#653553 - 03/27/08 02:22 PM
Windows to the Soul Part IV
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M. Howard
trapper
Registered: 12/24/06
Posts: 2237
Loc: Louisiana
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Windows to the Soul
Part IV
After meeting with Don earlier that day, I arrived home as the sun sank into a dull glow in the western sky. A cold front was moving in that night and the cloud cover had arrived some time that after noon. The chance of rain was every high through out the night and into the next day, the day time temperature had climbed into the mid 60’s with 80% humidity. The ingredients were in place for a wet soupy run the next morning. I off loaded the days catch and began pilling fur without delay. I was sore and hungry, because in my haste to finish the run before dark I had failed to stop and snack, while allowing my water intake to fall off also. The catch was falling off, but still a nice run. I worked diligently and turned the lights out at 10 pm with all the fur hanging in the cold room till morning. I showered, ate a TV dinner and fell asleep in my leather recliner somewhere around 11pm.
I could see one of the 11 point bucks in front of me, as if waiting his turn in a tag team match. His huge rack wobbling back and forth as he shook his head from side to side. I could feel the tines as another huge racked buck ripping through my calf muscle on my right leg while the other side of his rack gored my inner thigh. I fought with ever ounce of energy I could muster. I knew if I could just get turned around to face him, I would stand a better chance. I could feel his leather body to my back as he heaved me into the air. I threw my body as hard to the right as I could, while trying to get my hip over his neck which I could now feel on my right hip. All at once I could feel myself free falling and then a sudden stop with a hollow thud. The cold, slick feel of the hard wood floor brought me back to the reality that my legs were cramping and I had just rolled out of my recliner. I screamed in pain and pulled my body to a standing position using the arm rest of the recliner. I limped into the bathroom hitting the light switch on the way to the medicine cabinet. The knot in my inner thigh area had grown to fist size now and I began to get sick at my stomach as I flung the mirrored door open and grabbed the tube of hot rub. I dropped the top in the sink and squeezed a glob into my right hand and started rubbing the cold pasty liquid on the knot in my left leg. I then squeezed a glob in my left and rubbed my calf on the right leg. As the aroma made its way to my nose, my legs started feeling as if they were on fire. The pain subsided to dull ache. I walked small circles in the bathroom till I had full use of both legs again. I washed my hands and made my way to bed. As my head hit the pillow, I could hear the pitter patter of rain outside the widow at the head of my bed. I knew it would be a cold, wet and miserable run in the morning. I also knew that beaver and coons love the rain and they love to go exploring in it. I drifted off to sleep thinking about the soreness in my hands and how much worse they were going to feel after tomorrow.
The next morning began slowly with it still raining. The rain drops were not very big! But, there sure were a lot of them! I took my time storing the fur from the night before in three of my four large chest freezers. I made sure they were spread out evenly so they would freeze faster. I gave the large tom a thorough examination in disgust as I stuck a fist through one of the holes ripping the chest. I thought how sweet revenge would be when it came. I trotted to the truck and jumped in while trying to stay dry. I had not bothered warming it this morning as there was no frost with it raining. The temp had hung in the upper 50’s over night and would not start dropping till the up coming evening when the skies cleared and the high pressure settled over us. I cranked the truck and let it warm for a few minutes then put it in gear and headed north for what I knew would be a long, wet day.
Upon arriving at the parking area everything was clearly visible even with the over cast skies. There was a ghostly gray glow of fog in the low lying areas and the constant sound of rain pelting the roof of the truck. While driving to the property my driver side window had fogged up. As I came to a complete stop, I rubbed a small circle out in the fogged window and peered through the hole at the sandy area where the deer tracks had been every day before. Sure enough, it appeared as if all three had just come through headed for their day time hide out. I slid out of the truck seat and rolled my hip boots up, having put them on at the house earlier that morning. I adorned my body with a full length yellow slicker coat and pulled the hood over my head while walking to the fresh set of tracks. As I drew closer, I could see the tracks held little water and showed very little distortion compared to the tracks left the day before. I stuck my index and middle finger in one of the fresh tracks to get measurement for future reference. With the tip of my finger at the rounded front point of the track, the back edge was over half way between my first and middle knuckle. I scooted to another set of tracks and measured them also. They were the same size. I reminisced to the last set of tracks I had witnessed that were this large. It was the fall of 97 and the 13 point buck I had hunted so hard. It took me 7 days of endurance hunting, but I had taken him. Oh, what a monster he had been, on the hoof he boasted a weight 230lbs. I understood though that this would be a different type of hunting.
