[SOC] Fwd: Roping A Deer

[Bill Cunningham K4KSR]

Potential SOC member.


> ........................................................................................................
> Roping A Deer------- (Names have been removed to protect the Stupid!)
>
> Actual letter from someone who farms, and writes well!
>
> I had this idea that I was going to rope a deer, put it in a stall,  
> feed
> it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it.
>
> The first step in this adventure was getting a deer. I figured that,
> since they congregate at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much
> fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up
> and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck  
> not 4
> feet away), it should not be difficult to rope one, get up to it and
> toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it and  
> transport
> it home.
>
> I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end with my rope.
>
> The cattle, having seen the roping thing before, stayed well back.  
> They
> were not having any of it.
>
> After about 20 minutes, my deer showed up -- 3 of them. I picked out a
> likely looking one, stepped out from the end of the feeder, and  
> threw my
> rope. The deer just stood there and stared at me.
>
> I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would  
> have a
> good hold. The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you could
> tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation.
>
> I took a step towards it...it took a step away. I put a little tension
> on the rope and then received an education.
>
> The first thing that I learned is that, while a deer may just stand
> there looking at you funny while you rope it, they are spurred to  
> action
> when you start pulling on that rope.
>
> That deer EXPLODED.
>
> The second thing I learned is that pound for pound, a deer is a LOT
> stronger than a cow or a colt. A cow or a colt in that weight range I
> could fight down with a rope and with some dignity.
>
> A deer-- no chance.
>
> That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled. There was no
> controlling it and certainly no getting close to it. As it jerked me  
> off
> my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it occurred to me
> that having a deer on a rope was not nearly as good an idea as I had
> originally imagined.
>
> The only up side is that they do not have as much stamina as many  
> other
> animals.
>
> A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired and not nearly as quick to jerk
> me off my feet and drag me when I managed to get up. It took me a few
> minutes to realize this, since I was mostly blinded by the blood  
> flowing
> out of the big gash in my head. At that point, I had lost my taste for
> corn-fed venison. I just wanted to get that devil creature off the end
> of that rope.
>
> I figured if I just let it go with the rope hanging around its neck,  
> it
> would likely die slow and painfully somewhere. At the time, there  
> was no
> love at all between me and that deer. At that moment, I hated the  
> thing,
> and I would venture a guess that the feeling was mutual.
>
> Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had
> cleverly arrested the deer's momentum by bracing my head against  
> various
> large rocks as it dragged me across the ground, I could still think
> clearly enough to recognize that there was a small chance that I  
> shared
> some tiny amount of responsibility for the situation we were in, so I
> didn't want the deer to have to suffer a slow death, so I managed to  
> get
> it lined back up in between my truck and the feeder - a little trap I
> had set before hand...kind of like a squeeze chute.
>
> I got it to back in there and I started moving up so I could get my  
> rope
> back.
>
> Did you know that deer bite? They do! I never in a million years would
> have thought that a deer would bite somebody, so I was very surprised
> when I reached up there to grab that rope and the deer grabbed hold of
> my wrist.
>
> Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where
> they just bite you and then let go. A deer bites you and shakes its  
> head
> -almost like a pit bull. They bite HARD and it hurts.
>
> The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to freeze and
> draw back slowly. I tried screaming and shaking instead. My method was
> ineffective. It seems like the deer was biting and shaking for several
> minutes, but it was likely only several seconds.
>
> I, being smarter than a deer (though you may be questioning that claim
> by now), tricked it.
>
> While I kept it busy tearing the tendons out of my right arm, I  
> reached
> up with my left hand and pulled that rope loose. That was when I got  
> my
> final lesson in deer behavior for the day.
>
> Deer will strike at you with their front feet. They rear right up on
> their back feet and strike right about head and shoulder level, and
> their hooves are surprisingly sharp. I learned a long time ago that,
> when an animal -- like a horse --strikes at you with their hooves and
> you can't get away easily, the best thing to do is try to make a loud
> noise and make an aggressive move towards the animal.
>
> This will usually cause them to back down a bit so you can escape.
>
> This was not a horse. This was a deer, so obviously, such trickery  
> would
> not work. In the course of a millisecond, I devised a different
> strategy. I screamed like a woman and tried to turn and run.
>
> The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a
> horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will hit
> you in the back of the head. Deer may not be so different from horses
> after all, besides being twice as strong and 3 times as evil, because
> the second I turned to run, it hit me right in the back of the head  
> and
> knocked me down.
>
> Now, when a deer paws at you and knocks you down, it does not
> immediately leave. I suspect it does not recognize that the danger has
> passed. What they do instead is paw your back and jump up and down on
> you while you are laying there crying like a little girl and covering
> your head.
>
> I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the deer went away.
>
> So now I know why when people go deer hunting they bring a rifle  
> with a
> scope to sort of even the odds.
> --
> Thomas B. Baines
> Legal Counsel, Security Consulting
> & Private Investigations
> OK 405-608-0181
> IL 630-561-6462
> THINK FOR YOURSELF! BLAME NO ONE!
> EXPECT NOTHING! DO SOMETHING!

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