What State (of mind) Are we Hunting In?

by: Gary Sorenson

Thanksgiving brings relitives and friends together and this year there was an extra ordinary amount of them that gathered around the table as it was also my father in laws 80th birthday.  I believe the count reached 55 before we barred the door in fear we would run out of food.  Nah, in reality we would have welcomed more because the more there are the more stories there are that float around.  One of my favorite stories I believe was told be a nephew.  It was one of those stories that had your emotions swinging all over the place until you started questioning the validity of it all.  But one look on my nephew’s face told you it was all fact.

It was one of those stories that if you focused on the deer, it was kind of gut wrenching.  If you focused on the hunters it was truly agonizing and  frustrating.  If you stepped back from the hunter and the deer there was an element of amusement in what happened that day. 

  The Snake River behind my brother in laws house.

The setting was an archery deer hunt that took place in Oregon, and it was next to the Snake River which divides the states of Oregon and Idaho.  It seems my two nephews had been deer hunting and seeing very little till shortly afternoon when they spotted a deer and began the stalk.  Who finally got the shot was not really clear nor was it important to the story, but it was taken and it seemed like a good hit.  They had parked their vehicle at a public park along the river and had hunted up and away from the river.  Now they watched in amazement as their deer made its way out of the bare hills and actually laid down within 20 yards of their pickup.  By now they had figured out that their hit wasn’t as good as they had first thought.  Because there were families enjoying picnicking at the park they didn’t want to make a scene by going down there to finish off their deer in that atmosphere so they sat a ways off and watched and waited until the last picnic was packed up and gone.  Because the deer was in the brush they weren’t sure what condition it was in.  They were really shocked when they approached the brush and the deer jumped up, ran to the river, swam the Snake River (150 – 200 yards) and was now in Idaho.  When the deer reached the other shore it laid on the bank like it had expired.  The boys had their cell phone so called the Oregon Fish and Game to tell them what happened and see if they could cross the river and collect their deer.  After permission was granted they flagged a Bass fisherman down and he took them across.  After landing at a suitable place they walked up river to where the deer was.  They were shocked again as they approached the deer to have it suddenly jump up and bail off into the river and head back to Oregon.  This time a boat came along and saw the deer swimming and then saw the boys waving so they came over to where they were.  The boys filled them in on what had happened and that they would like a ride back over to Oregon.  On the ride over they found out one of the guys was an anti-hunter and they got a head full of chewing out from him.  Fortunately the driver was a hunter and helped equalize the situation.  The boys were never the less happy to get out of the boat when they landed.  At this point it was starting to get dark so they were really anxious to get this deer in the back of the pickup and head home.  So they started their stalk on the last place they had saw the deer, being much more careful this time.  It seems the deer by now was very aware of the boys every movement and before they got very close at all, it come barrelling out of the brush and headed for the river once again.  The boys watched in helplessness as it swam out about 60 yards, laid over and disappeared.  There was no boater in sight and light was fast disappearing so for all their effort all they could do now was watch till there was nothing left to watch.

 The Snake River

I think if I lived another 500 years I’d never hear a stranger story, but then hunting is like that and can produce some very strange circumstances and situations.  In many cases the unexpected will happen, its part of the intrigue of spending time in the outdoors in pursuit of game.

Tags: Archery, deer, Snake River