The Booner's Survival VI (Jan 2010)

   THE BOONER PART VI

   “A HARD LESSON LEARNED”

   By Brad “Hawghunter65” Gordon

  As I crawled up on the land from the river’s swift current I surveyed my immediate surroundings quickly looking for both danger and thick cover for security. Directly to my left was a thicket of multi floral rose which was exactly what I sought. Circling the heavy cover slowly downwind I checked for any predators that might be lurking in the thicket and finding none I entered gratefully to seek rest from my ordeal. I remained in the rose cover the rest of the day well after the night’s cover of darkness fell. Rising stiffly due to the coldness of the water and the punishment my muscles had taken swimming 3 miles downstream I stretched and then relieved myself outside the perimeter of my bed.

My immediate attention was to survey my surroundings for its size, cover it contained, escape routes, distance I could see, food, and how hard it was to approach by predators seeking my body for meat and my antlers for trophies. During this foray I discovered I was on a island about ¾ of a mile long and only about 300 yards at its widest point. Discovering also that I was not always alone, as another large buck used this island occasionally as his urine, pellets and rubs were scattered about the island. Satisfying all of the above except for a adequate food supply I followed the other bucks rub line and saw it led to the rivers edge. Looking up for his next rub I saw it across the river downstream on the bank about 200 yards from my current location. Gazing up and down the river I watched for several minutes for danger and scenting the air continuously decided it was safe to cross the river. Wading out only a few yards the river deepened suddenly and kicking with all four legs swam across to the rub rather easily. Emerging slowly as to not attract any attention I stood silently for a few minutes before shaking my coat slowly to get most of the water off my coat. Easing up the bank cautiously I peered over its lip with just my antlers and eyes above the edge and my eyes widened quickly when saw a picked corn field of several hundred acres next to a field of upright stones with paths leading back and forth. Next to the field of stones was a town with many lights and I recognized the two lighted predators moving slowly down several of its paths.

Shocked at the closeness of my enemies I pondered the situation as I remained immobile daring not to move in fear I might be discovered. Rigidly, I remained frozen for over 30 minutes until my mind accepted what I saw and I slowly relaxed my tense muscles. Smelling corn cobs and kernels left by the corn harvester finally reminded me of my hunger and step by step I moved up the bank on hyper alert watching for danger from across the field. Grabbing a bite here and there I would chew and swallow quickly to fill my first stomach so I could retreat back as soon as possible to the safety of my new island rose thicket. Seeing a immense thicket between the corn field and next to the field of stones I wondered if the other buck had explored or lived there. Looking at both ends of the large corn field I saw more lighted building in which I assumed the two legged predators lived in. Some were lighted and others were dark, nowhere did I see any of the two legged predators moving about. I finished filling my stomach and moved back to the river and watching my back trail finally moving down the bank and back into the river where I than swam for the island. Bedding down facing downwind where I could watch for enemies and using the wind from behind I could scent their approach long before they reached my location, I considered my new home strengths and weaknesses.

The winter passed slowly in my new home surrounded by the river running by each day. My almost nightly forays into the picked corn field near the town showed no prior two legged or four legged predator visits by scent at all to this field. Many a night as I fed in the field I would watch as people walked the streets with their own four legged predators talking among themselves. Only once as I stood upwind did I see one of the four legged predators lift their head as they caught my scent and straining were pulled back by their two legged predators to walk again next to them. None of them were even aware I stood but a few hundred yards from them in a open field covered by darkness from their eyes.

One night during a half moon I suddenly became aware of another presence I sensed watching me. Turning my head slowly as to not make any excessive quick movement I saw a large buck emerge from the thicket by the field of stones. I realized he had been lying there watching me since I had entered the field and took his time before coming forth into the field. He was huge in body over 350# with a wide typical rack sporting as least 12 heavy dagger like white tipped points and he watched me warily as he approached. I noticed his back sagged and his belly protruded downward and due to his immense body size this made his massive rack appear small due to his bulk. We watched each other feed and by instinct began to watch in teamwork for each other as the other fed with his head down. We both finished eating together and I watched as he began moving slowly back towards the river watching his back trail every few feet and scenting the air constantly on alert like myself. We moved in tandem together one watching out front for movement and the other using his nose to protect our backsides. Coming to the river’s edge he entered quickly and swam to the island and then waited as I swam the river and came on to the island. We browsed slowly constantly never letting our guards down even in the darkness and in our sanctuary. Finally, after circling the rose thorn thicket we both bedded about 25 yards from each other. That night a new partnership was born between us as we both sensed our sameness and our strong survival instincts.

