Monday at Work

Every have one of those days where you just wish you could shoot something?

We have a policy at work that whenever it rains, snows or otherwise is wet muddy or hard to get around on a dirt two track that we can’t go out to the field to work. The reason for the policy is two fold (allegedly) the first is safety; they don’t want you wrecking a truck or driving off a cliff because the roads are bad. The second reason is the company doesn’t want to shuck out the cash to build good gravel roads. This is because (1) building good roads cost big bucks and (2) we’d have to renegotiate the surface damage contracts and payouts.

Nobody wants to have to open that can of worms. The company that developed these fields (not my employer) royally screwed the landowners on every aspect of the development they could. The landowners have figured that out and are dying for a chance at paybacks. I think one day they may get their chance. One of those ranchers is a friend of mine and I’d like to see him made whole on the deal.

If the roads are wet, I don’t work. Anyone could see that there was 6 inches of wet snow on the ground when they got up. The reasonable thing to do is to go back to bed. What happens instead is we show up for work and then we get to have meetings, stand around the office, waste time etc.

Eventually I get to go home. I went for a drive.

Then I went for a walk, saw some deer, like this doe. She’s in the center of the pic and only 40 yards away.

I had decided that this would be a bad day to be a spike. I would shoot the first deer with horns that I came across. I went for a hike, saw a few bucks and couldn’t get a shot.

About 200 yards up slope I saw a doe wandering around. I waited. I saw another deer come out. She was a doe too. After a bit another deer showed up but was blocked by some lodge pole pines. The wind was gusting and the first doe had picked up my sent and had worked down slope to see what I was. She was looking right at me. I was busted!

Oh well. It’s not like this is the first time this has happened. I put the scope on the last deer in the group just to see if I can tell what it is before they run to cover. He’s got horns! I drop to my knee to shoot. There is a pine branch in the way at that angle. I stand, no time to loop up the sling. It’s got to be off hand if it’s going to be at all. Tuck in the left elbow to the chest, find his shoulder, drift the crosshairs back to the left. Squeeeze. The shot rings out. Deer jump up all over the hillside. I can’t tell if I hit mine or not.

I walk up the hill pacing out the distance to the pine tree that keep me from improving my rest. It’s 264 yards. 10 feet to the right is this guy:

Not my best deer ever, but not a bad way to spend Monday at work. Bad news is that I didn’t realize that the batteries were dead in the digital until after I had him hanging in the garage skinned out. Sorry this is the only pick that I have of the horns. He’s a small 2x3 whitetail.

I got him with that old 30.06 that my day gave me and some home made 150 grain ammo that I worked up.