So last weekend I went to Arkansas for the Special Antlerless Rifle on Private Land hunt with my brother. Our land right now is so green and grown up it’s really hard to see anything unless you’re setting on a field. Those are currently occupied by some black angus at the moment.
So after two days of hunting we have nothing on the ground. First time in my life not harvesting at least 2 hunting there. But I’ve never hunted there this early. In all fairness there have been 4 wild dogs chasing deer and the cattle around. My brother said they’re about the size of German Shepherds. That might have something to do with it. Yeah, we’ll blame the dogs. That seems reasonable.
So towards the end of day two, I walk (slip, slide, and stumble) ever so gracefully, my way down the ridge I’m on to the creek bottom. There’s always deer in the creek bottoms. And there were this time too. You just couldn’t see them until they blew and gave you the whitetail version of the finger as they ran back up and over the ridge. So frustrating. I don’t know why they won’t just stand there and let me shoot them. Stupid self-preservation instincts.
So anywho, I’m walking down the creek, through the 10,000th spider web, and pop out into the field where my brother dropped me off. It’s getting dusk but I can see pretty well. Look up the small hill (still in the field) to my right, and I see a deer slowly feeding towards me. And here I am standing like an idiot about 10 yards out in the field. So I quietly (and hurriedly) walk backwards to the creek bank, slide one foot down and post up on a tree. Got this thing dead to rights. But I’m not sure how far it is because I don’t hunt fields there. Or anywhere for that matter. I hunt in the woods. But it’s got to be well over 100 yards and I’m shooting my 1894 44mag.
So this deer keeps making its way right to me ever so slowly and then another deer jumps out behind this one and starts walking the same direction. Now we’re talking...About 15-20 seconds later deer #2 runs up and (literally) headbutts the first deer right in the butt and takes off running. The chase is on.
There’s a small island in this field that’s nothing but a few trees and a bunch of thorny vines. Probably 25 yards across in a semicircle. And these two deer must have run up, through, and around that island 6 times. And then they stopped right where this all started looking into the woods. And that’s when momma jumped the fence into the field. She was a big doe. Very healthy.
They all looked at each other for a couple seconds and the yearlings took off again. (I figured they were yearlings when they started chasing each other.) Well now momma is just standing there all alone. Still don’t know the distance. But she’s broadside. About that time one of the yearlings circles back up the hill and jumps right over her back. She rears her head, kicks her back hooves out to the side, and the chase was on.
Now all three of them are running around and through the island. I swear they’re playing some whitetail version of “Tag” because they all chased each other. Even the yearlings would chase momma. So there they are. Jumping, hopping, kicking, up on their back legs, back down again, back through the island, now around it, and they have now made their way to no more than 70 yards from me. This whole thing has seriously lasted probably 10 minutes. It was constant playing. The yearlings go back up the hill and turn around to face her and momma is standing there slightly quartering away at ~70 yards looking up at them. It’s a chip shot for me and this rifle. And....I just couldn’t do it. Something inside me said “Nope. Not now. Not this day. This day is her’s to enjoy her babies.” So, I didn’t. I just stood there and intently watched her chase them all the way back up and into the woods. And it was a good day.
Sometimes, we as hunters put so much focus on the “success” of the hunt, that we totally miss out on the experience of the hunt, and the really awesome things we see hunting. I’ve never in all my life seen deer play like that, or for that long. But I honestly think I got more satisfaction from that hunt than maybe any deer hunt I’ve ever been on. An experience I won’t soon forget. I’ll harvest this year. I’ll put 2 or 3 deer in my brothers freezer. But now, I have a great memory to go with it.
So after two days of hunting we have nothing on the ground. First time in my life not harvesting at least 2 hunting there. But I’ve never hunted there this early. In all fairness there have been 4 wild dogs chasing deer and the cattle around. My brother said they’re about the size of German Shepherds. That might have something to do with it. Yeah, we’ll blame the dogs. That seems reasonable.
So towards the end of day two, I walk (slip, slide, and stumble) ever so gracefully, my way down the ridge I’m on to the creek bottom. There’s always deer in the creek bottoms. And there were this time too. You just couldn’t see them until they blew and gave you the whitetail version of the finger as they ran back up and over the ridge. So frustrating. I don’t know why they won’t just stand there and let me shoot them. Stupid self-preservation instincts.
So anywho, I’m walking down the creek, through the 10,000th spider web, and pop out into the field where my brother dropped me off. It’s getting dusk but I can see pretty well. Look up the small hill (still in the field) to my right, and I see a deer slowly feeding towards me. And here I am standing like an idiot about 10 yards out in the field. So I quietly (and hurriedly) walk backwards to the creek bank, slide one foot down and post up on a tree. Got this thing dead to rights. But I’m not sure how far it is because I don’t hunt fields there. Or anywhere for that matter. I hunt in the woods. But it’s got to be well over 100 yards and I’m shooting my 1894 44mag.
So this deer keeps making its way right to me ever so slowly and then another deer jumps out behind this one and starts walking the same direction. Now we’re talking...About 15-20 seconds later deer #2 runs up and (literally) headbutts the first deer right in the butt and takes off running. The chase is on.
There’s a small island in this field that’s nothing but a few trees and a bunch of thorny vines. Probably 25 yards across in a semicircle. And these two deer must have run up, through, and around that island 6 times. And then they stopped right where this all started looking into the woods. And that’s when momma jumped the fence into the field. She was a big doe. Very healthy.
They all looked at each other for a couple seconds and the yearlings took off again. (I figured they were yearlings when they started chasing each other.) Well now momma is just standing there all alone. Still don’t know the distance. But she’s broadside. About that time one of the yearlings circles back up the hill and jumps right over her back. She rears her head, kicks her back hooves out to the side, and the chase was on.
Now all three of them are running around and through the island. I swear they’re playing some whitetail version of “Tag” because they all chased each other. Even the yearlings would chase momma. So there they are. Jumping, hopping, kicking, up on their back legs, back down again, back through the island, now around it, and they have now made their way to no more than 70 yards from me. This whole thing has seriously lasted probably 10 minutes. It was constant playing. The yearlings go back up the hill and turn around to face her and momma is standing there slightly quartering away at ~70 yards looking up at them. It’s a chip shot for me and this rifle. And....I just couldn’t do it. Something inside me said “Nope. Not now. Not this day. This day is her’s to enjoy her babies.” So, I didn’t. I just stood there and intently watched her chase them all the way back up and into the woods. And it was a good day.
Sometimes, we as hunters put so much focus on the “success” of the hunt, that we totally miss out on the experience of the hunt, and the really awesome things we see hunting. I’ve never in all my life seen deer play like that, or for that long. But I honestly think I got more satisfaction from that hunt than maybe any deer hunt I’ve ever been on. An experience I won’t soon forget. I’ll harvest this year. I’ll put 2 or 3 deer in my brothers freezer. But now, I have a great memory to go with it.
