Rural Life – ugly sometimes
Gone hunting lately? Someone did. Deer season opened – first bows, then firearms. We heard shots this morning.
I get a call from a hunter telling us he shot a deer and it jumped our barbed wire fence and ran off through our woods. Could he come track it down? “Sure,” I told him – I’ll meet you at the gate.” Last thing I wanted was an injured animal in pain.
He came in with two friends and a boy. Seems the boy made a gut shot, and the father didn’t back him up. Anyway, they tracked it for almost a quarter mile. Dragging it out of the woods, guts were dangling loose from a three inch hole in this fine eight-point buck. I watched as they loaded it on the truck bed. They said, “Thanks, we’ll be going now.”
“Not so fast, buckaroo, where’s your tags?” Now, visualize I’ve got them and their truck locked on my property. I get to say when they leave.
“Well, Mam, I got my tags, but I don’t have a pen to fill it out.” He’s looking at me like that’s a good excuse.
“You mean, you got three men and a boy, in a truck hunting, without a pen to fill out your tag and secure it to the carcass? I’m not comfortable with a carcass leaving my place without a proper tag on it. Maybe I need to call the Game Warden and ask his advice.”
“Let me look again.” He goes rummaging through the truck again, and miraculously finds one; so he fills it out then finds a string to attach it to an antler. I’m not a hunter, so I don’t know if he did it right or not.
I’m thinking, I don’t like this at all. Something ain’t right. Anyway, I escort them back to the gate.
I’m going down to the corner to see where he says he shot the buck. Dammit! It didn’t jump the fence, he shot it next to the woods on my property. I am furious. If I want hunting on my private land, I get to say who can do it. The pool of blood, fur fragments and angle of the bullet as it tore into the ground made me sick at my stomach. I can’t imagine what it took for that animal to move that far with a hole that big. Huge drops of water hit the ground all around me. The rain is coming down in torrents. I’m standing here feeling too many emotions to handle at one time. Gotta get back to the house.
P.S. What does it take to live within the law and regulation? Hunting is regulated first to manage the populations of wild deer, in the best interest of maintaining health, lessen disease and possibly starvation. The good consequence is sport for food consumption, fewer to become roadkill and create liability, and more.
I respect rights to hunt. Obviously, what this guy did is illegal, and in my perspective immoral. What he did was not hunting, but poaching, the way I see it. What can I do about it? Nothing.
The rain washed away the evidence. I try to see purpose in everything that happens. So … I’m posting for a reason too.
If you know someone that hunts deer:
1. If you are teaching your kid to hunt, back him up with a kill shot if needed. Suffering is not just an inconvenience.
2. Respect the property of others. A shot into unknown private land could buy you a very expensive bull or cow, even if you’re lucky enough not to kill someone.
3. Participate and support the industry with integrity and character. One careless selfish deed destroys reputations.
That’s it.
What a dreadful story! Hunting for food is one thing; doing it on someone else’s enclosed land without their permission is quite another. This man obviously does not have very high moral standards: he lies, he poaches. What else does he do? And in front of his son too. Another generation learning disrespect for Law, not to mention Other People’s Property, and Life in general.
I’m sorry you had to go through all of that commotion! I would be upset too! I have nothing against hunting as long as you follow the rules and regulations. It is frustrating that they took advantage of your good nature and trust. It’s times like this I believe in Karma and I am sure they will get it back in tenfold!
Some people don’t believe in Karma – but I’ve seen it in action! I trust once, and usually just once!
I have no problem with hunting, in season and by the rules. To be perfectly frank, I have no problem with sport hunting, particularly if the people doing so dress the carcass properly and make arrangements for processing and distribution of the meat to others.
However. Adults who hunt have a responsibility to hunt with skill, and to be sure that young hunters understand what is required of them. Too many are trigger-happy, and take poor shots.
As for poaching there are ways to deal with it, though you have to be cautious if the hunter has a gun and you don’t. One friend out by Uvalde spends all deer season with a camera flip phone in his pocket at all times. All it takes is a photo of a carcass and a license plate to make the discussion with a game warden a little more interesting.
Oh gosh, so sorry you had to be paraded through this mans escapades. Being raised in the rural community, I grew up with my dad hunting every season along with his mirage of friends. Your three points I completely agree with, to participate and support the industry with integrity and character. You tell ‘em!
I believe the ability to hunt and secure food must be recognized and maintained. Some have that ability, and others do not. My own dad could not hunt with a gun, because if he sited any living thing – he could not pull the trigger.
With that hunting ability comes responsibility – and more people should promote that and not quietly turn away when somebody just wants the benefits. Integrity is not just a word!
I’m sorry you had that story to tell, but I’m glad you told it. And you told it well, as you usually do.
I have a routine I have developed to deal with people doing rotten things– I’m not sure where it comes from- maybe ‘divine inspiration’?? Anyway, it goes like this:
You know how we can point to an image on a computer screen, tap a button, and further info appears? Well, in the afterlife, there is the cosmic equivalent of that, so when we ‘point’ it at someone, their ENTIRE LIFE is revealed to us!!
So we get to see every good thing and every bad thing that person ever did, along with all the future consequences streaming from each act!
This brings me some comfort when I think about occurrences like this one– this jerk will have the entirety of the good he will have done sullied a bit by this deed, and every other stupid, selfish thing he ever did, visible to all, for all eternity.
How’s that for the punishment fitting the crime?
The only thing that keeps this from being completely satisfying? It will apply to me, too!!
That could be a sobering revelation to a thinking mind!
Wow! People that wish to follow the rules should loose the ability to hunt for some time to learn them. Hunting in this way is wrong! Sad that the buck had to suffer like that. Stay safe.
All the best!
I sure hope that, um, jerk has enough brain cells not to come near your land again. He has no idea how close he came to suffering the wrath of June!
Haha, and one wonders why older people can get so nasty! It’s called protective mode against idiocy!
Thanks for visiting me!
(Just noticed this theme has lost it’s labels below for subscribing. Will fix that!)
Hi,
Oh my that is disgusting, I don’t like people that hunt animals at all, I do realize that they are allowed to do it, same as here in Australia, there are rules, and regulations, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
I also would of been furious to find out that the poor animal was shot on my private land.
I felt I naturally owed him the respect of his right to hunt legally. In return he violated my trust and right to my private property. With interactions of each party based on the laws of the land – he totally disregarded the ‘laws’ of morality.
He lied to me, suffered an innocent animal, and trespassed. This weakens the fabric of any society. What did he expect to gain? Is it really the eight-point buck, or is it something else?