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M

Mainah

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Greetings from Maine. I've been checking in here for about a year, ever since I got my first hunting license. I'm an older rookie- 42. I didn't grow up with hunters, this site has been a fantastic source of information. Thanks everyone.

Why did I take up hunting? A couple of years ago I woke up, got a cup of coffee, and brought my dogs (at that time a ten year old German Shepherd and Border Collie) out into the front yard. We live on four acres in semi-rural Maine.

The Shepherd took off into the bushes, there was a pretty big ruckus, and he came out with a huge doe on his heels. They squared off about fifteen feet from me, she went up on her rear legs and started kicking him.

He backed down, she ran over to the Border Collie (who for the first time in her life was standing still) and gave her a couple shots. The Shepherd came back for more, chased the doe off into the woods, and then came running back with the doe in hot pursuit.

Meanwhile I'm yelling at the deer. I got her attention, and I swear that we locked eyes. My wife opened the front door, I turned around, and the deer came towards me, so I charged her (in my boxers, still holding the coffee).

The doe ran off, but only about fifty feet. I got the dogs inside, then grabbed an axe handle from the shed and chased her into the woods.

Within a year I had a new 870 and I'd completed hunter safety.

Sorry for the length of this post, but it tells you why I'm here.
 
I just want to make sure I understand. You took up hunting as a means for self defense from bambi? That's a riot.

Welcome aboard!
 
Not exactly. I tell my friends that if anything like that happens again I'm confident that I could take a deer in hand to hand combat. I figure that I've seen a deer fight, but they've never seen me fight. So I've got an edge there.

Seriously, I think I would of taken up hunting anyway. I've always enjoyed the outdoors. And I think that if we had more hunters in Maine we might have less Lyme Disease.

But I will concede that my doe permit application might have a little to do with self defense.
 
Clubbing bambie, sounds funny. Yup the deer in Maine sure are bold arn't they?
 
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Do you think she may have had a fawn stashed in there? You don't mention what time of year.

If they start charging me, I might have to rethink bowhunting altogether...or brush up on my defensive hand-gun skills....
 
Just guessing, but from the behavior it sounds like she was protecting a fawn. Odds are, absent a fawn, she'd have gone away and at speed.

Yeah, you scared her off. All well and good. But if you'd been close to that thicket when she first charged out, shame on your unlucky self. You'd have had gashes all up and down the front of you in a heartbeat.

99.99% of the time, a deer's impulse is to run. That's their primary survival instinct. But beware that other 0.01%.

Don't ever get around anybody's "pet" buck, particularly in the fall of the year. (I know, those are not common housepets; low odds.) A fair number of folks have wound up as members of the "200 stitches club".

I'm NOT saying that woods-wandering should include any particular concern about BadMadDeer. Up close and personal, just use common sense when dealing with something that's a lot faster than you are.

Art
 
I know of one hunter that was chased by a crazed six point buck at deer camp. It seems funny but he was weaponless and some of his camp buddies finally heard his shouts for help. When they came to his rescue he was standing on top of an outside table. They shot the deer and had fresh camp meet laying at their feet. Deer can do some strange things.

Enjoy your hunting and watch out for those mean deer.
 
Mainah,

That is the funniest thing I've heard. While reading that I could really picture all of this taking place. You've experienced what fewer than 1 percent of 1 percent of all people ever will. You were out there in boxers and a cup of coffee, hillarious. :D

Don't think you could take a deer hand to hand. They are simply too powerful. They are the size of a man, but with sharp hooves (and antlers in the male version.) They also have Olympic class stamina, power, and speed. You don't. That video of the two guys wrestling with the deer would have turned out VERY different if that deer had antlers. He seemed to be toying with them, but if he decided to, he could have caused massive damage.

But don't worry, you'll never be attacked by a deer again. Enjoy the hunting nontheless.
 
You're right Art, it was June, and I'm sure she had a fawn in those bushes. My uncle lives in Northcentral PA, he loves that story. He told a neighbor about it, and the guy just raised his eyebrows.

Next year the neighbor comes flying up to my uncle on an ATV. Told him that he'd just seen a black bear kill a fawn, and then watched the mom drive the bear off. Said he believed my story now.

I'm just glad it wasn't a moose.
 
Ayuh.

Mainah--Gotta watch them deeah. (My motha was a Mainiac, so I undastand the lingo.)
Up close and personal, just use common sense when dealing with something that's a lot faster than you are.
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Good general advice. Applicable to deer, firearms, steam locomotives, etc, etc. One of the commonest lines from accident survivors is, "I was amazed by how fast it happened."
 
Yeah, he asked for it. Like I said he was ten at the time, if it had happenned when he was a few years younger it would of been way uglier. He'd always chase after deer when we saw them, but he'd come back when I called him, he never ran them. Afterwards I could tell when he got a whiff of one, he'd come right to my side and stick to me like velcro.

The poor Border Collie didn't do anything, but she ended up with a muddy hoof print on her head. Fortunately neither dog was injured.
 
"Not exactly. I tell my friends that if anything like that happens again I'm confident that I could take a deer in hand to hand combat. I figure that I've seen a deer fight, but they've never seen me fight. So I've got an edge there." Mainah

Reminds me of the time a friend of mine got hit over the head with a beer bottle by a 200 pound lesbian. After he got up, he said,"Let me go, I think I can take her!"
 
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