I have a talent that scares my wife
Every evening when I see Ell I tell her a number that she is usually impressed with, but at the same time scares her. The number that I tell her is how many deer I saw on the drive home. Yesterday was an exceptionally good day......I saw 17! The reason it scares Ell is that every one of those deer is a potential deer that could run in front of my car and get hit. I tell her it's alright b/c I have my hunting knife with me so I could gut it and bring it home. She says I'm missing the point. I look confused. It's a recurring conversation.
Ever since I was a little boy I was so impressed with my Grandpa when he would spot deer in a field or at the edge of the woods. I would strain to see out his truck window [no I wasn't in a car seat, horror of horrors] and look in the direction he was pointing; and there the deer would be. It was awesome! I aspired to be that good when I grew up. Now that I'm an adult and a hunter I realize that this talent is actually something all good hunters can acquire. They know where to look for deer by knowing where they eat, where they drink, where they sleep, and how they move from place to place to do those things. They also know the color patterns of the deer in each respective season, what the flick of an ear looks like from afar, and the proper way to walk in relation to the wind to stay unnoticed. Its a skill that takes some time to learn but is very useful. Like I said, only good hunters have this talent. And not to brag, but I am better at it than most of the people I know. I have never stepped foot into the woods and not seen a deer. Even if the people I'm with see nothing. My Grandpa would be proud.
There are many ways to get home from where I work, but I drive the one that offers me the most opportunities to see deer. Even though I see at least one or two deer every day, there are a few times that are very memorable. Like the time I saw the largest buck I have ever seen in person. The mass of its rack was as thick as a baseball bat. Then there was the time that I came up on an accident where someone had swerved to miss a deer and another car had rear-ended them. Normally this wouldn't be funny except that the deer the first car had tried to avoid was still standing off the side of the road just staring at all the commotion. I had to wonder if the deer was laughing. Another funny time was when I looked down into a valley where I had seen deer before, and I saw a hunter walking along a brush line towards where he would be hunting. On the other side of the brush line no more than 10 feet from the hunter, was a buck watching him walk by. The hunter was oblivious to the deer's presence. All I could do was chuckle.
A final warning to all you non-hunters who wouldn't know this, gun season will start sometime in the next couple weeks for almost all states on the Eastern side of the Mississippi. The deer will be running scared and that includes across roads. So be careful as you drive.
Ever since I was a little boy I was so impressed with my Grandpa when he would spot deer in a field or at the edge of the woods. I would strain to see out his truck window [no I wasn't in a car seat, horror of horrors] and look in the direction he was pointing; and there the deer would be. It was awesome! I aspired to be that good when I grew up. Now that I'm an adult and a hunter I realize that this talent is actually something all good hunters can acquire. They know where to look for deer by knowing where they eat, where they drink, where they sleep, and how they move from place to place to do those things. They also know the color patterns of the deer in each respective season, what the flick of an ear looks like from afar, and the proper way to walk in relation to the wind to stay unnoticed. Its a skill that takes some time to learn but is very useful. Like I said, only good hunters have this talent. And not to brag, but I am better at it than most of the people I know. I have never stepped foot into the woods and not seen a deer. Even if the people I'm with see nothing. My Grandpa would be proud.
There are many ways to get home from where I work, but I drive the one that offers me the most opportunities to see deer. Even though I see at least one or two deer every day, there are a few times that are very memorable. Like the time I saw the largest buck I have ever seen in person. The mass of its rack was as thick as a baseball bat. Then there was the time that I came up on an accident where someone had swerved to miss a deer and another car had rear-ended them. Normally this wouldn't be funny except that the deer the first car had tried to avoid was still standing off the side of the road just staring at all the commotion. I had to wonder if the deer was laughing. Another funny time was when I looked down into a valley where I had seen deer before, and I saw a hunter walking along a brush line towards where he would be hunting. On the other side of the brush line no more than 10 feet from the hunter, was a buck watching him walk by. The hunter was oblivious to the deer's presence. All I could do was chuckle.
A final warning to all you non-hunters who wouldn't know this, gun season will start sometime in the next couple weeks for almost all states on the Eastern side of the Mississippi. The deer will be running scared and that includes across roads. So be careful as you drive.
posted by Sam at 8:43 AM
3 Comments:
I used to never be able to spot a deer. After I got contacts I still couldn't, but the more you train yourself to watch for them, the better you get.
I have a good deer story to humor you with. My husband is very straight-laced and generally serious. One could never believe a story my dad told them because he frequently told whoppers in the most believable of ways. Not Adam. He's not like that.
So. We were driving along Poncha Pass one day and it's quite curvy and desolate. There were straw bales all along the road. I say to Adam, "Why are those there?" He says, "That way the deer will eat them and won't cross the road. It cuts down on the amount of accidents." I say, "oh."
About two years go by and one of my siblings is in the car with us driving along the same wrong. The same question is asked and I give them the answer about the deer eating the straw instead of running in front of traffic.
Adam bursts out laughing and asks where I got that crazy idea. I give him a killer look and tell him that when I asked the question that was the answer he gave me. He still laughs about it. He had forgotten that he told me that and was just amazed that I believed him. Why wouldn't I? He's an honest guy.
Of course, every time we see a bale straw or hay now I get the look and a chuckle.
I've never been hunting before, so i don't know the feeling, but it sounds amazing. I'm not good at spotting deer, but i know that when i do see deer, it is one of the most amazing things a man will ever see.
tru dat
This has nothing to do with deer, but it's along the lines of Adrienne's story and I just have to tell it.
Mike and I were driving down Rt. 164 just after getting married and all along the roads in the fields were big hay bails rolled in that white covering. I told Mike that was were marshmellows came from. He actually thought about it a second and asked if I was for real. I told him for sure and that the farms shipped it off to sellers and that is where we then get the marshmellows in the packs. He actually believed me for awhile before I couldn't contain it. He denies to this day that he really believed me, but I know when he is playing dumb and that was not an act!
Thanks, by the way, for the tip on the deer. We know all to well how quickly they come out at ya.
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