I stayed true to my commitment  #49

I have always enjoyed hunting. It has been a part of my makeup for as long as I can remember. Throughout my lifetime, the wildlife has been plentiful enough for me to have had a number of good productive hunts. I recognize that there are years when I just don’t succeed in my attempts to get a deer, but just being in the woods is as enjoyable as shooting that big buck. Now, it is of course, much better when that does occur.

Northern Maine has had a number of issues with keeping the white tail deer population up to acceptable standards. That included the two years where the heavy snowfall sharply cut the number of deer in the herd. Snowfall of over 200 inches for the year, without a doubt, causes a host of problems for the deer who are already hampered by other problems, all of which are outside of their control. Then there are years where the climate allows them to make a comeback and the season looks as though it is going to be good again.

Unfortunately, snowfall is outside of my or anyone else’s control. But there is another thing that we can control. One that has, in my mind, increased the rate at which the deer herd is dying.  I am speaking about the “coyote”. Now many will try to tell you that the animal is not the cause in the reduction of the herd. Some have stories about snowmobiling into a deer yard and seeing the dead deer carcasses strewn along the way. They report that coyotes are the culprit. Some will say that it is the ecosystem and how it should be. They also say that we should not interfere with the delicacy of that system, and TC and I firmly agree that balance is the key to keeping the natural world in check. However, all I know is that I decided a long time ago, that I believed coyotes were a threat to the deer population and I for one was going to take action if I had the chance.  I made a pact with myself that if I saw a coyote chasing a big buck, I would shoot the coyote. Now, I had never had the opportunity to test this, but I maintained that was what I would do.

So, let’s fast forward to November 16, 2013. I was on one of my hunting excursions in the North Maine Woods. I had scouted this area for some time and had seen a number of very fresh deer tracks even as recently as that morning. The area I was hunting had been cut a number of years ago and replanted with nice spruce trees. The trees had grown to about 3 feet high which made that area a prime location for deer.  I had found a nice spot to sit on a plateau that overlooked the entire cut. From that vantage point, I could see anything that moved for a long distance. I had made it a practice to walk through the cut to this location as early as I could and to sit and not move for long periods of time. On this particular day, I was there early and in place just after the sun came up. As was my custom, I had my doe bleat can out and ready as well as my buck call. I was working the bleat pretty hard that morning, giving it a shot a couple of times and then waiting for about 10 minutes and repeating the same. About forty minutes had passed and I had just completed my most recent cycle of the doe bleat when I looked out, and there about 55 yards away straight in front of me standing on a rise was a dastardly coyote. It was clear that that animal had heard my doe bleats and had come to see what was going on. As I watched it, the coyote was looking in my direction and looking to the left and right of me to see where that deer was. For some reason, maybe because I am such a master of invisibility, it did not see me. It was at that very minute that I had a decision to make. Should I raise my gun and take a shot at the coyote knowing that if I did, I would probably  end any chance I had at shooting a deer in that area? Or, would I remain true to my commitment that if I saw one, I would shoot it. In this particular case, only half of the commitment was true. There was a coyote in my hunting ground but it was not chasing a deer. It was clear however that it was here because it thought it heard a deer calling. I decided to pull my rifle up very slowly and take a look at it through the scope. It was facing me so there was not a lot of area to shoot at. I scoped it, put the rifle down and thought about losing the area if I made the shot. I pulled the gun back up and scoped it again. All the while, this animal did not move. Finally, the pact I made with myself won over and I pulled the gun up, put the dog in my sights, snapped off the safety and squeezed the trigger. The small profile of the animal helped it because I missed. I knew I missed because I saw the ground kick up just to the left of the animal. As I dropped the gun, I notice that the coyote turned to its right and hightailed out of there on a dead run. I had never seen an animal move so fast. In no time it was running through the three foot trees and was gone out of sight. As any good hunter would do, and knowing that I had contaminated my hunting area when I made that shot, I got up and walked over to where the coyote had been standing just to make sure I had not hit the animal. I was certain that dog was in the next time zone at that very minute. As I was walking out to my truck to relocate somewhere else, I replayed the scenario in my mind over and over. Should I have shot? Should I have not? And I came back to the same result. I had done what I had said I would do and I was proud of myself. In my mind, the coyote was a predator to our deer population and I wanted to give the deer that little fighting edge. Unfortunately, I did little to help, however I had tried and that was, for me, a win. Would I do it over? Heck, yes.