I killed Bambi

Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone. I know I haven't written in a while, but I've been really busy with work and everything else that has been going on (meaning: Life)and it doesn't look like it's going to get any better before the end of the year because of a couple huge (HUGE) projects that I have going on. Anyway, I decided I needed to post something now, while I had time and the ability.

The last month or so has been very exciting. Work has been work (does that ever really change?), so at least that has been a constant that I can rely upon. I've been working on changing my frame of mind and that has really had a big effect on my day, which is nice.

Some of you may remember last year this time I mentioned Superman calling me up asking if I wanted to help cut up a deer (which I did) and then deciding later on that I wanted to go throught the whole process of hunting an animal and then putting it in the freezer as food for the next couple months. Well...the following is the story of how that all turned out (as deer season officially ends today here in Montana). If you are concerned with graphic depections of animals being shot, please stop reading now.

Superman and I had gone out a total of 3 times previously and had driven around and hiked in the hopes of coming across some unsupecting deer that we might, over time, fill our bellies with. It was funny in that on the way out to the area that we could hunt in, we would see deer, but never in the areas that we actually could hunt (the deer were smarter than we were, obviously). On Thanksgiving, we went out at 7am and hiked for a while and came across some tracks that we ended up following for quite a while which was really exciting...the ability to look at the ground and see signs as to where the animal was going, how many of them, when they went that way, places where they had trouble finding footing...it was all really cool. Never did catch up to them though, which was fine too.

The day after Thanksgiving, we went back out and were heading toward The Sleeping Giant (http://www.montanapictures.net/helena_montana_sleeping_giant.htm) when we noticed 6 deer on the other side of the interstate. We drove for a while and turned around and parked a couple hundred yards away. I climbed over the fence and was making my way through the trees to where the deer were only to see them bounding away from me. Superman came up and asked where they went and I said "Over that ridge", so we ran over to the ridge in the hopes that we could come up behind them (the wind was at our face at this point).

We got there and looked over the hill and saw nothing. We started looking around and still couldn't find anything until we looked about 800 yards away and saw the deer eating. We started making our way toward them and then noticed another 9 deer coming over a hill to our right who would walk for a bit and then look right at us. We waited until they got lower than we were at that point and started making our way toward them (they were closer). Let me tell you...running through sage brush and small cactus while trying not to make any noise and carrying a rifle isn't as easy as it sounds!

Well, we came up to a small rise and were about 120-30 yards away from these deer and Superman said something like, "This is it!" I was shaking (partly from running over there and trying to catch my breath, but also because of the adrenalin). Superman ended up getting down and was my "quadrapod" (I was shooting off his shoulder). I sighted in on this deer and was holding the rifle as steady as I could (read: it was shaking like a leaf) and it dawned on me that I could only shoot an antlerless mule. I moved the scope toward it's head and noticed a big rack on this deer and said, "That's a buck!" "Don't shoot him," Superman said.

I scanned over the other two deer that were right there and one of them didn't have antlers. I was shaking still and trying to control my breathing (which is impossible!). Superman was holding his breath as was I. He said, "I have to breathe" and took a breath. He then said, "Tell me when to hold my breath." I said, "Hold it," which he did and I slowly pulled the trigger.

I don't remember the rifle going off at all. I'm sure it was loud for both Superman and I...but I don't remember it at all. "You got it! It dropped right away!" Superman said. We ran over to where the deer was and, sure enough, I had shot my first deer! It was a buck fawn (had 1" spikes), but it was a deer! "Congratulations man! You just shot a deer!" Superman said excitedly. I was shaking worse than before at this point and couldn't stop grinning.

We ended up gutting it and kept the heart (Ellie said that it was REALLY yummy, so we saved it to cook it up later), took it back to the truck and spent the rest of the day looking for more deer (with no luck). We ended up cleaning the deer and cutting it up yesterday (my freezer is now full of deer!!!) and had tenderloin and deer heart for lunch yesterday (it REALLY is good...which I know sounds strange).

I'm hooked. Next year, I'm doing this again. I want to give a special thanks to Superman and his wife, Lois, for all their help over the last month or so...one of the most memorable events of my life. Thank you...