Just jawin'
Posted: 08 Nov 2012 08:28
My son, Mike, has been searching for some property in the country. On Tuesday he took me to see the home he and his wife looked at recently. Very nice setting about three miles from the nearest town and with some neighbors, but none very close. We saw so much deer sign that we were amazed at the apparent population of whitetails there, we even managed to spook a doe that jumped out from beneath some honeysuckles and then posed for us before running off and picking up a few friends to run with too.
We approached a small pond , Mike ahead of me (old guys can never keep up) when he said there's a deer in the pond. Sure enough, it was a partially submerged buck. Since bucks are only legal targets with archery tackle at this time we wanted to see whether this one dies of injuries inflicted with an arrow. Mike made an improvised lasso using his belt although I told him he could get more length if he used mine. With the antlers snagged we pulled the deer out. No apparent wounds on the left side so I rolled him over, no visible wounds there either. Then I spotted a hole in the front leg. This deer had been arrowed through the flat muscle above the knee joint both legs and also had the arrow zip through the lower chest just above the breast bone. We wondered how long he had suffered before he died.
On the ride home that afternoon we saw another dead buck, this one hit by the 10 wheeler dump truck in front of us. Killed the deer and rolled the truck onto its side! Makes you weak kneed seeing an accident right in front of you. I ran to the truck, relieved to peer under the truck and see the door drop down and the driver emerge with no apparent injuries.
We approached a small pond , Mike ahead of me (old guys can never keep up) when he said there's a deer in the pond. Sure enough, it was a partially submerged buck. Since bucks are only legal targets with archery tackle at this time we wanted to see whether this one dies of injuries inflicted with an arrow. Mike made an improvised lasso using his belt although I told him he could get more length if he used mine. With the antlers snagged we pulled the deer out. No apparent wounds on the left side so I rolled him over, no visible wounds there either. Then I spotted a hole in the front leg. This deer had been arrowed through the flat muscle above the knee joint both legs and also had the arrow zip through the lower chest just above the breast bone. We wondered how long he had suffered before he died.
On the ride home that afternoon we saw another dead buck, this one hit by the 10 wheeler dump truck in front of us. Killed the deer and rolled the truck onto its side! Makes you weak kneed seeing an accident right in front of you. I ran to the truck, relieved to peer under the truck and see the door drop down and the driver emerge with no apparent injuries.