Roping a deer

[kabusroe]

Does anybody know where to find the story about the hunter who tried to rope a deer so he could fatten it up. 

[Woodchuck]

https://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,71843.msg873760.html#msg873760

[kabusroe]

Thank you, this is great stuff

[Woodchuck]

That one never gets old, lol. 

[Bill W]

This doesn't sound like a good idea to me.  I once "roped" a porcupine.  At the time it seemed like a good idea.  When it came time to "un-noose" the porky I had to do some thinking.  Mr. Porky didn't jump around but he also sure wasn't gonna cooperate getting loose.

[throttlejocky20]

I think i was about 13 my cousin was about 12 we were riding horses in the arena roping steers when we saw 3 does and a 2pt  go down the horse trail across the street. We decided to test our skills and went after them. Thank god we didnt get the rope on one but my cousin came close. Looking back we didnt think that one through very well.

[Humptulips]

I've never roped a deer but I have roped an elk.
This would have been maybe thirty years ago. I had snares out for coyotes and was before the time of break away devices commonly use with snares so that deer and elk can self release. Even at that an elk should be able to break a snare off at the snare lock but this cow did not probably because I had about 15 feet of snare extensions attached to a cascara tree that had some give so the elk never got a good pull.
When I showed up the elk was standing in an about thirty foot catch circle. Unlike the fella with the deer I knew I did not want tangle directly but had to turn her loose. I managed to lasso her which was no easy feat as I am not a cowboy.  I then threaded the rope through a cascara clump. Then the tug of war started. At first it seemed hopeless but as I pulled the rope cut off her air and over the course of about 15 minutes she  became weaker. I finally managed to get her close enough to tie her to the cascara. She was snared by a back foot so I now had her stretched out. I went around and reached in and got my pliers under the snare and cut it off. She was not happy about me being behind her but was slowly succumbing to lack of air and getting more docile.
I then went around and reached through the cascara clump and cut the lasso off her neck. All this had probably taken two hours by now so there were a lot of missteps along the way and I had a bunch of ropes wires and stuff scattered around. I wanted her to leave but she would not leave the catch circle. I guess she had trained herself to the leash.
I was a little afraid of her but took a few runs at her with my arms waving and on the third try she jumped outside the catch circle and realized she was free and took off. 
Stories about turning cougars loose will wait until another day.

[rasbo]

A guy in Idaho yrs back roped a moose,it killed his horse. He showed me pics and it really bothered me.

[fishnfur]

I used to have a hilarious photo of a guy in gym shorts, tank top, and cowboy boots running after a BT in his garden, lasso spinning in the air, buck looking like his eyes are going to pop out.  God it was the best photo ever.  I lost it about 8 years ago when that computer died.   

[bigmacc]

I think I,ve told this story before but many years ago a rancher friend of mine and myself found a big rutted up, grey faced, roman nosed buck stuck brisket deep in mud up at Sullivans pond up towards Ramsey creek over in the Methow, it was about the 2nd or 3rd week in November if I remember right . The big buck(and I mean big!) was struggling pretty good and the more he did the worse off he became. We had no idea of how long he,d been there but it looked like awhile, he was getting pretty exhausted. What was interesting was his harem or his herd were all on the hill watching the struggle from about 70 or 80 yards away, there were about 14 does and 3 other smaller bucks just watching, they had no regard at all for us. We sat there watching the ordeal for awhile and both decided he wasn't going to get out on his own and what a shame it would be for the old monarch to go like that after all he had probably seen and been through. We went into action. My friend had his lasso rope with him on his horse, he rode up to about 20 ft away give or take and the big buck started really thrashing, my buddy waited a minute or so for the buck to rest then let it fly, got him around his rack on the first toss. My buddy did a quick wrap around the saddle horn and put his horse in reverse, pulled the buck into some solid turf but during the struggle the rope had gotten extremely tangled in his rack and my friend had to cut the rope as short as he could safely do it. The buck took off like it was shot out of a cannon with the remainder of the rope flying in the breeze . We sat down and enjoyed a couple beers and wondered what the look on the face of the fella that found those sheds would be

[bigmacc]

Just thought of another one. Back in the 50,s and 60,s my great grandparents were pretty close with the Game dept. guys in the Methow and when I was little I remember my great grandpa taking me to "deer roundups" a few times, they would let grandpa know when they were doing one and we would head up there. One of them (once again ) was up in the Sullivans pond area. They used to put big poles in the ground and put up big nets all around it, I remember them being pretty good sized and kind of shaped like a funnel. Sometimes helicopters were used to drive small herds into the trap and sometimes guys on horses would be used and most of the time both were used including people spread out around the entrance banging pots and pans to get the deer to run into the opening. I remember once in the pen some were roped and tranquilized then tagged. I remember sitting on a hill with my dad and grandpa and watching it all unfold from above, If I remember right they did them in early spring before the spring migration back up to the summer range. I remember there were literally thousands of deer that would stage in that Sullivans pond area before the spring migration and I mean thousands! Really sad what it has become.

[bigmacc]

Thats it for me and "roping deer" stories. Got lots of other old Methow stories but I,m tapping out on the deer roping

[no.cen.wa]

I have a "roping" episode,,,
Hunting the Methow, Loop Loop Pass area, I was on my way back to camp after a long day of hunting and as I crested the last ridge I spotted a nice 2 point (when it was legal of to shoot of course) I could only see the head/neck area, so, took a breath and let it fly. The buck never even got up, just went over on it's side. Yahoo, I could almost see camp from the ridge and would be ALL downhill! I couldn't wait to tell my buddies the story and how close to camp it was.
So, as I went down to the buck I really didn't see the bullet hole but it was so steep on the ridge I needed to tie it up to tree or something so I could dress it out. I pulled my drag rope out of my pack, looped it around the horns and pulled the deer head uphill toward a small tree to tie it off. I had my rifle shouldered on the sling, and rope wound around my wrist, (same arm/shoulder)   and then to my surprise the bucks eyes opened and were looking right at me,,,, "OHHH S##T "  I thought! There was a big flat rock acouple feet away so I pulled the rope under it and pulled the head of the deer up to it as tight as I could. With the head pinned down it couldn't get up, but you better believe that buck was thrashing around and wanted up!
Well, I finally got the rope off my wrist, the rifle off my shoulder and made a FANTASTIC!  "one foot shot" in the neck! I then dressed it out and pulled it down the ridge to camp. Never did see bullet hole!
 My buddies helped me hang it up and we started skinning it out.. then Ray started laughing and pointed to a hole in it's ear! That was the only hole and I guess I just knocked it out for a minute or two!
   Thats my rope story!
John G
Think I'm glad it wasn't a big 4x4 or something,,, would have never seen my rope again I'm sure!

[no.cen.wa]

Got another roping story of my Grandfather, I'll write it later!

[bigmacc]

Good stuff no.cen.wa, check your PM,s pardner