Mixed feelings

Are you okay, timber? It must be a horrible experience. My son had a similar encounter with a doe when he was in college in upstate NY. He was luckily unhurt and the car, while damaged significantly, was repairable. I think if I ever kill anything (even a dumb squirrel), I'll be upset, but then there really isn't anything that can be done about it. I guess all one can do is be thankful it wasn't worse (a cliche, but , nonetheless, true).

I'm fine, bandy, and thank you for your concern. This was a minor vehicle-vs-deer deal. In the past year Mrs Timber totaled a car in such an incident, (again with no human injury), and the hood, grill, fenders, and lights I currently require are the limit of this episode's truck damage. Back in April, not only those components but a bumper, a fan assembly, a radiator, a water pump, a windshield, and an Air-Bag-Equipped steering column required replacement. I am very happy the airbag did not deploy this time ... those suckers make a helluva mess.



timber

Yikes! Poor babies.... Glad you're ok Timber

Thanks, littlek. Arrrrghhhhh .... this morning, in the daylight, the shattered front of my truck is a particularly depressing sight. I enjoy wildlife ... that's why I live where I do. Sometimes, however, Nature adds a tax. If I want to enjoy the show, I have to pay the price. It doesn't change things a bit, but complaining makes me feel a little better.



timber

I was once employed at a midwestern university, at their "environmental center." They ran a program for the diversion of ajudicated youth (diverted from lock-up to a wilderness program). The director of the Division of Youth and Community Services was a city boy, through and through. One Friday afternoon, he left work early, and drove the 400+ miles to the environmental center, to personally conduct the mandated inspection of the program facilities. He was running somewhat late, so one of the Outdoor Program Leaders, Mark, and i went out to the black-top to wait for his arrival. (He drove south on an interstate, switched to a state route, then to a county road, which more or less petered out at a state park down the road from us--we were located in 5000 acres on the shore of a 1000 acre lake that was part of a national wildlife refuge). His name is Kurt, and he was very well liked, and was known as Nerdy-Kurt, because he was so uncool, he didn't know it, didn't know what cool was, and he had a heart of gold. We were waiting for him, about 10 p.m., shortly after the sun had gone down, and saw some headlights approaching, and surmised that he had finally arrived. About one hundred yards from the turn-off into our facility, a big doe, one of those moose-sized ol' darlin's, jumped out in front of him, and BAM ! ! ! she went down in a welter of blood and flailing limbs. We got Kurt out of the car, and had just about calmed him down, when some local boys pulled up in a pick-up:

"That yer deer?" (spoken by good-ol'-boy at the wheel, to me)

"I 'spose so, why?"

"You gonna keep her?"

"Naw, i ain't got no interest in skinnin' her out."

"Kin ah have her?"

"Sure, Boss, help yerselves . . ."

With that he and his companion jumped out, each grabbed a pair of hooves, and on three, gave the carcass a heave ho into the back of the pick-up, then roared off with big, satisfied grins on their faces. Kurt was positively mental at this point--the city boy was convinced he had landed in the middle of Deliverance, an' was not goin' to get out alive . . .

Great annecdote, Setanta ... I can envision it clearly. I had to laugh on reading it. At the scene last night, as I stood in front of my truck surveying the damage, a vehicle pulled off on the shoulder behind mine. An old freind got out and ambled up.

"Hey, Timber ... thought that was your truck ... Deer?"

"Yup"

"Truck OK? Gonna drive alright?"

"Yeah, I think so ... don't hear anything wierd, and nothin' seems to be leaking"

"What was it ... doe or buck?"

"Doe. Down there in the ditch. Hind legs are both broken, but other than that not too banged up. ... I just slit her throat."


"I'll help ya get her up in the truck."

The question of whether I wanted the deer never came up ... it was just assumed the deer was mine and that I would take the meat. Oddly, now that I think about it, the old freind bears a striking physical resemblence to Ned Beatty.



timber

heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee . . .

