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Field Ethos
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By Kyle Wright
I walk into the deer woods every year looking for a story to tell. This year, a story came looking for me.
I’ve been deer hunting the last couple of years with a decoy. If you’re a whitetail deer hunter and you’re not hunting, at least occasionally, over a decoy, then you’re cheating yourself out of all kinds of fun. Staking out a decoy probably isn’t particularly effective by itself, but when used during the rut and in conjunction with a grunt tube, a rattle bag and the occasional snort wheeze, you can get some wild behavior out of deer. The already elevated testosterone level of rut-crazed bucks gets amped up another notch at the sight of a potential rival. They lay their ears back, get their hackles up, and stomp in all stiff legged, spoiling for a fight.
That’s exactly what happened on a hunt last week. Thirty minutes before dark, I saw a deer across the fence that I believed to be a doe. This time of year, I figured there might be a buck behind her, and sure enough, there was. A good eight point. I got him stopped with my grunt tube and then brought him over the fence with a snort wheeze. He bowed up to my decoy but then backed down pretty quick. The eight point was still a year away from trying to assert his dominance, but his initial reaction was exactly what a hunter looks for when sitting over a decoy. He milled around for a minute and then something caught his attention in the wood lot. I followed his gaze and turned just in time to see another buck step out of the trees.
It was a year-old spike, and he walked out of the woods like he owned the place. He marched straight over to my decoy and looked him in the eye. I couldn’t believe the little guy had the guts to challenge a buck twice his size, even if it was made of plastic. But I misread his intentions, because after a full minute of direct eye contact, the spike sidled alongside and then stopped at the south end of my northbound decoy and started sniffing.
Now, right under my decoy’s painted-on tail, there’s a convenient cutout for ease of transport. From my vantage point in the ground blind, it looked like that little spike had his whole snout in there. Though I’d never seen a deer do it, I just assumed the little guy was being friendly and saying hello the way dogs do. The eight point, though, wanted no part of such deviance. He snorted in disgust and then bounded over the fence.
I watched him go and then turned my attention back to the spike, still willing to give the little guy the benefit of the doubt. That’s when he mounted my decoy. Admittedly, I hadn’t seen a lot of does on my hunting property this year, but I had no idea the bucks were so hard up. Things got awkward in a hurry. The little spike was going at it like he was the world’s greatest lover.
His last hip thrust was so enthusiastic, in fact, that he knocked my decoy over. When he did, its head popped off and its antlers went flying. The poor little buck nearly jumped out of his skin. He stomped his foot and stared at the headless decoy on the ground before him. Then he slowly wandered off, shaking his head. You could almost see the spike trying to make sense of what happened. Was he indeed the world’s greatest lover? Or had he just humped a deer to death?
The post That Don Juan Deer appeared first on Field Ethos.
Continue reading...
I walk into the deer woods every year looking for a story to tell. This year, a story came looking for me.
I’ve been deer hunting the last couple of years with a decoy. If you’re a whitetail deer hunter and you’re not hunting, at least occasionally, over a decoy, then you’re cheating yourself out of all kinds of fun. Staking out a decoy probably isn’t particularly effective by itself, but when used during the rut and in conjunction with a grunt tube, a rattle bag and the occasional snort wheeze, you can get some wild behavior out of deer. The already elevated testosterone level of rut-crazed bucks gets amped up another notch at the sight of a potential rival. They lay their ears back, get their hackles up, and stomp in all stiff legged, spoiling for a fight.
That’s exactly what happened on a hunt last week. Thirty minutes before dark, I saw a deer across the fence that I believed to be a doe. This time of year, I figured there might be a buck behind her, and sure enough, there was. A good eight point. I got him stopped with my grunt tube and then brought him over the fence with a snort wheeze. He bowed up to my decoy but then backed down pretty quick. The eight point was still a year away from trying to assert his dominance, but his initial reaction was exactly what a hunter looks for when sitting over a decoy. He milled around for a minute and then something caught his attention in the wood lot. I followed his gaze and turned just in time to see another buck step out of the trees.
It was a year-old spike, and he walked out of the woods like he owned the place. He marched straight over to my decoy and looked him in the eye. I couldn’t believe the little guy had the guts to challenge a buck twice his size, even if it was made of plastic. But I misread his intentions, because after a full minute of direct eye contact, the spike sidled alongside and then stopped at the south end of my northbound decoy and started sniffing.
Virginianus Dat Ass
Now, right under my decoy’s painted-on tail, there’s a convenient cutout for ease of transport. From my vantage point in the ground blind, it looked like that little spike had his whole snout in there. Though I’d never seen a deer do it, I just assumed the little guy was being friendly and saying hello the way dogs do. The eight point, though, wanted no part of such deviance. He snorted in disgust and then bounded over the fence.
I watched him go and then turned my attention back to the spike, still willing to give the little guy the benefit of the doubt. That’s when he mounted my decoy. Admittedly, I hadn’t seen a lot of does on my hunting property this year, but I had no idea the bucks were so hard up. Things got awkward in a hurry. The little spike was going at it like he was the world’s greatest lover.
His last hip thrust was so enthusiastic, in fact, that he knocked my decoy over. When he did, its head popped off and its antlers went flying. The poor little buck nearly jumped out of his skin. He stomped his foot and stared at the headless decoy on the ground before him. Then he slowly wandered off, shaking his head. You could almost see the spike trying to make sense of what happened. Was he indeed the world’s greatest lover? Or had he just humped a deer to death?
The post That Don Juan Deer appeared first on Field Ethos.
Continue reading...
