I know deer season started this weekend. On the way to town Friday afternoon, I saw two pickup trucks in the middle of a field at the house by the low water bridge. Two guys were standing beside them talking. I know that hunters get stuff ready and head to deer camp. Or just secure permission to hunt in somebody's field, and go out before sunrise to sit in a tree stand. I'm pretty sure the legal hunting time is between dawn and dusk. I know there's a law against "spotlighting," which is shining a light on deer to mesmerize them for easy shooting.
So I figured this was a couple of hunters taking stock of their plans or successes or failures at 3:30 p.m. I went on up the road about a quarter mile, and saw a dog in the field across from the old sheep farm. He was sniffing something. IT WAS A DEER! A small deer on the ground. Not moving. My mind deduced that perhaps this was a deer that had been shot, which had continued to run, until it succumbed to its wound. A deer doesn't just lie down in a field late-afternoon. It was bigger than a fawn.
The more I considered the scenario, the more I became convinced that those two hunters had shot this deer, and were discussing why they could not find it. There was another house with lots of acreage between this property and the field across from the sheep. It's not like they could track it by walking or driving through other people's land.
On the way home, the dog was gone, but the deer still lay in the field. Not moving. Had those "hunters" been closer to the road, I might have stopped and shared my info on the deer location. Just in case it was theirs. It's a shame for a deer to go to waste.
When I got T-Hoe down our driveway, I called Farmer H, who was at his regular Friday afternoon bull-shooting session with his buddies.
"Hey. Is it deer season yet? Did it start today?"
"No. It starts Saturday morning. Gun season. It's bow season now."
"Well, I saw two guys and their trucks in the field where people are always mowing, and I think maybe they killed a little deer that's in the field across from the sheep farmer. I didn't see an arrow sticking out of it..."
"They coulda shot one."
"If they were closer, I would have stopped and said, 'The deer you poached is in the field up the road, by the curve.' Heh, heh! Probably not. But still, a deer shouldn't go to waste. You can see it on your way home if you look."
"Yeah. I'll look for it. They coulda shot one early, and were gonna wait till morning to check it in."
We'll never know. That poor deer is rotting in the field. Needlessly.
6 comments:
I hate waste!
Kathy,
Yes! Even if they shot it legally with an arrow, that deer died for nothing. If was being eaten, fine. At least something wild can feast on it, I guess. And hunting season IS for culling deer so that other deer can have food to survive through the winter. So there's that...
You went along the road about a quarter of a mile, so not too far that you couldn't turn back and tell them? is it too awkward to turn back? Is the road too narrow? That is a shame about the deer being wasted.
River,
There's a place to turn around right there! The entrance where the sheep farm has its gate. HOWEVER, that's not the issue. Even if I went back, I'd still be on the blacktop road. The "hunters" were out in the middle of a field. Not within hollering distance from the road. That would require me going up their gravel driveway, then driving T-Hoe out into the middle of their field. No way I could walk that far on uneven ground. Besides, I'm not about to take the risk of barging in on two guys who most likely have guns! Especially if they might be guilty of poaching.
No, all you had to do was turn back, honk the horn until they looked at you, then point in the direction of the deer and make "antlers" on your head. If they didn't understand that, they deserve to lose the deer.
River,
That ain't happenin'!
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