1. I caught my first animal.
2. I'm going to start using dash's, because numbering will imply linear thought.
-I caught a white-tailed deer this morning. A buck. Nice set of antlers.
-It is sitting in my mom's garage tonight. Hanging from the ceiling.
-My renter, Juan, and my father-in-law, Chris, helped me lift it to the
ceiling. ( not easy with 3 men, even for a 'little white-tail')
-I shot it by accident.
-I had to drag it about a mile through the bush to get it to the truck. Not easy
-I had a little moment with it where I thanked it, and evaluated my intentions and the 'rightness' of it all'.
-It was much harder to hit then a paper target at the shooting range.
-My father-in-law is much more picky about what he shoots. I'd take anything: he'll only take the best.
-I met a native man. At one point i asked about what he'd bought for tags, and he said "I'm sorry to say, but I'm native", (which means he doesn't have to buy tags, he just hunts what he wants... lucky) to which I replied, "Don't be sorry about that, that's awesome". An interesting interaction. I really liked the guy.
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He and his friend shoot 300 caliber. Same as Doral Pilling. One was shooting Win Mag, the other Ultra Mag. Doral shot 300 H&H. All very similar.
He and his friend shoot 300 caliber. Same as Doral Pilling. One was shooting Win Mag, the other Ultra Mag. Doral shot 300 H&H. All very similar.
-I was sure I'd gag and vomit while cutting a human-sized animal open to gut it. I'm a very delicate person. I didn't gag once.
-Hanging a deer from Arta's garage gives me pause on hanging something 3-5 TIMES as big.... like an elk or moose.
-Some people find their peace in yoga, or church, or reading or painting. I have found mine in the forests of Alberta.
=Chris's bone-saw broke while I was cutting the breast bone. Funny that you buy something once for a specific job... and then it breaks.
-Watching U-tube videos did help prepare me for gutting
-I still love my dog, and he still loves me after killing something.
-Out out damn spot... the blood washes off pretty easily.
-You catch things when you don't go out expecting them.
-Doe stare at the buck. If you see doe in the distance, and you think that they're looking at something, they're probably looking at the buck. So don't bother with them. Just look to where they look and you'll find the big buck.
-Four pair of socks isn't enough at -25.
-Three pairs of skinny finger gloves isn't as good as 1 pair of fingers, and 1 pair of wind-proof mitts.
-Hunting with a ridiculous mustache makes you look silly when you're ready for your picture with your animal.
-Hunting is exhausting.
-The worst day of hunting is still wonderful.
-A forced 8-12 hours of sitting in the mountains with binoculars is very centering.
-If you don't have moose tags you'll see a million moose.
-Coyotes will sit in a field for hours. We saw one, went for lunch for 2 hours, and it almost hadn't moved when we came back. Cute little field dogs.
-Three hundred caliber that Doral used is good enough for moose (good enough for the biggest animals), and is good to 1000 yards if you've got a sweet custom rifle set up. The guy with the native was sporting the sickest rifle EVER!!!! a 6x18 leopold, with a glass bedded long action 7mm, converted to a 300 ultra mag... so sick. unbelievable. Probably $3000 worth of rifle and glass.
-Arta's great. Using my freezing hands after 12 hours of the cold on her, I woke her up, put my cold hands on her face, and she smiled the most beautiful smile.
I didn't think this would end up sticking so well for me...I haven't felt a hobby feel so natural before.
-We hit an elk on the way out at 5 am for this hunt. It ran across the road as we were driving out of the city. We hit it's butt with the corner of the car. It was fine enough to jump over a fence. So it was ok, but I'd have loved it if we could have taken it home. Road kill by us i'm willing to tag; just not old roadkill that I don't know how long it's been dead. Did some reading and that's the way it is. Meat is delicious if you field dress right away. not if you don't.
-I have almost as much familiarity with the area we're hunting as the street that I grew up on. We knnow that area.
-I'm not sure if I'm going to fly my butcher friend Mike out to help cut up this one, or wait for something bigger. This one's pretty big.
-Cleaning my father-in-law's old rifle turned it from crappy accuracy, to laser accurate. Just takes a little love and care.
-This animal won't last the year, so I'll need more meat then just this one.... will have to go out again.
I have one question. You say that you shot the animal by accident. What does that mean?
ReplyDeleteI can figure out how a car can accidently hit an animal that runs across the road and is in front of it, by accident.
But I am having trouble with the other concept. Help me out.
Pulling the trigger was the least enriching part of this experience. I'd be just as happy sitting in the fields for hours at a time, and then taking a box of meat home. That didn't answer the question.
ReplyDeleteWe scoped a little doe in the fields as day brake arrived. I said that I'd walk in if Chris would stay in the truck and give me directions with the walkie talkie.
As I walked in I walked passed a doe. Didn't see her, but heard her in the bush. meep!
Half way to where I'd see the first doe I spooked another out of some bushes up the hill from me. I dropped to a knee, got my sights on her, but she was at a good pace. No point in taking a shot at something running.
Chris directed me to the spot where we'd see 1 doe, and it had turned into 2. As I crested the hill he squaked on the wlkies "Richard, they've run up the hill, over the fence" which is the boundary of where we have permission to shoot. So no joy.
As I'm huffing and puffing staring at these does right out of range, they're both pointed up and to my left. So I glance over to the left, and 20 feet this side of the fence is the Buck. Real hunters pass up doe after doe in search of the buck. My first buck I stumble on...
So I drop to a knee, hold on the 'pocket', and my sights are jumping wildly from my heart rate. I'm going so fast that I can hardly keep my cross hairs on the pocket. White tail are runners. Mule deer will sit there for half an hour waiting for you to be ready, but white tail will run pretty much right away.
So after a second thought, I decide to keep on the pocket and pull. I cycle the action as fast as possible to get another bullet in the chamber, just in case I grazed it and I need to put another bullet on target. During my rushing I keep my eye on the deer to see where it'll go.
It stands for half a second, and falls like a sack of potatos. That doesn't happen unless you spine it. It's not what a hunter shoots for. If you hit the poket, they'll run 20 feet, and then fall. If you spine them then they fall right away.
So aiming at the bottom of the animal, behind the front leg, I end up hitting it close to the spine, along the neck.
It was an accident, not what I'd intended, but a lucky first hunters catch. It's not what I meant to do, it's not what you're supposed to do, but it's not wrong either. I got up to the animal and put a killing shot through the pocket to ensure that it wasn't still alive. it's body relaxed and the bowels released, and it passed.
I'm going to go plug my truck in to get to work, and then check on it again. Maybe whip some vinegar in the cavity to ensure that no enzymes or bacteria are going to ruin my pride and joy.
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