What a refreshing weekend...despite the freezing rain, high winds, and drizzle.
Friday, I hunted with my dad & uncle, and their friend Steve. Between the four of us, not a single deer was spotted the entire day. To our recollection, this was unprecedented. But that all changed later that night. We were on our way home from the Pizza Cellar in Princeton, about 1/2 mile from camp. Uncle Dave was driving his truck, Dad was in the front passenger seat, and I was sitting behind him. All of a sudden, Steve, who was sitting next to me, shouted, "deer....Deer....DEEER!"
At the second exclamation, I caught a flash of antlers above brown and white lighting, racing like a torpedo towards the passenger door.
Time stood still for a moment and then....BOOM.
Dave never even saw it coming. When he got stopped and turned around, the deer had made it about 70 yards out in the field, but was obviously servery injured.
We called the Sheriff to report the accident and waited for him to come fill out a report. We ended up shooting and cleaning it ourselves, so it wasn't a total waste. Quite an expensive deer, however, with a $500 deductible!
Yesterday morning, I was sitting in the drizzle and was about to head back to the shed when I heard some commotion in the brush. But there was something out of the ordinary. The crackle of ice on the leaves was accompanied by a clanking sound that brought forth images of escaped prisoners clad in iron shackles. It got louder by the moment and suddenly a ghost-like creature emerged from the shadows. It was a giant coyote that had apparently been caught in a foot-hold trap, but managed to pull the stake from the ground and was now wearing some iron jewelry.
I knew this animal would not survive long, as a predator with an alarm on its foot would have no chance of catching prey. The cross hairs settled on my target and with a single, thundering shot, she was dispatched.
It is good to be in the woods. It doesn't matter if the sun is shining or you are getting pelted with ice. Any bad day in the woods beats the best day in the office.
2 comments:
that was a very disturbing picture!
why would you kill this animal?
were you in danger that the coyote would come after you? or, why wouldn't you try to save it?
did you even use the meat from the coyote or did you just shoot it and leave it there?
i agree that the woods are nice...but gunshots and dead animals everywhere is not!
maybe you didn't read the part about it dragging a trap on its foot. it was doomed.
and no one eats coyotes. do you eat dogs?
the hides are sold.
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