As spring begins to spread across the country it’s easy to overlook the uglier side of Mother Nature. It’s the side of her that rears her dreadful head in winter. If you don’t believe me, take a hike in your nearest wild area and you’ll see what I mean.
This weekend I spent much of the weekend hiking (imagine that?). While crossing a large field of waist-high grass I came across what I believed was a dead deer. Sage was pooped and riding high in my backpack, but even she knew something was amiss and growled. That’s when I saw the flicker of an eyelid. The yearling was alive!
I couldn’t believe it. The deer was in an emaciated state and its backbone was clearly visible. Despite nearly standing on the deer it never budged. It breathed in slow, laborious gulps and blinked occasionally. Other than that, there was no life left in the poor creature. For a moment I thought about putting it out of its misery. I had my handgun, but passed. First and foremost, it was illegal and secondly, this was part of the circle of life, albeit the gut-wrenching part.
You keep the antlers. I'll keep this tuft of hair and that one, and maybe that one over there and hey, here's another!
Throughout the day I stumbled across numerous deer carcasses or actually the hair from dead deer. Even the coyotes had it tough. They ate it all and hardly left a bone. The final clue as to hard the winter occurred as I was leaving. As I drove past a hay yard half full of round bales an antlerless buck had clamored to the very top of the heap. He was digging for choice browse and as I stopped and watched from 50 yards away he glanced at me and quickly went back to eating.
It’s been a tough winter, but hopefully your neck of the woods is about to get a shot of spring sunshine.
Mark Kayser
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