I would be just sick about it. One time I
couldn't swerve and so I ran over a dog.
When I stopped, he had run off far enough
to where I couldn't see him, and I had
no idea where he belonged. But I just
worried to death about some poor critter
laying there, suffering. Remember that
old movie, The Deer Hunter with Robert
DeNiro....boy that WAS a long time ago!
I know that deer multiply too rapidly, but
if people want to REALLY make sport of
it, they should have to use a bow and
arrow, or a slingshot. No guns.

Babs, deer multiply so rapidly, that even with gun seasons, states are often obliged to hire professional hunters to cull the herds. The alternative for the deer is slow death by starvation, or the sudden disaster of diseases running rampant through a too large population. Additionally, in some areas, such as Southern Illinois, to which i was referring earlier, deer can devastate a soy bean field in a single night--ruining a farmers profit for the year. In Little Egypt (another name for Southern Illinois), the local boys acknowledge no deer season--taking their chances with the game wardens, they hunt deer for meat when they need it (the region is still very poor), and to discourage the deer from raiding their fields. Deer are actually rather smart about this sort of thing. In deer season, the wildlife refuges fill up with so many deer, it is just plain nuts to drive a more than 10 miles an hour. For however they many know it, quite a few of the deer seem to know that they are on land where the hunters won't follow. On farmland where they are regularly hunted, they spook too easily to do much grazing on the farmers' fields. Also, the state of Illinois plants large fields of barley and beans on it's reserved land to provide food for the deer and draw them away from the farmlands.

Bring back the wolves.

They've been re-introducing the wolves (and other large animals of prey). Hey, have you read The Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver? It's a liiiiitle bit of a chick book, but it's got a good storyline about ecology without the large predators.

Yes, it does have a good discussion on ecological, wildlife and botany topics weaving in and out, and I could have read alot more of that. Actually, listened to a lot more of that. I listended to the author reading her book on tapes, and I swear, since she knew exactly what she was trying to convey, she spoke precisely, and I must listen to it again.

My beat-up old pickup truck is now slammed in on the righthand side, caused by my successful attempt at outmaneuvering a deer crossing the road. Problem was, they had just finished deepening and cleaning out the runoff ditch, and my wheels got caught in it and I richocheted off the embankment a couple of times. Now I can't open that door and the car's frame is totally out of alignment.

As to the 'boys' wanting the deer, I have to agree with the philosophy. If nature adheres to the concept of waste nothing, and it does, than so should we.

As you said Timber, it comes with the territory, and it is not required that we like it or dislike it. It just is.

I have plowed throught B. K.'s books. Love her style. But, I think that Prodigal Summer was my favorite so far.

You would not regret going to the library and taking out her audio tapes and listening to her. She has a most unusual, backcountry but not too twangy, voice. But ever so full of nuance and expression.

Thanks all for your kind remarks. I really appreciate your concern.

Just a bit of trivia here for those who may disapprove of hunting: In 2000, the latest year for which I was able to find the figures, the State Department of Motor Vehicles recorded reports of just over 35,000 vehicle-vs-deer incidents statewide. That's nearly 100 a day. However, statistics compiled from The Department of Natural Resources, State Department of Transportation, and township and county road departments, tally over 80,000 deer carcasses removed from roadways and shoulders that year. Beyond that, many are neither reported nor left by the roadside for disposal. Lots of folk just take the meat and do what they can to repair their vehicle ... just like me.



timber

Wisconsin, this time of the year? Yup, good bet. South Carolina, where I am? Have to be very careful and know long long it has been there.

I had NO IDEA, it's awful either way,
I am pleased if the deer can provide
food for any people who need it, I just
dislike the concept of "sport" of it.
I think in my previous lives, I must
have been a Buddhist or Hindu or
something that perceives all of life
to be sacred. I would never imagine
deer as being crafty enough to head
for the protected land when deer
season is on.
Smooth move on their part!!
The B. Kingsolver book looks very
interesting to me... I will have to check
that out.

No problem, babs. I don't mind a bit. I find in fact I, in common with most hunters, have a far higher tolerance for non-hunters than they as a group tend to have for hunters. Go Figure.



timber