Larry Eckart
Well-known member
Guys and Dani,
Sharing two recent deer hunting episodes, one in this email and another to follow. Through deer hunting, I am finding a few more spots to duck hunt in the NC Piedmont. I hope you all are well.
Larry
The Great Deer Stampede
Of all the scenarios I had imagined in my first two years of deer hunting, what to do in the case of a deer stampede was not one of them.
December 1 was a beautiful, frosty morning in the Piedmont. Recent rain quieted the thick carpet of oak leaves as I walked to my appointed spot. Nice pinch point between a marsh and private. I nestled down and prepared for the duel in my body between chilled bones and staying still.
It was not a particularly noisy morning in that part of the woods. A lone owl announced his presence. That "hooting" sound to me is like the call of the loon: it is the sound of the wild.
After a few hours without seeing a deer, I picked up to move and slowly still hunt through a pine woods that I knew was a bedding area. Aye! Drawing near, I moved a deer who flashed his or her tail at me.
Carefully, quietly walking into the pines I sat down to wait, watch and let the pines settle. Nothing.
I kept to the sequence of a few steps then pause, for about 100' when I saw on the top of a ridge to my right the horizontal line of deer backs moving ahead of me. The game land ended soon in a sharp point. Beyond that was an open field. I dropped down into the creek bed and began to walk in the water, parallel to the deer.
I had no idea that what I was pushing was not just a doe or two: it was a herd and there was a large buck who was the trail boss on this drive. But that was unknown to me.
Without making noise I walked up the creek bed, drawing within 75 yards of the end of the game land and within 100 yards of the end of the cover. I was curious. Would the deer bolt across the open field or double back around me?
Neither. Standing in the creek, thinking through my next step, I looked up when a large 8 point buck decided there was only one way out of what must have felt to him like a dead end canyon: stampede!
He was wily. He told his harem, "Wait ten seconds and then follow me!"
He charged down the ridge straight towards me, 70 yards away. With all those ladies watching he kicked it up a notch just because he could. I saw that he had to pass two large oak trees in front of me. I knelt on the creek bank and cocked my muzzle loader. Down he charged. Get ready. He?s slightly above me. Raise the gun. He's passing the oaks.
The oaks were not all he passed.
Pass me he did. At 25 mph no more than 15 feet away. I bear witness that shouting, "HEY!" to a buck running at 25 mph, 15 feet away, does no more than cause him to put the pedal to the metal and turn 25 into a 35 mph spurt.
I'm not exactly sure what the right thing to do was in that situation but raising my gun and looking into the scope was sure as heck not the right thing to do. Pass me he did. Whoosh!
Then came the sound of hooves. Many hooves. Six, no seven, no eight does in the harem now bore down on me in the second phase of the stampede.
I shouted, "Hey!" Again, "HEY!" One paused, for a nano second, all the others just imitated the trail boss buck and kicked into another gear. You have to admit, I am persistent. If it doesn?t work the first time by all means, Larry, try it again.
And just like that they were gone. I moved quickly to another nearby patch of pines that they might have gone to, but it was not to be. I never saw those deer again. I sat there and started laughing. What a thrilling way to end the morning.
I've deer hunted now for two years. Learned much. But no one ever said that I needed to be prepared for a deer stampede.
I think I'm going to spend some time next summer at a dude ranch in Colorado. If I'm going to be stampeded again, I might be better served by learning to throw a lasso than fumble with my muzzle loader.
Stampede. By deer. I think I'll sleep well tonight.
Sharing two recent deer hunting episodes, one in this email and another to follow. Through deer hunting, I am finding a few more spots to duck hunt in the NC Piedmont. I hope you all are well.
Larry
The Great Deer Stampede
Of all the scenarios I had imagined in my first two years of deer hunting, what to do in the case of a deer stampede was not one of them.
December 1 was a beautiful, frosty morning in the Piedmont. Recent rain quieted the thick carpet of oak leaves as I walked to my appointed spot. Nice pinch point between a marsh and private. I nestled down and prepared for the duel in my body between chilled bones and staying still.
It was not a particularly noisy morning in that part of the woods. A lone owl announced his presence. That "hooting" sound to me is like the call of the loon: it is the sound of the wild.
After a few hours without seeing a deer, I picked up to move and slowly still hunt through a pine woods that I knew was a bedding area. Aye! Drawing near, I moved a deer who flashed his or her tail at me.
Carefully, quietly walking into the pines I sat down to wait, watch and let the pines settle. Nothing.
I kept to the sequence of a few steps then pause, for about 100' when I saw on the top of a ridge to my right the horizontal line of deer backs moving ahead of me. The game land ended soon in a sharp point. Beyond that was an open field. I dropped down into the creek bed and began to walk in the water, parallel to the deer.
I had no idea that what I was pushing was not just a doe or two: it was a herd and there was a large buck who was the trail boss on this drive. But that was unknown to me.
Without making noise I walked up the creek bed, drawing within 75 yards of the end of the game land and within 100 yards of the end of the cover. I was curious. Would the deer bolt across the open field or double back around me?
Neither. Standing in the creek, thinking through my next step, I looked up when a large 8 point buck decided there was only one way out of what must have felt to him like a dead end canyon: stampede!
He was wily. He told his harem, "Wait ten seconds and then follow me!"
He charged down the ridge straight towards me, 70 yards away. With all those ladies watching he kicked it up a notch just because he could. I saw that he had to pass two large oak trees in front of me. I knelt on the creek bank and cocked my muzzle loader. Down he charged. Get ready. He?s slightly above me. Raise the gun. He's passing the oaks.
The oaks were not all he passed.
Pass me he did. At 25 mph no more than 15 feet away. I bear witness that shouting, "HEY!" to a buck running at 25 mph, 15 feet away, does no more than cause him to put the pedal to the metal and turn 25 into a 35 mph spurt.
I'm not exactly sure what the right thing to do was in that situation but raising my gun and looking into the scope was sure as heck not the right thing to do. Pass me he did. Whoosh!
Then came the sound of hooves. Many hooves. Six, no seven, no eight does in the harem now bore down on me in the second phase of the stampede.
I shouted, "Hey!" Again, "HEY!" One paused, for a nano second, all the others just imitated the trail boss buck and kicked into another gear. You have to admit, I am persistent. If it doesn?t work the first time by all means, Larry, try it again.
And just like that they were gone. I moved quickly to another nearby patch of pines that they might have gone to, but it was not to be. I never saw those deer again. I sat there and started laughing. What a thrilling way to end the morning.
I've deer hunted now for two years. Learned much. But no one ever said that I needed to be prepared for a deer stampede.
I think I'm going to spend some time next summer at a dude ranch in Colorado. If I'm going to be stampeded again, I might be better served by learning to throw a lasso than fumble with my muzzle loader.
Stampede. By deer. I think I'll sleep well tonight.
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