Friend Says Goodby

[Bass Ackward]

Came home from shooting yesterday and was hungry. Wife had supper ready and while we were eating, I saw movement over her shoulder. Looking out over the bushes at the end of my deck wall, was a 16" spread with broken off points just setting there. The bushes are only about 2 feet high, so I knew he was laying down.

I finished eating and the old softie I am, I got an apple to put out. When I opened the door, he didn't move, but I could tell his head moved toward the sound. I was talking to him while I split the apple. I walked closer to see better where to toss it and I could tell something was wrong. Distance was about 15 feet. We talked for awhile and I suspected he was getting nervous, and up he went, but only to slowly walk around the wall, down to me.

I recognised him now from the road rash scars that he and his mother received about two years ago when they were hit by a car. The mother was killed. Now only a few feet away, he stood motionless. I could see the blood dripping. Back then we fed him in the back yard while his wounds healed and he stayed there until one of the local does adopted him. I assume he left her for his own turf last year as we hadn't seen him for over a year. The closest woods from the house is about 200 yards away. And the grass between here and there is mowed lawn essentially. He stood there for awhile and I'll not mention our conversation. Then he slowly walked off. I watched where he went over and laid down and died about 60 yards away.

I got in the car and drove up the hill and walked into the woods. Here was a father and son, both on their knees, falsely trailing red spots on fallen maple leaves and it was getting dark. The boy was so excited and disappointed and I never let on, I walked them down and pointed out where he was laying. They thanked me and ran to claim their prise.

Animal behaviour can be very interesting.

[HollandNut]

Me an old softie too :drinks:

Interesting

[JDL]

Dog gone it Bass, Your're making this old softie have tears in his eyes. Sorry for your loss. -JDL

[dubber123]

We had a young 4 pt. that was hanging around the house, eating every flower we had. He didn't make it through bow season. A young kid down the road got him. I don't really know how to feel about it.

[felix]

Joe, that is why I am not a hunter I do believe. It would be entirely different if there were a herd of deer, duck, goose in that back yard meant for slaughter. Well, maybe not in my case. I picked up my share of geese that I shot out of the sky that still had life enough to make me sad about the entire hunting arena. I still to this day close my eyes shooting a shotgun. Analysis: I don't want to hit the target. ... felix

[HollandNut]

I only meat hunt these days , once I get a couple deer I stop for the season ..

My only trophy hunting has been AK and Africa , neither of which , I will be able to go to again most likely ..

If it were me , the more I think about it , unless they would have positively found the ole boy , I doubt I'd a told 'em where he was , and wudda probly took him and buried him near the house ..

[Larry Gibson]

fishhawk

Same here, if some knew the tears I've shed over the animals I've killed (many of both) it would ruin my reputation.

Larry Gibson

[Ricochet]

Animal behaviour can be very interesting.
Yep. And not strange at all that he came to you, who'd helped him before when he was hurt and frightened. He felt safe there, and expected that somehow you'd help him again. They don't just run on blind instinct.

It was very kind and merciful of you not to tell the hunters what you knew. You're a good man, BA!

[doc25]

Yep. And not strange at all that he came to you, who'd helped him before when he was hurt and frightened. He felt safe there, and expected that somehow you'd help him again. They don't just run on blind instinct.

It was very kind and merciful of you not to tell the hunters what you knew. You're a good man, BA!



+1! The circle of life.

[Trailblazer]

I know how you feel. There was a young tame deer that wandered onto the farm when I was a kid. We fed it and petted it and it hung around thereafter. When it got older it wouldn't come up to us but it still hung around. We heard somebody else had been feeding it. I went away to the Army and my folks told me somebody killed it the next season.

I am always a little sad when I kill something and I do a little ceremony. On the other hand I sometimes scare myself with how blood thirsty I can be! The human animal is a complex creature.

[Lee]

Thanks all. It reinforces my opinions and feelings about hunting. There are times when I wonder if it's better to just not hunt rather than have that experience.
You all reinforce my convictions, I know now that I am not alone
....................Thanks..............Lee:wink:

Now back to the hunt.................

