The Deer Hunt

Sometimes a deal comes along you just can’t pass up. When an opportunity like one discussed in the upcoming story comes along, jump right in the middle of it and enjoy yourself while your young enough to pursue it.

The Deer Hunt

 

In the summer of 1975, my brother in-law, Buffalo Bob, asked me if I was interested in joining a hunting club he was a member of. He said there were 20 guys in the club and each paid $100 dollars per year for the privilege to hunt deer in the Mesa country of New Mexico. The owner, with whom he was a personal friend, had 20,000 acres of wild Mesa country available to hunt on. There was also an 8 man cabin that had been built in the center of prime deer country that was available for our use. We lived in Fritch, Texas at the time and the hunting lease was only 120 miles from my house and this sounded like the deal of the century so I jumped on it and joined the club immediately.

 

My wife, Pam, was also personal friends with the land owner Bud, and his wife Lucille, and she had talked to her. They had invited her and my 2 year old daughter, Kristi, to come and stay at their ranch house while Bob and I deer hunted. As I recall, Bob’s wife, Brenda, and their 3 year old son, Chad , also stayed at the ranch house. We arrived the day deer season opened in New Mexico and dropped the families off, and went to the cabin to settle in. The next morning we headed out to hunt. Old Buffalo Bob took the easy hunting ground on top and I went about half way down the slope and we started working our way around the the Mesa. I had worked slowly around the slope for about 30 minutes and I heard some hoofs running on rocks off to my right up the hill. Buffalo must have flushed a deer off the top. Then I see the huge deer with small trees growing out of his head ducking into a ravine just up the hill. I started to head down the hill to follow, but then I thought …..what if he comes out the other side of the ravine….. so I decided to prepare my rifle and just watch. The deer headed up the other side of the ravine about 40 yards from me and paused for a second at the top. I was above him looking down on him so I set the cross hairs in the middle of his back just behind the neck and fired. The deer dropped straight down without taking a step. I presume the shot broke his back. He was a ten point ( Texas count) large mule deer. Bob and I drug him down the slope, gutted him, put him in a deer bag, and hung him in a tree at the bottom of the slope.

 

We made the long walk back to the cabin, drove to the ranch house, picked up Bud, then picked up the deer, and hung it in a tree in the front yard of the ranch house. We skinned it quartered it and packed the meat on ice. On the way home my wife and I kept smelling something in the car that stunk really bad, but we couldn’t figure out what it was so we just tolerated the smell.

 

My wife’s Dad had previously been a butcher, so we stopped by his house and he butchered the deer for us. A couple of days later, Pam got a call from Bud and he asked her if she had found the big wad of Catfish Charlie Stink Bait he had placed under our front seat.

 

When we got back I asked Bob if he wished he would have taken the tough terrain instead of the top, and he just ignored me. The next deer season he got a deer off the top and I didn’t get one. He retaliated with a similar question when we got back.

 

The Buffalo offering me a deal I couldn’t refuse.

I put put the crosshairs on the back just behind the neck and squeezed off a round.

A faded polaroid of me, Kristi, and Chad with the Huge mule deer I bagged that day

Thank you for reading The Deer Hunt,

Hawg Jaw Bill