You Just Had to Be There

I’m writing this down so that I don’t lose the details. I wish I’d had the camera out this morning, but most of this stuff could have only been caught with a lot of planning and a solid tripod. It’s one of those things that . . .well, you just had to be there. Sadly the rest of deer camp were not in attendance.

It all started last night, Friday night. I got down to the farm fairly early and set up shop expecting an uneventful happy hour at the Thoughtful spot. This was not to be. It all started with an appearance of 8 fat gobblers out in the field in front of Fountain Square. I caught them out of the corner of my eye while I was in the bedroom, putting on my coat. I bundled up and grabbed the binos and snuck out to the Thoughtful Spot. By the time I got there, 4 doe had joined them out in the little swale that drains down into Hootin’ Holler. They didn’t seem to mind me a bit, but everyone seemed a bit hinky. All of a sudden the gobs decided to clear out down into the dry creek bed that comes up closest to the house and emerged a short time later in the field directly in in my front. They dawdled a bit and then exited out towards Dead Skunk Hollow.

It was shortly after this that the action turned to the four doe. They had taken over the swale and were feeding nervously when a nice 8-pointer came bounding out of the dry creek and made a running pass through them. Everyone scattered and disappeared. A little later, 2 doe emerged on the other side of the dry creek and trotted out into the pasture much the same as the turkeys. They were looking back over their shoulders, I suspect, looking for the other two. After a few minutes of waiting, they trotted off to the Hundred Acre Wood by way of the pond.

After about 10 minutes or so, the two missing doe came out of Dead Skunk Hollow. They must have run down through Hootin’ Holler and then circled back. They came up close to the house, checking to see if the buck was around and then they too ran into the Hundred Acre Wood. The nice-sized 8-pointer that had been chasing them must have fallen off the chase. I did not see him again.

The house and the Thoughtful Spot sit at the top of the dry creek and the ravine that feeds it. It all forms a big U-shaped pasture. Deer frequently come from all sides and from the top and bottom to feed there when acorns start to lose their fascination. I catch them on the security camera feeding out there all times of the year. Friday night was an exceptionally active evening. It still was not the main event.

I’m leaning back, sipping my scotch, about 15 minutes before sundown and I spy a large buck. This seemed to be The Big One in these parts, and he came out to graze in the pasture beyond the swale on the right side of the big U. He never got too far out into field, and at one point I saw a doe join him for a bit of a feed. He was there a good half-hour being cock-of-the walk. You could tell he was fully satisfied with himself. It went dark before he left the field. The doe wandered off as well. The moon rose and The Big One gradually faded from view.

I went inside to eat dinner and go to bed. I woke up this AM and had myself all dressed and coffee-ed up well before sunrise.

I got out tothe Thoughtful Spot about 20 minutes before sunrise, and before I could settle in with my coffee, I was seeing action out in the right side of the dry creek. A nice 8-pointer was ambling down from the top and another nice 8 was coming up through the swale. They were both doing that stiff-legged, humped-up, head-bobbing swagger that tells you their higher functions are fully switched off and their lizard brains have taken full control. They’re in Maximum-Stupid mode, and they’re like guided missles. Sure enough, the guy on the uphill side suddenly veered down hill. They locked horns with a smash and the uphill fellow bulldozed his oppenent down into the dry creek. They stayed engaged for several minutes out of sight. The loser disappered. The winner came back out and did his strut out in the swale.

The fight was loud enough that it started bringing in a crowd. First to show up was a little guy– I thought I was seeing a doe at first. He wandered out of Dead Skunk Hollow and came all the way up to the swale on the right side. He was not looking to fight. He came in very steady, but not aggressively. He walked up to the winner and licked his face. They then engaged in some light sparring, before the bigger guy chased him off. It all became somewhat confused. There were nice 8’s and little basket 8’s and 6’s coming from everywhere. There were also some doe coming out to feed, and they tried to stay away from the fray but were quickly convinced that this action was not for them, and the left.

The Big One from the previous night showed up as well, and there was a lot of chasing and posturing and a lot of hoo-haw, before the Big One decided to stand in the middle of the field and probably decided that he needed to kick some but. Everyone made a beeline for cover. However, I caught two subordinate bucks having a disagreement on the road above the swale. The guy that I had picked as the lesser of the two suddenly charged and made the other guy give up his spot, and they all disappeared out behind the tobacco barn.

It all ended when The Big One suddenly made an appearance out of the left side of the field and walked up to within 40 yards of the house. He was just going into the bushes when he spied me and turned around and ran back down into the dry creek.

I was fighting this whole time to watch. Most of the action was taking place at the extreme, and I had my Celestron astronomical binos out. They’re good, but the bulk of the action was happening in the gloom of the back corner of a field 250 yards out or directly in the path of the sun that was rising throughout.

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