Why I hunt with a rifle

[fishncliff]

This was sent to me in an e-mail from South Dakota, Author Unknown.

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 r ope. T he 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 ac ross 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 braci ng 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 it 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 ââ,¬'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 bejesus 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 yo u 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 so that they can be somewhat equal to the Prey

[No Fences]

I loved this story. It's been here before, but still a good one.

[Dan360]

Wow. I really wished this was caught on tape. It would have been great on COUNTRY FRIED VIDEOS!

[Quaka Wacka]

I don't know if this story is true or not. But have heard several first hand accounts of attempting to rope a deer. Most involved alcohol and started off with, "Hey I've got an Idea" All attempts were equally as sucessful as this one.

[Dan360]

This is exactly why men's insurance rates are higher. So many times, our last words are: "hey, watch this!" and "hold my beer!"

[Art Vandeley]

Originally Posted by Dan360

This is exactly why men's insurance rates are higher. So many times, our last words are: "hey, watch this!" and "hold my beer!"

Those phrases sound all to familiar!

Mitch

[JustSteve]

Originally Posted by Dan360

This is exactly why men's insurance rates are higher. So many times, our last words are: "hey, watch this!" and "hold my beer!"

Don't forget his best friend's last words... "heck man, I kin do that, he just don't know what he was doin'...hold ma beer"

[firepower]

That story is hilarious! You guys crack me up!

[chromecatcher]

Great story. True or not I laughed my @ss off.