Opposable Brain

090514 Many of us in the North Country have practiced various forms of persistence hunting for many years (I think it comes naturally to mind to do it when one does hunt) but not to the extent of exhausting the deer, a practice that over-stresses a deer so...what's the point of that? sadistic pleasure?

Instead, we deliberately track the deer as cautiously as possible in the hope or expectation of allowing it to calm down, soon forget the "it" to which it first alerted and ran from, finally surprising it in it so-called bed or while feeding nonchalantly; and the other form of this is that, after a deer has been shot but ineffectively, one does the same thing, yet more cautiously at first and only afer having let it run and wander unpursued for anywhere from twenty to, say, forty-five minutes, whereupon one can be fairly confident that it calmed down, probably laid down - all the sooner if it had been soundly hit - and may have bled out ... the one problem being that, if the bullet or arrow passed through more or less superficially, the bleeding might be staunched by either pressure against the ground and loose cover or simply have dried up effectively. [One sometimes shoots a deer a year or two after such an episode in an earlier year when someone else shot it but lost it in exactly that way, and finds when field dressing or later on butchering it that a large, hard welt had formed over the wound, sealing it perfectloy.]

I think the romantic appeal of chasing a deer to (its) exhaustion stems from the fact that all other predators seem to hunt that way. The questions of which way is more humane and natural are a bit nebulous and won't be answered absolutely. I'm pretty sure I'd rather be shot dead than chased for 50 miles and then eaten alive. Then again, there's always the chance that the chase will turn out in my favor.

090514 If you were an animal it likely would make small difference 'to you.' Deer are bemusing if for no other reason than that they can be startled by you but, if left alone, will feed and water, and wander pretty danged close ~ in short, they'll forget all about you ... unless you move again or look directly open-eyed into their eyes, which will spook them. Sentient beings? After all my years of watching them afield, I rather doubt it...I mean to tell you that I have often had a buck or doe at even less than arm's length away after having being seen 15 or so minutes earlier: anything less than 6 to 10 minutes, they remain wary. It's pretty curious, Ro.

Interesting. They don't smell you even? I'm not saying you smell, mind you, but I imagine deer would be able to distinguish a human scent from 5 feet away.