I have just returned from a 4 day hunting trip. It trip itself had been in the works for the better part of a couple of months, but my thoughts and reasoning for wanting to do this trip have been in the works for a number of years.
I don't believe there is a short way for me to explain everything that happened during the hunt so I am going to try and break this up into 2 sections: The Event and What Now?
The Event
It was with some trepidation that I accepted the invite to go on this trip in the first place. The reason being that by going on a hunting trip it would force my hand with regards to finding out if I have the ability to kill another mammal. Again I stress, the point for me of killing a deer is two fold; 1) to at least once in my life see what it is like to follow a meal from a living breathing creature to something that ends up on my plate 2) to gain some objectivity on what it is to be an omnivore.
The area where we went to hunt is in the southern interior of British Columbia. We hunted at an elevation of between 1200 and 1400 metres (roughly 4500 feet) which we accessed via a maze of old logging/fire access/cattle roads. Most of these roads were older with a few that showed signs of regular use by logging crews. I was quite surprised by the quality of the roads as you could tell that a number of them were not regularly maintained but were none-the-less in great condition. Where I come from on the coast if you ignore a road for a year it will pretty much disappear underneath a canopy of alder.
I didn't know much about hunting and what little I did I learned from looking online and reading some articles in magazines. Most of the information I found pertained to whitetail deer and in that case it seemed that most people liked to ambush them. That is to say, park themselves in a deer blind somewhere in an area where a deer was likely to wander, and then shoot it. However, I was to learn that hunting can be quite different when looking for mule deer.
There were four of us on this trip and I was the only one without any hunting experience. The least experienced apart from me, still had probably 1/2 dozen trips under his belt. The most experienced had been hunting for over 50 years.
We woke up at 5am and were in place for our hunt by 7am. The fellow whose truck we were all in had to do a bit of back tracking to find the spot where he wanted us to try as he hadn't been on those roads in a few years. The truck stopped, we got out and loaded our rifles. My fellow hunters spoke in soft tones and tested to see which way the wind was blowing. As it turned out the wind was out of the north coming down a wooded slope ahead of us. We agreed to spread out about 200m from each other and head off in a northerly direction. The agreed upon time for return was 2 hours later.
It felt surreal to me as I held my rifle and slowly moved into the bush. I took only a few steps at a time before pausing for a moment to listen. The experience of moving like this is extremely intense. I heard the sound of the breeze moving through the beetle killed pine needles. I heard the rhythmic whooshing of a raven's wings beating the air. I heard the 'tock, tock' of a pilated woodpecker as he searched for insects. I could hear the scrambling feet of a chipmunk as he worked around the outside of tree.
In the space of an hour I had moved probably no more than 1km up the hill and had found myself on an old de-activated logging road. I hadn't seen my hunting buddy on my right in about 1/2 hour and I hadn't seen my buddy on my left since leaving the truck. Suddenly, and without a sound, a grey shape glided across the road about 70m infront of me. I paused and immediately my heart started to hammer in my chest. A second shape slipped out from the trees and then paused in the middle of the old road to eat something on the ground. I slowly dropped to one knee and flicked the saftey off my rifle. My heart was still pounding in my chest as I raised the rifle and peered through the scope at the flanks of the deer. I realized in that moment that all my thoughts and wonderings about what I would do in this exact instance were about to be realized. I had difficulty keeping the recticle still on the vitals area just behind the front shoulders of the deer.
Suddenly, it dawned on me. I don't know if this is a male or a female and my deer ticket is for a buck only.
I lifted my eye out of the scope to try and get a different view just as the deer raised it's head and walked off into the woods. At the time I thought I saw small antlers, but now upon reflection I am pretty sure I was only seeing the very large ears of the mule deer. I tried to move foward and flank the deer on the right side, but I didn't see them again.
It took some time before my heartrate returned to normal and I continued on with my few steps, pause, listen and a few steps more technique. At one point I thought I saw the flash of a tail to my left, but I couldn't be sure that it wasn't either my imagination or a small bird taking flight.
I returned to the truck and eventually met up with the group. As it turned out we had all seen deer - between 2 to 4. They had all been female but we were pretty encouraged and were sure it would just be a matter of time before we came across a buck.
Over the course of the day I saw 18 deer. Of which, I could positively confirm that 15 were female and the other 3 I just couldn't be sure. Needless to say, it seemed to defy odds that there could be so many females without at least a handful of bucks somewhere around.
On our way home that evening I came close to shooting again when I thought I saw a buck. It was a grey, had a white patch on its rump, and small antlers coming out of its head. However, when you want to see something, sometimes your mind can play tricks on you. As I slowly started to put pressure on the trigger I realized suddenly that the antlers were not going upwards but curving backwards. It was a female mountain sheep. I flicked on the saftey and stood up. If someone told me that I would come close to confusing a mountatin sheep for a mule deer I would have said they were nuts. However, I did feel very good about the fact that I wasn't in such a rush to solve my philosophical dilema that I would shoot a beast without making 100% certainty of what it was.
Over the course of the next number of days I would personally see well over 30 does and not one buck that I could confirm. I spoke with another hunter who had been there for 5 days and who had the exact same thing. He had seen 2 bucks, but a chosen not to shoot one and the other had leapt away before he was able to shoot.
I wasn't able to fully resolve my dilema this hunting trip, but I did make some progress when I took a shot (and missed) a ruffed grouse with my .22 that I brought along on the trip. I was going for its head from about 25m away. The ground just behind the bird burst in a cloud of dust, but the grouse just stood there. I tried to get a bit closer but it flew away. My intent had been there and I had tried (and rushed) the shot. While I didn't get a chance to gut and clean the bird I do realize that I don't have too much difficulty with trying to kill and eat a chicken-like creature. I think by the end of the trip that I had see well over 30 of these birds as well.
What now?
I don't know if I will go out again this year - but I have made the decision to try again at some point. I feel that I have a greater appreciation for all animals that make up my diet now having had the chance to try and track one in its natural environment. I have no idea how many cows I saw during this trip as they just wandered through the feilds where we were looking for deer. The animals where I was live a pretty healthy and natural life. While ending a life with a rifle is not a natural end, you can be sure that all the animals I saw during my trip will die. I couldn't help but think of the stories I have heard about cattle who are not allowed to range free - living and dying in a pen.
I have for a number of years tried to my best to eat only free-range and natural meat. I am even more resolved to do the same now having experienced a hunt.
BB
