The Deer

It may be that I’m just more focused on the details of the great hunting trip. When one looks for coincidences or hidden meaning, one can usually find it. I have known friends in the past that did something dishonest and for days afterward, they swore that karma was taking revenge on them. Personally, I think that is just what happens when one has a guilty conscience. I’m about to digress, but I’ll stop and get back to the point.

It may be that I’m just more focused on the details of the great hunting trip, but everything that happens seems to be easily linked to this, my Destiny. For one, we have planned out our tent / camping dry run for March. Quite unwittingly, we scheduled our dry run on the same weekend as the biggest primitive muzzleloader show in the Midwest. And then, there was today…

I recently returned to my Suburban Farm from a trip back home to Michigan. One thing that that triggers is the terrible chore of cleaning out the fridge. That was disgusting. But then I had to replenish my food supply. After an hour in the local Whole Foods, I returned home and realized that I forgot one little item: tortillas. No biggie, I thought to myself, as I’ll just run down to the corner market and pick up a pack.

Out on the main road through town, I saw flashing lights, stopped cars, and a police officer holding one of those animal control polls fall on his keister. I was driving my truck and was in front of a pizza joint. I spun the wheel surgically onto Dickerson Road and pulled into the lot. Running to help, I realized that the cop was not wrestling with a dog, as I suspected, but was attempting to wrangle a deer. She was hit by a car, but the assailant had sped off. After some struggle, a cook from the pizza shop, me and the officer carried the deer back into the woods so she could be put down. It was obvious that she was suffering and it was the humane thing to do. It was the first time I ever touched a live, wild deer. I had her front legs pulled tight to her neck with my left arm and she bled all over my new shorts.

Once she was down, a guy walked up, asked the officer if he could pull his truck up and take the meat. Waste not, want not. I had had that same thought, but I did not have any of the necessary tools to strip out the organs right away, as I was sure that many organs were spilling out in the body cavity. The guy that took the deer had his bow and hunting accoutrements in his truck.

So everything is pointing toward the great hunting trip. My next planned purchase will be a hunting knife.

Happy New Year, all.