| Author |
Message |
Dale
| | Posted on Sunday, November 24, 2002 - 8:16 am: | |
Yesterday afternoon, I hunted the National Forest in Craig County alone in search of a yearling doe for the freezer. At dark, I got my chance and harvested a nice 65-75 pound doe. I was about an hour's drag from the truck. This put me to the truck at about 6:20 p.m. While loading the deer in the truck, I thought I heard someone talking. I turned the truck off and about 500-700 yards away on a ridge was a flashlight. The guy was asking me if I killed a buck. I yelled back that I had killed a doe. He said he hit a large buck and was bloodtrailing it. I asked him three times if he wanted some help. He kept avoiding the question, simply saying that it was a large buck or the trail was good. On the fourth and final offer, he said he would appreciate the help. Well, I felt kinda wierd so I put a couple of rounds in the magazine of my rifle, not in the chamber, turned off the truck and walked down the road to where I though I could start cutting up to him. I hollered out 3 times to him before I started up in the woods. No response. I turned out my light and listened for about 5 minutes nothing. He couldn't have been more than 300-400 yards from where I was standing. I got an wierd feeling that something weird was going on, so I walked back to my truck without the flashlight on. At the truck, I hollered out 3 or 4 more times for him, listening in between for a response, and nothing. At that point, I got in the truck and got the heck out of dodge. The only vehicle I saw on the road on the way out was about three ridges away from where I had parked the truck. I'm still confused over what happened. I did hear three shots ring out about 4:00 p.m. that sounded about 2-3 ridges over before I harvested my doe. So, this added some merit to the guys story. I know the woods pretty good where he was calling from, so it's not possible that he dipped down into a hollow where he couldn't hear me. Unlike the rest of the day, the winds were silent at the time this transpired. I hate the thought of leaving a fellow hunter trailing a wounded deer by himself, especially when I think I understood him to need some help. Then again, I was about 5 miles from the nearest house or hard surface road, it was dark, I didn't know this guy, and he was acting what I would consider highly unusual. I've hunted these woods for about 15 years and never encountered any trouble. Everybody I've met has been courteous and friendly. At any rate, my gut was telling me something wasn't right. I said a prayer for the guy and the deer on my way out of the woods just in case. |
Diablo
| | Posted on Monday, November 25, 2002 - 4:53 pm: | |
No question about it ... you did the right thing. You usually can't go wrong trusting your gut and saying a prayer.
JD |
Freddy McGuire (Vaturkey)
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 26, 2002 - 8:59 am: | |
I agree with Diablo... you did the right thing. If he had really needed help he would have stayed in touch with you as you went to find him. Very wierd... |
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