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View Full Version : Deer are NOT Horses


ChocoMare
Jul. 13, 2009, 09:40 AM
A friend posted this on FaceBook and thought it too funny not to share :D

http://www.bloggingwv.com/corn-fed-venison-it-looked-good-on-paper/

As I sit here behind this laptop, I now realize that this definitely wasn’t the brightest idea I have ever had. 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 congregate 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), it should not 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, having 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…took a step away. I put a little tension on the rope and then 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 and 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 had originally imagined.

The only upside is that they do not have as much stamina as many other 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 few 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 didn’t want the deer to have it suffer a slow death, so I managed to get it lined back up in between my truck and the feeder - a little trap I had set before hand…kind of like a squeeze chute.

I got it to back in there and I 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 ineffective.

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 not 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 a 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 3 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 crawl under the truck and the deer went away.
So now I know why when people go deer hunting they bring a rifle with a scope so that they can be somewhat equal to the prey.

mustangtrailrider
Jul. 13, 2009, 10:04 AM
Choco,

That is funny....thanks for sharing. Fortunately, I have already had my cereal...LOLOLOL

Kimberlee
Jul. 13, 2009, 10:19 AM
Funny Monday morning laugh. Thank you!

KnKShowmom
Jul. 13, 2009, 10:24 AM
OMG that was too funny! :lol:

Thanks for sharing - laughing is a good way to start the week.

Sakura
Jul. 13, 2009, 10:37 AM
OMG... that was right up there with the squirrel (or was it a chipmunk) and beet pulp story... too funny :lol:.

hasahorse
Jul. 13, 2009, 01:34 PM
This reminds me of the Darwin Award honorable mention. Two young men decided one night that they would try to "bulldog" a buck. Now, if you are not familiar with rodeo terms, that is slang for steer wrestling. The buck was apparently easy enough to get wrestled to the ground, but then in a very un-cow-like maneuver, decided it wanted to get up and proceeded to stop on the young man. When the emt's arrived, they asked the second young man how the stomped one ended up with tire tracks across his body, to which the reply was that "I had to get the deer off him somehow".
I think this is still on the Darwin website, but it is a few years old.

harveyhorses
Jul. 13, 2009, 01:40 PM
I'm glad I had finished my coffee!!

JohnDeere
Jul. 13, 2009, 03:17 PM
:lol::D

I love whoevers siggy line says something about removing warning lables from things and letting the stupid people eliminate themselves. Guess it didnt work this time unless this is a madeup story...

ReSomething
Jul. 14, 2009, 01:39 AM
Well. That's a good story and I kinda believe it because I heard a story where some guy hit a deer with his car and stuffed the injured and unconscious deer in the car with him, where it woke up and proceeded to beat the s**t out of him. The best part was the 911 call where he is explaining how this deer is running amok inside his car. Of course it could be a foaf story, but it's almost as good as this one.

msj
Jul. 14, 2009, 08:35 AM
This is absolutely hysterical and I hope your friends bites and bruises heal fast. I hope you don't mind if I pass this on to a few friends for a good laugh. :) :)

Frank B
Jul. 14, 2009, 03:45 PM
There are several reasons smart hunters wait before approching a downed deer! That's one of them!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59AEqNPpYzY

JSwan
Jul. 14, 2009, 04:20 PM
There are several reasons smart hunters wait before approching a downed deer! That's one of them!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59AEqNPpYzY

Ahhh... the rut. Gotta love it - or hide indoors until it's over. :eek:

One season we were out foxhunting (during the rut) and the guy in front of me got taken off his horse by a buck. Horse was ok - but the buck - with a really nice rack - came out of nowhere and leapt into him - WHAM. We were halted in the woods just standing there listening for hounds - who were nowhere near that buck.

I bandaged the guy up and escorted him in so we could get him to the hospital. He starts telling me his deer collision stories. Turns out this guy was like a deer magnet - he'd been taken out several times. Had his shoulder replaced and had just started to hunt again and that is the shoulder this buck had hit.

Now when that guy comes out hunting with us I stay far away from him. :lol:

Sing Mia Song
Jul. 14, 2009, 04:58 PM
JSwan, I had a similar experience out hunting early in the season one weekday. There were only about six of us in the field, and this big buck just came bounding up and hurdled the horse in front of me, knocking the rider clean off. One of the weirdest things I've ever witnessed.

JSwan
Jul. 14, 2009, 08:51 PM
JSwan, I had a similar experience out hunting early in the season one weekday. There were only about six of us in the field, and this big buck just came bounding up and hurdled the horse in front of me, knocking the rider clean off. One of the weirdest things I've ever witnessed.

Uh..... this guy does cap around a lot - wouldn't it be weird if it was the same guy!
:lol:

I agree - it must have been surreal.

MistyBlue
Jul. 14, 2009, 09:28 PM
It always cracks me up when folks think deer are sweet timid gentle creatures. You don't want to mess with a pissed off deer. Doe or buck.

I think that Youtube video is the one where the moron covered himself in buck lure and was expecting that reaction for videoing. :winkgrin:

MEP
Jul. 14, 2009, 09:37 PM
Here's another version of the attack:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khKrd1RNy2U&feature=related

In this one, the guy explains he had doused himself with elk urine because that's what he was originally looking for. May explain a bit more why that buck was so p.o.'d. Bambi - Who'da thunk it! :eek:

BoldChance
Jul. 15, 2009, 11:06 PM
I've read this before and love the story... it's always good for a new laugh! I do have to say, though, that I don't understand why he wouldn't have tried to rope said deer from the back of a horse? Like, seriously... I wouldn't rope a cow on foot, either :eek:

Then again, thank goodness he didn't think of that...for the horse's sake!