I made my way back to the truck while looking for any sign of the large tom cat I had let go the day before. Not a single track of any animal other than the three bucks which had crossed recently. I opened the truck door and stood leaning over half way in the truck as I took my belt off to the next to last loop. I reached in the passenger’s seat and picked up my S&W .22 cal. I ran the belt through the holster and pulled it tight to my left hip with the grip facing forward as I pushed the belt through the third and fourth loop and then around to the other hip. I then reached under the driver’s seat and retrieved my S&W model 4566 .45 cal pistol. I ran the belt through the holster and pulled it tight to my right hip in the normal right handed position. I had been asked not to look for the rogue bucks by myself, but I knew if I saw one I wanted something that would leave as big a hole as they left in my cat the day before. I thought for a moment how I would look to someone observing me, not knowing why I burdened myself with two weapons. I laughed to myself and began off loading the Honda.
I decided on leaving the double set crossovers another night due to the fact I had taken three beaver in 280’s trying to enter the small pond with the huts. I knew the temp would be dropping and I wanted to take as many beaver as I could in this area before re-deploying half the sets to the north end. Plus I hate setting in the rain. I moved on through the line enduring the uncomfortable feeling of wearing the slicker coat, I had become almost as wet with sweat as if I had stood in the rain with out it. Then as suddenly as it had started, the rain stopped. The sky stayed over cast through out the day and in to the evening. I pulled a few non productive double sets near the end of the line and proceeded to make my way back to the parking area before sundown. As I came through the wooded area from the levee, where I had seen the third 11 point buck, I slowed to a stop in the general vicinity. I turned the ATV off and stepped from it looking for tracks, I need to pattern this buck also. With little effort I found them, they stuck out like a sore thumb. In fact, the buck had crossed so often that he had worn a rut in the road ditch embankment. It reminded me of cow trails in river bottoms, the only thing missing were the coyote tracks following the herd. All the tracks where going in the same direction. With the knowledge Don had given me of their activity in the 5 acre pins, I realized this buck was walking a circle every night. All I needed to do was walk the circle till I came to his day time hang out.
“Shouldn’t be hard to find this buck” I thought to myself.
I walked to the top of the embankment and searched the wooded area in vain. My mind carried me back to what Don had told me the day before “I DO NOT want you out here at night looking for them. I mean that, don’t be out here till the sun is up and don’t stay out here when the sun goes down either.” With Don’s word reverberating in my head, I turned and headed for the Honda and on to the house.
As the parking area came in view I could see Terry Tidwell’s truck parked next to mine. Upon entering the parking area, I rode the ATV onto the trailer and turned the key off. I could see a motion in the pine saplings and all once Terry appeared.
“Evening” he shouted with a huge smile on his face.
“How are you” I asked while walking down the ramp.
“Great!” he replied “I hear you are going to be tracking and guiding Don on an out of season deer hunt.”
As I picked the gate up and latched it I told Terry my thoughts on the matter. “Yep, going from beaver extraordinary to professional guide all in one week”
Terry burst into laughter.
“Are you going to join us?” I asked
“Nope! I think I will sit this one out”
“Why, I thought you were a big time deer hunter.” I questioned.
“After what happened the last…..” Terry stopped mid sentence “Na, I’m looking forward to turkey season.”
“Ho! Back up! What happened the last time?”
“Nothing really.” Terry replied.
“Ya, I am one of those guys that like to hear those nothing really stories, so go ahead and tell me.” I instigated.
“Well, Don is going to get mad if he knows I told you. But I think you should know since you are going to track them down for him. About four weeks ago Don, his son Chris, a friend of his son’s, Chad and me had set up on the road with spot lights where the big levee goes up the hill into a wooded area. Three deer had been seen there running together more than once. We used red covered lenses on the spot lights because we knew the deer did not like light. Worked like a charm. Right after dark they came walking across the road. I hit the spot light and Chris, Chad and Don all fired almost at once. Chris and Chad dropped their bucks in their tracks. Don smooth missed. Don’s buck never broke stride as he hit the embankment and disappeared with out a second shoot being fired.” Terry paused as though the story was over.
“Sounds like Don needs some target practice to me. But there is more to this story isn’t there?”
