An Education -

[The Farmers Daughter]

An Education -

I love venison, so I had this idea that I was going to rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it.

The first step in this adventure was getting a deer. I figured that, since they congregate at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not 4 feet away), it should not be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it and transport it home.

I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end with my rope.

The cattle, having seen the roping thing before, stayed well back. They were not having any of it.

After about 20 minutes, my deer showed up -- 3 of them. I picked out a likely looking one, stepped out from the end of the feeder, and threw my rope. The deer just stood there and stared at me.

I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would have a good hold. The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation.

I took a step towards it...it took a step away. I put a little tension on the rope and then received an education.

The first thing that I learned is that, while a deer may just stand there looking at you funny while you rope it, they are spurred to action when you start pulling on that rope.

That deer EXPLODED.

The second thing I learned is that pound for pound, a deer is a LOT stronger than a calf or a colt. A calf or a colt in that weight range I could fight down with a rope and with some dignity.

A deer-- no chance.

That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled. There was no controlling it and certainly no getting close to it. As it jerked me off my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it occurred to me that having a deer on a rope was not nearly as good an idea as I had originally imagined.

The only upside is that they do not have as much stamina as many other animals.

A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired and not nearly as quick to jerk me off my feet and drag me when I managed to get up. It took me a few minutes to realize this, since I was mostly blinded by the blood flowing out of the big gash in my head. At that point, I had lost my taste for corn-fed venison. I just wanted to get that devil creature off the end of that rope.

I figured if I just let it go with the rope hanging around its neck, it would likely die slow and painfully somewhere.

At the time, there was no love at all between me and that deer. At that moment, I hated the thing, and I would venture a guess that the feeling was mutual.

Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had cleverly arrested the deer's momentum by bracing my head against various large rocks as it dragged me across the ground, I could still think clearly enough to recognize that there was a small chance that I shared some tiny amount of responsibility for the situation we were in, so I didn't want the deer to have it suffer a slow death, so I managed to get it lined back up in between my truck and the feeder - a little trap I had set before hand...kind of like a squeeze chute.

I got it to back in there and I started moving up so I could get my rope back.

Did you know that deer bite? They do! I never in a million years would have thought that a deer would bite somebody, so I was very surprised when I reached up there to grab that rope and the deer grabbed hold of my wrist.

Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where they just bite you and then let go. A deer bites you and shakes its head --almost like a pit bull. They bite HARD and it hurts.

The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to freeze and draw back slowly. I tried screaming and shaking instead. My method was ineffective.

It seems like the deer was biting and shaking for several minutes, but it was likely only several seconds.

I, being smarter than a deer (though you may be questioning that claim by now) tricked it. While I kept it busy tearing the bejesus out of my right arm, I reached up with my left hand and pulled that rope loose. That was when I got my final lesson in deer behavior for the day.

Deer will strike at you with their front feet. They rear right up on their back feet and strike right about head and shoulder level, and their hooves are surprisingly sharp.

I learned a long time ago that, when an animal -- like a horse --strikes at you with their hooves and you can't get away easily, the best thing to do is try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive move towards the animal. This will usually cause them to back down a bit so you can escape.

This was not a horse. This was a deer, so obviously, such trickery would not work. In the course of a millisecond, I devised a different strategy.

I screamed and tried to turn and run.

The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will hit you in the back of the head.

Deer may not be so different from horses after all, besides being twice as strong and 3 times as evil, because the second I turned to run, it hit me right in the back of the head and knocked me down.

Now, when a deer paws at you and knocks you down, it does not immediately leave. I suspect it does not recognize that the danger has passed. What they do instead is paw your back and jump up and down on you while you are laying there crying like a little girl and covering your head.

I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the deer went away.

So now I know why when people go deer hunting they bring a rifle with a scope so that they can be somewhat equal to the Prey.

[BigRiverLeather]

I'm terribly sorry to laugh at your misfortune, but I did. If you did not want me to do this, then please refrain from your excellent story telling techniques.

