As I was heading to the woods I drove by Michelle parked at the end of her street talking on her cell. I thought about stopping, but I was in a hurry to hunt a small area. I shot gunned a few areas with no success and was going to hit one last spot before dark when I drove up on Michelle’s truck. I know this area pretty well and we have killed a few deer here so I thought I would stop and see what was going on. Michelle had seen a spike here earlier in the year and I saw a spike killed here on opening day. After some chitchat about the area I told her I would stop by on my way out and I took off.
With a few minutes of shooting light left, I pulled back up to Michelle’s truck and got out. I walked past her and onto a little rise and Michelle asked me what I was doing. I told her I was getting some elevation to glass the cut. She just looked at me funny then asked, “didn’t you hear me shoot?” Apparently she shot just before I drove up and I missed it.
Well this is where I should have just jumped in my truck and took off. LOL
She told me it was a spike and I asked if she thought she hit it and which way it went. She felt it was a good shot and pointed out the trail it took off on.
It was getting dark so I told her to grab her rifle, pack frame, knife and headlamp and to follow me straight over the hill. Without knowing if or how hard it was hit I really wanted to get over there and look for blood while we had some light left. When I got there I could not find any tracks or kicked up dirt and it was too dark to see blood without a light. I found a wet leaf and rubbed it. The moisture turned my hand a light pink. I found another leaf next to it and it had a bit of stomach matter on it. Crap! Classic signs of a gut shot deer. This could be a long night.
I continued to follow blood for about 40 yards through the ferns and underbrush when the blood trail disappeared at a split in the trail just before it dropped downhill. I shined my light to the right and then downhill to the left trying to look for any sign of the deer when I saw it’s eye reflecting back at me about 15 yards away. I walked down and gave it a kick in the rear. Dead deer. After a quick look at the deer, I headed back to the edge of the timber to see Michelle’s light only half way through the cut. This could be a really long night.
“C’mon!” I hollered.
Michelle’s hollers back, “I fell”.
“I fell twice” I holler.
Then Michelle asks if I found it. I told her that I found blood but that I needed her light because it was brighter. I told her that I found first blood and followed it but that I wanted her to follow the trail. She followed it just fine up to the point where I stopped. I got her to look around a bit before told her where it was.
Of course she was very excited as she checked it out. After a few pictures it was time for the real work to begin. I took a couple more pics as she gutted it.
Her shot was perfect but the slug hit a bone on entering and it fragmented. It broke at least two ribs and cracked a third on the other side as well as tearing through the diaphragm and stomach. The stomach contents then pushed back up into the chest cavity as well as out both holes and in between the meat and hide. Yuck!
After gutting we tied it to her pack frame. I then asked if she wanted me to carry it or if she wanted to do it. She said she felt bad that I was going to pack her deer and that she wanted to try. We loaded her up and after a few steps she was down. Unable to get up, I helped her take the pack off. I loaded up the pack and took off through the timber. Once at the edge of the cut I followed the edge of the timber through the stickers and slash, then up and over a huge pile of windfalls. After a few more minutes of hiking I came to a cleared area and waited for Michelle.
I asked her if she wanted me to continue or if she wanted to try again and that it didn’t matter to me but that I didn’t want to hear “I could have done it”. She wanted to do it so we loaded her up and we were off again. Not having much experience with packing hindered her a bit, but she did real well. Since it was a weeknight I was getting impatient and after a bit I took over the pack job again. I could tell she was upset and when she asked “why?” I told her that I had to work the next day. I carried it the rest of the way to the road and set it aside and then walked back to my truck.
Michelle was up a few minutes later and we loaded the deer into her truck. I am sure she was on cloud nine all the way back to her house where we hung the buck in her shop. After a bit of skinning I headed for home glad that I didn’t take off and that it wasn’t a long night.
This spike + weighed 85 lbs gutted and was at least two years old.
