it. I have never hunted something that was actually willing to fight back, and it had the adrenaline really flowing. Just as it was close enough for me start taking a swing my wife opened the d*mn garage door and the thing spooked and jumped back and disappeared in the woods.
I still wish I had that chance to grapple with it, I knew I would end up getting roughed up and maybe hurt but I SO wanted to be able to tell that story to my friends. I would have paid to have that small 4 point stuffed over any other I bagged in a heartbeat.
At least you didn't wreck your shotgun.
Two Words:
Squirrel Grenade
ROFL! Thanks for the laugh of the day.
Thanks for the ping, Slings.
De nada.
I’ll never look at a squirrel again the same way!
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