[The Farmers Daughter]

I'm terribly sorry to laugh at your misfortune, but I did. If you did not want me to do this, then please refrain from your excellent story telling techniques.

I post....so that others may learn.

[Art]

The first sentence told most of us old timers that it was a downhill proposition.

You know why we knew?

Art

An Education -

I love venison, so I had this idea that I was going to rope a deer

[The Farmers Daughter]

The first sentence told most of us old timers that it was a downhill proposition.

You know why we knew?

Art

Was it the 'rope a deer' part?

[mike59]

Was it the 'rope a deer' part?

You Got Me! If I'm not mistaken, didn't you ask some time back about "Working with Moose"? It seems that I gave you some big windy reply about "Speed Reading", and the pitfalls of such practices.

Whether your story here is absolutely, as it occurred, or spiced with some embellishments,....I love it!! Touche!

[Luke Hatley]

........I did read your story, very instering. Now tell your Local Game Warden what you told us..........

[The Farmers Daughter]

........I did read your story, very instering. Now tell your Local Game Warden what you told us..........

Its not like that Luke, we have a permit issued to farmers who suffer an excess deer population that impacts farming efforts.. . . although granted they probably don't expect us to do anything but shoot them.

Edited June 17, 2011 by The Farmers Daughter

[dirtclod]

I know of a couple of guys that though ropeing a deer swiming across a rive was a good ideal to. They got their boat close enough to rope the deer and did. That's when all the fun started the deer tried to get in the boat and almost did because by then the boat was almost turned over anyway. After a few minutes the deer got tired enough they were able to cut the rope and the deer swam to bank. They were all lucky nobody or the deer drown.

Lessons you pay for be it hide or money stick a lot better than the ones people tell you about.

[oldtimer]

What an exciting experience, also an example of " Learning by doing " ! I sure hope you are well after your roping challenge.

Must tell you a story : There were two men watching a bull moose swimming across the lake. They got a bright idea, ran for a boat and managed to catch up with the swimming moose. They roped the bull moose and tied the rope to the boat. When the moose reached the shore it ran into the woods, the men fell out of the boat and the moose and boat were gone, they never saw it again.

Next year, after the moose hunting season the two men met. " I killed the moose that we roped on the lake last year" he said. " How can you tell it was the same moose" the other man asked. " I recogniced the boat" he replied.

/ Knut

Edited June 17, 2011 by oldtimer

[The Farmers Daughter]

What an exciting experience, also an example of " Learning by doing " ! I sure hope you are well after your roping challenge.

Must tell you a story : There were two men watching a bull moose swimming across the lake. They got a bright idea, ran for a boat and managed to catch up with the swimming moose. They roped the bull moose and tied the rope to the boat. When the moose reached the shore it ran into the woods, the men fell out of the boat and the moose and boat were gone, they never saw it again.

Next year, after the moose hunting season the two men met. " I killed the moose that we roped on the lake last year" he said. " How can you tell it was the same moose" the other man asked. " I recogniced the boat" he replied.

/ Knut

[albane]

I never laughed so hard in my life.

Thank you,

[Wishful]

Thanks for the lesson . I think I was just reading something (boyscout rope manual or something) that said never tie a rope around your waist....

[The Farmers Daughter]

Thanks for the lesson . I think I was just reading something (boyscout rope manual or something) that said never tie a rope around your waist....

I can vouch for that. Plus, for most of us...common sense would dictate. Sadly, I must have been under the influence of :brainbleach:.

[Login Dog]

http://www.snopes.com/critters/farce/ropedeer.asp

[TexasJack]

The original story smelled of BS from the get-go, but I really did like the moose-and-boat story!

[TwinOaks]

I find it somewhat cumbersome and more than a little distressing that anyone should have to explain the essence of a "Tall Tale". The lesson to be learned is not in the particulars of the tale, though therein may lie some lessons, but is instead in the telling of the tale. And though this story has circulated around the internet for several years, there's no need to debunk the tale, or decry it as false. Here is the lesson:

Sometimes things need not be true and verifiable to be enjoyable.

Keep that in mind. Life's more fun with some imagination.