There are times that a hunter is too tired to carry the deer home. There are some ways which he can use the preserve the deer until he come back for the deer.
Speaking of being tired, I had another experience with deer in Kennebec County. This time, however, I wasn't deer hunting, but had been out after small gamesquirrels, rabbits, birdswith my single-shot 16 gauge. When I started for home shortly before dark, passing through a swamp, I jumped a good buck. Since my gun was loaded with birdshot, I made no effort to get him, but continued my walk homeward. We had three hunting licenses in the family that year, one of them had been filled the deer was hanging in the shedso I had no real use for another. But what real deer hunter can resist the impulse to put a shell loaded with buckshot into his gun when he sees a good buck and knows he's in good deer country! This is what I did, and when I saw another deer shortly afterwards, I could not resist throwing lead at the small buck.
By the time he was dressed out, it was beginning to get dark. I thought of that long, uphill drag to the house. This was a little too much for me to take and I began to feel sorry that I'd given in to the impulse. I decided to hang the deer and return later in the week for it. The weather was cold enough to keep the meat and we did not need it at home. I was in an area of cedars and small firs, with nothing handy to use as an aid in hanging the deer so I cut him in half crossways and hung each half in smooth-boled cedars, high enough to be out of reach of dogs and foxes.
Well, time went onas time has a habit of doing and I didn't get back to the deer for at least ten days. A companion was to carry one half while I handled the other. It would thus be a simple task for us to bring the meat out of the woods. When we approached the trees where the deer hung, we began to see an increasing number of fox tracks. Something was wrong! Perhaps a limb had broken and let one of the halves fall to the ground? I hoped it was the forward half rather than the more valuable rear half. No such luck! The remains of the hind quarters were strewed over the ground at the foot of the tree. The forward half was still hanging in its place and we walked over to see what had happened. When I looked at the tree, I knew. I had not seen a bobcat's tracks in that area for several years, but a bobcat was responsible for the condition of that deer. There were his telltale claw marks on the bark where he had tried to pull the two quarters of meat from the limb.
Did you ever see bobcat work on a deer? Well, this one had eaten practically every bit of meat from the fore quarters yet had not disturbed the hide, which hung there empty, giving the appearance of an undisturbed piece of meat. I suppose these cats have a place in the world and I don't mind giving them a feed once in a while, but if I had had that one at my mercy at that moment, I would have gladly killed it and waived the bounty. On the other hand, probably my inherent Yankee thrift would have prevented such foolish action. I would have gone back for his scalp.
IF a hunter wants to leave the deer for quite sometime, he can hang the deer, which in a good distance from the ground, this way will keep the deer in a better condition and away from the attack of the fox or others attacker. |
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