The big buck showed me the surrounding areas on both sides of the river and I learned that part of the time he moved across the river on the opposite side of the large corn field and fed in several other fields. He also led me to several other secure bedding areas which he rotated using at random. I learned where two legged predators sometimes hunted, which trees they used and which ground cover they used on that side of the river. Our antlers dropped within two days of each other and both of us sought the island’s security until spring came and our antlers began to grow again. We even bedded several times in the thicket near the field of stones and watched as people gathered and long boxes were put into the ground and covered. We watched lying motionless another time at less then 50 yards as many two legged predators gathered and talked quietly over the box. All leaving together and then a large machine coming and burying the box after a single two legged predator lowered it in the ground. We watched several times as the new stones were placed in the field at the end of each upturned earth mounds and always we were undetected by our enemies. Moving only under the cover of darkness and lying motionless in thick cover by day, we were grey ghosts with uniquely different habits than the rest of our kind which had ensured our survival to this point of our lives.

That spring as I neared my 6th season of life and my partner his 7th season both of us had entered the prime of our lives as mature whitetail bucks. My typical friend grew immense 5 inch bases with the customarily 12 dagger points but developed split brow tines making him a 14 pointer in full velvet. My rack developed again non-typical with 18 projections from my main beams, three drop tines, two on the right and one large bulbous drop on the left rack with 6 inch bases. Both of us weighed close to 350# with concave backs and large swollen abdomens, our metabolisms were slow and all of our moments were deliberate and only made for survival reasons. The few other deer we met gave way to our bulk and stately mannerisms in our travels from our sanctuaries to feed. We were both fully nocturnal and few of the two legged predators had ever seen us or even suspected we often watched them. As we watched chewing our cuds we studied their movements and habits lying quietly close to their homes by the field of stones. When summer came we moved more often to the island as a breeze would often move down the river which helped keep the mosquitoes and black flies at bay. The black flies were a special nuisance as they would seek to bite our antlers that were blood engorged from the vessels that fed our massive racks.

One day in late summer we both came instantly alert as we heard faint voices coming from the river and watched as several silver colored floating logs with more than one two legged predators in each approached our island. Most passed by on each side of the island gliding on top of the water but one silver log approached and slide up on the island where both two legged predators got out with a brown box and walked towards the edge of our bedding area of multi-floral rose. Finding a flat area they proceeded to set on the ground within 20 yards of us and feed from the brown box talking quietly with each other. The male two legged predator was looking around occasionally at his surrounding and suddenly stiffened when he noticed several of the of our rubs from last year on 8-12 diameter trees that we both had made last fall stripping the velvet from our racks. He began to glance around and slowly rose from his seat on the ground looking directly at both of us in the thicket once and I saw his eyes hesitate upon seeing my partner’s form and then move quickly pass. Quietly he spoke to his other female predator and they slowly picked up their items looking around them as they did so studying the area. They moved back to the silver log and slowly moved out into the river the male predator watching the island and looking up into the trees occasionally for some reason. This made me extremely uneasy for some reason and I could not place or figure out why. My partner seemed at ease and he went back to chewing his cud and seemed only on semi-alert which was his normal status during the daylight times. The rest of the day passed without further events and I noticed my velvet covered rack began to itch for the first time this year.

Early fall came with the leaves just starting to turn on some trees along with the nights cooling down in which both of us were more comfortable with our heavy coats of hair. One morning well before daylight we swam the river coming from the side my partner favored and as customarily moved slowly around the islands edge downwind scenting the air looking for predators in the bedding area. We both missed the silver log turned upside down hidden in the undergrowth close to the downwind side of the island that was covered with camouflage cloth netting.

For some instinctual reason I was uneasy and lagged behind my partner in the darkness, scenting the air and listening twice as much as usual in my daily bedding approach routine. My partner with ivory tips showing up in the darkness moved ahead of me until we had a split of about 30 yards between us. He looked back at me questioningly several times as to why I delayed my movements as daylights faint glow began to emerge in the east. Something sixth sense warned me to slow my movements even to a more deliberate pace as something was wrong but what was it? I sensed nothing, no odor or stealthy movements of a predator and nothing came to my ears constantly swiveling to detect danger. I froze in place going through a smaller thicket of cover about 100 yards from our bedding area. The big typical also froze in place as he sensed my unease and wariness, we both surveyed for danger for over 15 minutes in our respective places. The false dawn was now rising as we were later than normal and as my eyes adjusted from night vision to the early day light I bedded in place uneasy and now fully alert for danger. My partner watched me bed and flicked his tail for the ok signal and began to move slowly to cover the last 70 yards or so to the thicker bedding area that we both favored normally.

