Today’s 9:30 thing also took more time than I expected and I got to the WMU after lunch. This and that, by the time I decided where to go, it was around one. Not much time, really. I drove a bit on a trail that no one has been on for a while it seemed. No tracks, not much sign of moose either. I drove to the next spot I wanted to check out. Turned out to be a dud. Well, not a dud, but not something I wanted to explore further at this time. Sitting in the vehicle on the side of the road thinking if I should hike another little river and see what’s there, I saw some sun coming out and the day brightening up. So did my mood. Before that, the day was grey, windy, and cold, though the dashboard showed only 9C below zero. I was kind of discouraged when I left home - didn’t sleep enough, leaving later than I was planning, etc. I even almost stayed home, but did manage to drag myself out. Now that the sun was coming out and some blue sky showing up here and there, I said to myself “F it, I am going deer hunting!”
And so I did. Drove the Haul Road until I found what looked like a nice area to me, maybe with a potential to run into a moose, parked the vehicle, and started packing. When reaching for the knife, I could not find it. Lol. Ok. Of course I have a couple of spares, but definitely prefer the other one (my “back ups” are cheap Buck knives I picked up at Canadian Tire for $15 or something when they were on sale; I think I got a tip here in the found a good deal thread, if I recall correctly… or maybe I bought them and then saw someone mentioning them here… whatever, who cares). So I packed and I went.
Eventually, I found what looked like a fresh track and I followed it. I was fairly certain I was following a buck. Wide steps and real determination. The guy wouldn’t take a pause, walking from trail to thicket, then back to trail… I was cautious, but was still moving faster then I would like since I didn’t know how far behind I was. About 300 yards later (just a number out of my head, maybe more), the buck made his first stop to do this:
It was already frozen, and I know it takes only a couple of minutes at this temperature, but I thought I was behind quite a bit. Another 50 yards and I heard breaking branches in the thicket in front and thought surely I got made and the guy was taking off. I stopped still and listened, trying to figure out which way he was running. I then realized that the noise wasn’t moving anywhere but was coming from the same spot. The guy was making a ruckus just in front of me, behind some heavy brush. What do I do? Do I wait? Do I go? I decided to go. A few steps and the noise stopped. Through the brush, I could now see a buck walking away. And what a freaking buck! It could have been the brush and poor quick glance, but I was under the impression it would be the biggest buck in my personal books and probably the biggest buck I ever saw alive. But he was walking away and I could no longer see him. But I could hear him. I could hear where he was going too. Toward that sunny hill behind the brush:
At this point, I knew that if I was right, I would be able to reach him right from where I was standing, so I didn’t even have to do anything else. He didn’t seem concerned about me either when walking away: the wind was good and while he heard me, it was highly unlikely he saw me. Well, if he knew I was there, he’d be running, lol. So I waited. It was only about 50 yards to the bottom of the hill on a straight line. If I was wrong in my assumption… Well, I would just track him further, until I spooked him or got him. What else can a guy do?
It took a minute, but I finally saw through the brush a body of the deer starting up the hill. I raised my rifle and took off the safety. Looked like I could take the shot now, about 60-70 yards… There, fairly clear now… I yelled “Yo”, the buck stopped, I pulled the trigger. He made a sound like when you’ve got made, but much louder, lower, and deeper and ran up the hill and to the right. He kept making that sound and then it suddenly stopped. Ok, what’s next? I had never heard a deer making this sound before. Guess what happened next!
I saw another deer appearing from the thicket, a bit closer to me and on the left. I was still holding my rifle, so I put it back to my cheek and look at it through the scope. It was the big boy I thought I shot. Wtf? What I did I shoot then? I knew it was a whitetail and a buck (the rack was hard to see, but it was there) because I saw before pulling the trigger. The heart rate went back up (or higher), I could feel the adrenaline rushing in, the tingly feeling, the buck just standing there looking at me now… I knew I could “squeeze it” through the few branches, but I also knew I couldn’t. While I could squeeze it, I obviously couldn’t shoot because I already did at some, apparently, random buck. I lowered the gun, threw it back on my shoulder and grabbed the binoculars. Of course, that process wasn’t unnoticed by the big boy and he took off up and to the right while I watched him disappear through the binoculars. Damn… What a buck! Why?! Actually, more like “Whaaaaaaaaaaai?!” Lol.
I waited a few more minutes and listened. All was quite, so I went to the hill to where the buck I shot was standing. Track walking, changing to track running, and no blood. Not a drip. Common, give me a break, man. And the break I got, about 15 yards up (and to the left on) the hill:
Then more and now I understood why the deer was making that sound running and why there was no blood where it got hit:
While it looks like a close up photo (and it kind of is), but that is all there was in that spot - a few drops and that large whatever you call it. On that pic above, you can see (maybe?) that initially the entry wound was plugged until that particular spot where there is blood, flesh, and quite a bit of hair. Most likely, he got hit in the heart, triggering him to immediately run, but his lung, or both, but at least one, had also collapsed so he was really grasping for breath. Right after that wound opened up, it was very easy to follow and I knew I was going to find that deer rather sooner than later:
Very shortly after, I found the buck:
It was a good hit, a very good hit. I didn’t poke around too much because there wasn’t much time left in the day, but the heart was shot and his right lung was gone (the left side was ok from a very quick look; I didn’t gut it either). I was hoping to recover the bullet and that is why I poked around in the first place, but I couldn’t find. It didn’t exit, that’s for sure.
Anyway, I cut it all up and packed it out in two rounds.
Not bad, probably just over a kilometre to the vehicle. Yeah, I should have cut off the feet and whatnot, but it was a short distance. Definitely not fun walking through the deadfall and thicket in the dark though and there is lots of it in that neck of the woods. And I mean lots, lol.
I dropped the first load (including the rifle) once I cleared the thicket, but the second run was still in the complete darkness. One would think this is it. But there is a twist, lol.
When I finally got to the vehicle with the second load, I threw my jacket on the hood by the windshield on the passenger’s side. Loaded it all up, brought the first load that I left a bit behind, loaded that up and started driving. Not long after, all of a sudden, I saw this shadow passing by in the passenger’s window. Wtf? That was pretty weird. A few kilometres later I realized the shadow was my jacket, lol. So I turned around and found the jacket. Happy to finally be going home now, playing it all out in my head. A few kilometres later, it hits me: I never got the tenderloins out! Damn…
Some would probably keep driving, but I went back. I usually pick the carcass so that the birds do surely complain when I dump it in the woods and this time I didn’t do that great of a job, so leaving the tenderloins would definitely be a sin. So I went back and got them pulled:
Finally, I was on my way home…
P. S. I will post a couple of pics of the deer later. Still not sure how I feel about how the whole thing played out.
P. P. S. That cheap Buck knife did a hell of a job. I had two with me, but one was all I needed. And, in the rush, I did hit a bone here and there quite a few times. The blade sure is short though. Nonetheless, skinning the legs at home with a better knife was surely a pleasure though.