[mark348]

i beleive it is an old european custom,,,, but i place the last bite of grass into the mouth of deer i have killed,,, and take time to give thanks for the hunt and the beauty of the animal,,,taking an active role in the life cycle is a wonderful thing,,,, but it is the hunt i cherish,,, never the kill

[mstarling]

Bass Ackwards,

My condolensces. It's hard to lose a friend.

Must admit that I go out of my way to avoid making friends with the deer hereabouts because they have provided many dinners over the years. Must also admit that I try very hard to make sure the herd has enough to survive in bad years. Must also admit that I have not shot deer after watching them for a while. Sometimes just can't do it. Have been known to take one out of a group that has been keeping a younger one from lunch.

I can surely see how one could become attached. They are beautiful creatures.

[Nueces]

BA, thanks for sharing that, 'twas quite touching.

Mark

[BD]

You're a good man BA.

[Jim]

If there's any room left on the "Ol' Softy" bench, scoot over and lemme sit down. Last time I fired a shot at anything that would bleed was the fall of '93.
Mind you, I have no problem with hunters. I'll do anything I can to help a man get a good, clean kill. I'm just not interested in doing it myself.

[HollandNut]

The bench are gettin' full aint it :drinks:

[Bass Ackward]

Before you guys put me on some sort of pedestal or something, I want you to understand that I still do hunt. I was heart felt once I realized that I knew the deer, and that I had saved it's life once before. I do have sorta have pets here that I can feed by hand. But I do realize that they are free ranging and all I did was postponed what eventually happened.

What I found most disturbing is that the deer apparently DID remember that I helped him once and apparently wanted me to do the same thing again. And this is what made me sick that I could not.

But he was hunted fairly and shot in accordance with state law, so I felt that he didn't need to go to waste if at all possible. And the hunters did not deserve any of my emotion. Not their problem.

It still .... concerns me that I wasn't able to help him. I am alergic to beef now ever since the gulf war. Deer and other wild game is the only red meat I can eat, so I still hunt. Just don't mis interpret my motives please.

[Thumbcocker]

This thread raises some very old but still profound issues. We cannot cut the grass or drive a car on a summer evening without taking lives. Anyone who eats meat or even salad is in some way part of a chain that has taken lives. After a lot of pondering I think that the most important thing is how you take the lives and how you feel when you do it. I am very disturbed about the trend that is promolgated by the "hunt industry" that tries to make something as sacred as hunting a numbers game and reduces a critter that has just given up it's life to inches and pounds.

Every critter I have made into meat is special and sacred. I always thank them and give them their last bite. How many hunters contirbute to wildlife habatat or feed the birds or do other things for the good of the critters. I would wager it is a lot of them.

As I get older I realize how much we have in common with all living things and that makes me want to take the critters I kill cleanly and not waste the meat. I don't need to hunt. My family could buy a years worth of meat for what we spend in hunting and shooting supplies. I choose to hunt because it makes me a link in a chain that goes back through the centuries and puts me in touch with who I am and gives me prespective. I am proud of the fact that my family usually has all of our red meat form critters we have taken.

There is nothing wrong with loving the critters you hunt.

In the case of your friend could it be that he was meant to be the first deer for someone ? Maybe that boy is now a hunter and has a whole new view of live and his place in it. It is an awsome responsibility to take a life. Maybe your friend died so that a new hunter could be born. Maybe they were both meant to be liks in the chain.

Thumbcocker

[jjamna]

Thunbcocker sait exactly what I was thinking. If I had a friend like that I would hope that a youngin got it for their first deer and not some blood thirsty savage- there are some out there.

[HollandNut]

I aint takin ya wrong , IMO if we feel the way we have mentioned here , then there are a few of us who still have some ethics .. It's more than meat on the table , it's a life and sacred , and shud be treated as such :drinks:

[HABCAN]

Gentlemen, I am proud to 'know' you all! I could not agree with your sentiments more.

[gregg]

Oldest boy trying to get his girl friend to deer hunt with us.
She had a bad experance with her dad once. I tried to tell
her it was a bitter-sweet thing. Hunt is sweet but the kill is bitter
but nessary.

[Winger Ed.]

But he was hunted fairly and shot in accordance with state law, so I felt that he didn't need to go to waste if at all possible. And the hunters did not deserve any of my emotion. Not their problem. .

Well done, and well said.
I'm proud of ya.

.