The Deer Hunter

Note: This post is about deer hunting. If you're philosophically opposed to hunting or squeamish about the subject, please do not read any further.

I got my first deer of the season yesterday. She was a mature, fairly large, white-tailed doe. It was my third outing in several weeks.

This is the third year that I've been hunting and I've killed four deer. I hunt for two major reasons. First, it provides us with meat. Venison is a lean, healthy meat and since I started hunting, we haven't had to buy ground meat or breakfast sausage at the grocery store. Second, it's part of the wildlife management on our property. White-tailed deer are overpopulated in our part of the state. Their large numbers lead to shortages of food for them and causes problems for the environment and habitat as they eat everything they can.

As a certified Master Naturalist, I understand that everything in nature is in delicate balance. Mankind has disrupted that balance and part of our efforts are aimed at restoring it. In the case of white-tailed deer, we've removed or minimized their predators, such as cougars, wolves, and coyotes. We are also taking away the white-tailed deer habitat as our own population grows and our land becomes more developed. This means the deer exist in higher densities than they or the environment are adapted to, leading to problems.

I first went out three weeks ago but didn't shoot anything. I decided to just sit in the blind and observe the deer that came by and get a feel for the situation. In past years, I've shot the first animal I had a chance to, so this time I wanted to do it differently. I saw several deer, both bucks and does and also both the normal tan colored ones and the darker, melanistic variety. I also observed many birds as the day brightened including cardinals, wrens, and some I couldn't identify.

The second time was two weeks ago. I went out with my friend Paul and his son Matt. I was at one blind and Paul and Matt were at a different one about 1/4 mile away. I saw a large, 10 point buck and shot it even though my view was partially obscured by tall grass. That was my big mistake, because I only wounded the animal. Paul and Matt helped me track it for over two hours, but we never found it. I felt bad at having wounded a deer and causing it to be in pain until it died. My consolation was that its death would not be wasted. Even though it would not feed my family, it would provide food for the vultures and coyotes. I kept an eye to the sky that day and for several after, thinking I would see the vultures circling, but never did.

Paul, Matt and I went out again yesterday morning. I got my doe and Paul texted me that they had shot a buck. When I met up with them to review our gains, they told me that Matt had shot the same buck that I wounded!

We're pretty sure it was the same buck, because it was also a 10 point one and it had a wound in the skin over its chest that was about 2 weeks old and was healing over. What are the odds that it was a different deer?

I'm really glad that Matt killed the same deer that I wounded. It closes the event and will help feed Paul's family.