“Ya, there is. We moved on over to another levee where we had seen 4 bucks running together. It was a little more open and we thought we might get to take a few more shoots or at least have more time to get on them. Don was driving and the boys, well they aren’t boys really, they’re in the late 20’s, they rode in the back. We were letting them open the gates for us, you know seniority rules. Well they were taking turns opening the gates. You know those two gates that are real close together?” Terry asked.
“Ya, I saw one of the bucks between those two gates.”
“You are kidding! At night?” Terry got excited
“Ya, the first night out here.” I replied with curiosity.
“Oh man, that is where it happened.”
“What happened?” I questioned intently.
“We pulled up to the gate on the north end and Chad jumped out to open the gate. When he got to the gate, there was one the bucks standing on the other side about 50 yards looking at him just out of the beam of the head lights. Well, Don killed the head lights and we eased out of the truck and tried to get ready. As I was crawling into the bed of the truck, we heard Chad yelling in pain. I jumped on in the bed and hit the spot light to find another buck had come in from the left side and had his hand pinned to the top rail of the gate. Chad had gone ahead and opened the gate while we were getting ready and while he had his hand on the top rail, the deer had hooked his hand on the rail pinning it. Then we watched as another buck came running in from the right and attempted to horn him in the back but Chad stepped to one side. The buck nicked Chad in the side not really puncturing it, but scraping it deep enough to remove the hide. Well, after missing Chad the buck ran into the gate causing the other buck to free Chad’s hand. Chad took off running and Chris drew up and shot the buck that had tried to horn him in the back.”
“WHAT! You are kidding me!” I spouted out.
“Oh that’s just the beginning. As Chad was climbing over the tail gate, a fourth buck came from behind us and did not miss. Caught Chad right in the rear and tossing him into the bed of the truck. I turned the light to see what was going on at the back of the truck about the time Chris fired at the other deer standing at the gate causing him to miss. Don left his rifle on the truck seat, bailed in over the side and so now we are all four safe in the bed of the truck. At least that is what we thought. The buck at the rear of the truck backed up and rammed the tail gate, then proceeded to climb in the bed with us. Chris turned and took aim and pulled the trigger and the gun snapped. He had only put 3 cartridges in when he loaded. The buck had his front legs in the bed of the truck by this time, so Chris turned the rifle around grabbing the barrel and hit the deer right between the eyes. The buck slowed his attempts to get in the bed with us and Chris drew back and hit him again this time sending him out of the truck and breaking the stock on the rifle. In all the excitement we found Chad’s rifle lying on the tool box, so Chris threw his rifle on the ground and snatched up Chad’s, while Don and Chad huddled in the bed. I turned the light back to find the buck that had Chad pinned to the gate had jumped the fence and was running right at us. Chris drew up and shot more or less from the hip and hit him in the chest. The deer fell into the side of the truck already dead. Chris then walked to the back of the bed, leaned over and put a round into the deer he had broken his rifle on. I turned the light to original buck we had first seen. He was still standing there looking at us. Chris took a bead on him and SNAP! Chad had only loaded 3 cartridges in his rifle also. The buck turned and walking into the brush out of sight.”
“Holy smokes!” Are you for real? You’re pulling my leg here!” I said with disbelief.
“Look at Don’s truck. Just don’t say anything to Don about what I have told you.”
“How bad was Chad hurt?” I asked
“His wrist was broken from being pinned to the gate, they bandaged his side, but he had one puncture wound in the back of his thigh that just missed the femoral artery. He is okay, but I don’t think you could talk him into spot lighting another deer, here anyway.” Terry looked at the evening sky as the sun had started to set. “Look it is getting late, I think we need to hit the road.”
“Ya, I agree, but I want to talk to you some more about this.” I stated.
“I don’t know what else I can tell you.” Terry replied
“Where did these deer come from?” I asked
“Oh, you will have to ask Don about that! I am more or less the grounds keeper out here. I keep the road repaired, right of ways clean, and hunt here. That is a question you will have to ask Don.” Terry replied quickly.
“You know, you just want tell me, right?”
“Like I said, you will have to ask Don!” Terry remarked as he stepped in his truck. “I have to get, I will catch up with you later next week.”
“I will call you. And if you want you can come run the line with me one day.”
Terry had a puzzled look on his face and said “I will see what I can do about going with you one day”
With that he closed the truck door, cranked up and backed out. Now, I know why Don had been so insistent about me not being on the property while it was dark and feeling lucky to be alive, I did not remove my hip boots or pistols before climbing in the truck. I cranked up and followed Terry to the main entrance.
_________________________
If I have to explain it, you would not understand.
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