You don’t venture into our neck of the woods without an
orange vest this time of year. The regular deer hunting season is wrapping up
but muzzle loader week is about to start. We aren’t exactly hunter’s paradise
like in the Muskoka region, for example. But we do have our fair share of
hereditary hunters. They have grown up with it as part of their lifestyle and
culture.
As we are located about fifteen minutes out of town, we have
a fair amount of neighbours who are neither familiar nor comfortable with the
sport of hunting. Those who hunt are, for the most part, respectful of those
who do not wish to see hunting happening in their neighbourhood. They might
hear it, but they shouldn’t see it.
I find after the first few days of the hunt, if a party is
not successful, they may become careless. I was taking a walk one morning a few
Novembers past, and I saw a man in orange backing up toward the road. He stood
in the ditch and held his gun up to aim back into the field he had just left. I
stopped just a few feet behind him.
“Do me a favour,” I asked, “and don’t shoot until I’m around
the corner!” You aren’t supposed to hunt anywhere near a roadway but this group
probably had a dog chasing the deer out of the bush and they didn’t want the
animal to make it to the road. I heard the gunshot just as I rounded the
corner.
Most motorists would agree they would prefer not to see a
deer near the road either. That is one of the positive effects of hunting in
our region: it limits the number of animals that end up in front of a moving
vehicle, risking the lives of the driver and passengers as well as the deer.
Hunting is a great way to ‘naturally’ control the deer
population. The rules are there for a reason, however. It is not cool to bait
deer with corn or sweetfeed. You can feed them to help them last through the
long, cold winter but you should not be luring them out into the open just so
that you can shoot them. A true hunter gives the animal a fighting chance. It’s
as though the universe has to offer the animal up to the hunter, or it just
isn’t fair.
We have 200 acres of mixed forest, pasture and crops. In my
ten years here I have only seen deer a few times. We have seen sign of them,
when they leave their antler scratches on the trees or paw the soft earth on
the tractor lane. But you really have to know what you are looking for. I never
would have found those marks on my own. These elusive animals are so good at
hiding, it really is a miracle when one appears close enough to the hunter in
his deer stand to actually be shot.
Venison is a nice, lean meat so it’s a very healthy menu
choice. Our hunter/chef prepares his venison like a roast and we often serve it
with red pepper jelly or mushroom gravy. He only shoots the animal that he
thinks will make a good meal. If he shoots it, we eat it. There is no trophy
hunting here. The King of the Forest in his ten-point glory is safe from the
Hunter and his gun.
Fergus and I are looking forward to the end of hunting
season for a number of reasons. The Farmer has cut a trail through the woods
for us, so we are anxious to check it out on our daily walks. It isn’t safe to
go out there at the moment, however, because we have hunters on all our
neighbouring properties and our doe-coloured dog tends to spring and bound like
a deer.
Fergus also finds the sound of gunshots to be a bit
startling. He barks and demands to go outside, where he stands and stares in
the direction of the shots, growling and harrumphing to himself. In deer season
it’s usually only one shot, however. That’s all you get so you had better know
what you are shooting at.
There is one thing Fergus loves about deer hunting season.
When we are finished our meal of venison, it doesn’t make a great leftover. The
meat becomes a bit dried out and tough. IF you wash off all the gravy and
spices, however, and chop it into little pieces, it makes an excellent treat
for a young Golden Retriever.
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