Rodney Long
March 10th, 2007, 09:51 PM
I had to pass this on, it sounds like something I would try :-)
I know you think deer hunting with a bow is challenging. Try it with a
rope like this poor guy. If you try it be sure to have it video taped.
WORTH AT LEAST $ 10,000 George
Fortunately, this did not actually happen to me, you may be surprised.
> Just passing along a humorous story.
>
> 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 congregated 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) that
> it should no t 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, who had 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 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 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 originally imagined.
> The only up side is that they do not have as much stamina as
> many 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 fe w 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
&g t; didn't want the deer to have to suffer a slow death. I managed
> to get it lined up to back in between my truck and the
> feeder...a
> little trap I had set beforehand. Kind of like a squeeze
> chute. I got it to back in there and 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
> ineffecti ve. 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
> bejesus 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 no t 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 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 three 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 cra wl
> under the truck and the deer went away.
>
> Now for the local legend. I was pretty beat up. My scalp was
> split open, I had several large goose eggs, my wrist was
> bleeding pretty good and felt broken (it turned out to be just
> badly bruised) and my back was bleeding in a few places, though
> my insulated canvas jacket had protected me from most of the
> worst of it. I drove to the nearest place, which was the
> co-op. I got out of the truck, covered in blood and dust and
> looking like heck. The guy who ran the place saw me through the
> window and came running out yelling "what happened"
>
> I have never seen any law in the state of Kansas that would
> prohibit an individual from roping a deer. I suspect that this
> is an area that they have overlooked entirely. Knowing, as I
> do, the lengths to which law enforcement personnel will go to
> exercise their power, I was concerned that they may find a way
> to twist the existing laws to paint my actions as criminal. I
> swear....not wanting to admit that I had done something
> monumentally stupid played no part in my response. I told him
> "I was attacked by a deer." I did not mention that at the time
> I had a rope on it. The evidence was all over my body. Deer
> prints on the back of my jacket where it had stomped all over me
> and a large deer print on my face where it had struck me there.
>
> I asked him to call somebody to come get me...I didn't think I
> could make it home on my own. He did.
>
> Later that afternoon, a game warden showed up at my house and
> wanted to know about the deer attack. Surprisingly, deer
> attacks are a rare thing and wildlife and parks was interested
> in the event. I tried to describe the attack as completely and
> accurately as I could...I was filling the grain hopper and this
> deer came out of nowhere and just started kicking the heck out
> of me and BIT me. It was obviously rabid or insane or
> something. EVERYBODY for miles around knows about the deer
> attack (the guy at the co-op has a big mouth). For several
> weeks people dragged their kids in the house when they saw deer
> around and the local ranchers carried rifles when they filled
> their feeders. I have told several people the story, but NEVER
> anybody around here. I have to see these people every day and
> as an outsider...a "city folk"...I have enough trouble fitting
> in
> without them snickering behind my back and whispering "there is
> the dumbass that tried to rope the deer.
--
Rodney Long,
Inventor of the Mojo SpecTastic "WIGGLE" rig, SpecTastic Thread,
Nutri Shield insect repellent. ,Stand Out Hooks ,Stand Out Lures,
Mojo's Rock Hopper & Rig Saver weights, and the EZKnot
http://www.ezknot.com
I know you think deer hunting with a bow is challenging. Try it with a
rope like this poor guy. If you try it be sure to have it video taped.
WORTH AT LEAST $ 10,000 George
Fortunately, this did not actually happen to me, you may be surprised.
> Just passing along a humorous story.
>
> 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 congregated 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) that
> it should no t 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, who had 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 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 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 originally imagined.
> The only up side is that they do not have as much stamina as
> many 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 fe w 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
&g t; didn't want the deer to have to suffer a slow death. I managed
> to get it lined up to back in between my truck and the
> feeder...a
> little trap I had set beforehand. Kind of like a squeeze
> chute. I got it to back in there and 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
> ineffecti ve. 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
> bejesus 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 no t 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 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 three 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 cra wl
> under the truck and the deer went away.
>
> Now for the local legend. I was pretty beat up. My scalp was
> split open, I had several large goose eggs, my wrist was
> bleeding pretty good and felt broken (it turned out to be just
> badly bruised) and my back was bleeding in a few places, though
> my insulated canvas jacket had protected me from most of the
> worst of it. I drove to the nearest place, which was the
> co-op. I got out of the truck, covered in blood and dust and
> looking like heck. The guy who ran the place saw me through the
> window and came running out yelling "what happened"
>
> I have never seen any law in the state of Kansas that would
> prohibit an individual from roping a deer. I suspect that this
> is an area that they have overlooked entirely. Knowing, as I
> do, the lengths to which law enforcement personnel will go to
> exercise their power, I was concerned that they may find a way
> to twist the existing laws to paint my actions as criminal. I
> swear....not wanting to admit that I had done something
> monumentally stupid played no part in my response. I told him
> "I was attacked by a deer." I did not mention that at the time
> I had a rope on it. The evidence was all over my body. Deer
> prints on the back of my jacket where it had stomped all over me
> and a large deer print on my face where it had struck me there.
>
> I asked him to call somebody to come get me...I didn't think I
> could make it home on my own. He did.
>
> Later that afternoon, a game warden showed up at my house and
> wanted to know about the deer attack. Surprisingly, deer
> attacks are a rare thing and wildlife and parks was interested
> in the event. I tried to describe the attack as completely and
> accurately as I could...I was filling the grain hopper and this
> deer came out of nowhere and just started kicking the heck out
> of me and BIT me. It was obviously rabid or insane or
> something. EVERYBODY for miles around knows about the deer
> attack (the guy at the co-op has a big mouth). For several
> weeks people dragged their kids in the house when they saw deer
> around and the local ranchers carried rifles when they filled
> their feeders. I have told several people the story, but NEVER
> anybody around here. I have to see these people every day and
> as an outsider...a "city folk"...I have enough trouble fitting
> in
> without them snickering behind my back and whispering "there is
> the dumbass that tried to rope the deer.
--
Rodney Long,
Inventor of the Mojo SpecTastic "WIGGLE" rig, SpecTastic Thread,
Nutri Shield insect repellent. ,Stand Out Hooks ,Stand Out Lures,
Mojo's Rock Hopper & Rig Saver weights, and the EZKnot
http://www.ezknot.com