I watched him as dawn broke as he moved closer to the bedding area and my line of sight noticed a faint budge behind one of the trees about 25 yards from the edge of the rose thicket and almost 25 feet up the tree. Observing my typical friend and the tree bulge I thought I saw a faint movement at the bulge of the tree, freezing my vision in place I studied where the movement had occurred. Nothing else moved in that vicinity of the bulge for several minutes. My attention went back to my partner who continued towards the thicket until he was adjacent and broadside to the tree when I heard a faint grunt come from the tree and my partner stopped on full alert. Again a subtle movement from the bulge behind the tree trunk and I saw a flash of something going downward into the chest of my partner. The big typical took 2 large leaps towards the thicket and stopped in the center of our thicket were he stood for just a short time and then staggered sideways to fall over onto his side with a sharp crack as a branch broke under him. I watched his heavy antlered head attempt to rise and then fall back to lie flat on the ground. Puzzled, I continued to watch the tree for several minutes until again as the sun finally broke the horizon I saw movement and watched as a long stick object was lowered to the ground. This was followed by a slight rustling and scraping of bark as I watched the bulge move down the tree in little movements until a two legged predator stepped out behind the trunk and picked up the stick object. He stood there silently watching the thicket for any movement and slowly crept forward into it to where my typical friend laid. Laying his hand on my friends back I watched as he knelt there silently next to him for several minutes. He reached into his side and shaking visibly placed a bright colored object on his antlers. Standing, he glanced at the river and picking up the heavy head and neck off the ground slowly dragged him to the river’s edge as the thorns from the rose caught his clothes, hands and face.

Returning to the tree he then unfastened another object from the tree trunk and placed it on his back. Moving to the head of the thicket I saw him enter the rivers edge and slowly move along the bank of the island using a stick that was standing in the water to wade carefully back down the island. He passed me lying with my head down between my feet at only 30 yards but did not see me as I did not twitch even an ear and watched for any direct eye contact that would alert me to being seen. Continuing to lie quietly, I listened as he proceeded down the island edge until I heard the noise of a metallic object being rolled over. He came again in a few minutes up the edge dragging behind him the silver log and went to where the big typical lie and grunting heavily from the weight rolled him into the silver log. Dragging the silver log into the river he climbed into the log and glided slowly with the current down the river away from the island.

Pondering the situation, instinct or sixth sense told me that he was the male predator who had brought the female predator to our island that summer. Was my presence known by this two legged predator also or was he only aware of the big typical? Was it the rubs or the passing of his eyes over my partners form that had alerted him to our presence. The predator seemed to be more than a match for my unique lifestyle and a deep fear and respect came over me. He had not returned with the tree boxes that exploded lights or placed platforms in the tree, or even visited the island except once for all I knew. Waiting for the right wind and opportunity he had struck suddenly, silently and with deadly skill. Deciding that day not to use the island to ever bed again due to this man’s encroachment and crafty habits I waited for darkness to fall. I dared not risk that he knew of my existence as his predator ways were different than the other two legged ones that I had patterned so easily before in my life. Sensing in him a kindred spirit with the devotion to hunting only for my kind of mature bucks versus the normal deer herd as strong as my devotion for survival. Knowing that he must have arrived at the island hours before daylight and our return, he had used the water to mask his approach and eliminate scent on the ground. Traveling in the water upriver during the night to arrive at our island, he knew we would be there before daylight to bed as our habits dictated us to do. He had artfully circled the thicket in the dark not leaving any ground scent somehow and picked a suitable large tree upon our approach path to mask his movements and carry his scent upward before he had struck with lethal precision from ambush. The male predator knew our ways and survival habits and had used them against us. Only my hyper vigilant awareness had saved me which caused me to bed where I stood. I vowed to myself never to bed in an area of large trees strong or wide enough to support a two legged predator that possessed these predator skills. The day passed slowly and I dozed fitfully missing the big typical being on alert and each of us spelling each other on watch. Watching one of my kind die so easily in front of me planted in my mind several hard lessons of survival that I still needed to learn.

To Be Continued.

Brad “Hawghunter65” Gordon

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