Fred

It was January 28, 2004, almost the end of bow hunting season and very cold. About 5:00pm a deer came into my area (looked like a doe). I aimed, shot--it ran and went down. As I approached it, it got up and ran and went down again (which it did several times). I then went and contacted my hunting partner Leo and went into pursuit. We came upon the deer and this time it was down. We took the deer out on a plastic sled, that I had borrowed, and put it in the bed of my truck. I took Leo to his vehicle and went to the truck bed and returned Leo’s equipment out that we used to field dress the deer. As I drove out I heard the sled slide in the bed of the truck (which I had heard many times before) and proceeded to the check- in station. Once inside we started filling out check-in papers. I decided to get the temporary tag off my deer. As I approached the truck, I saw the tailgate open and MY DEER WAS GONE .. SLED AND ALL!!!

Leo

Meanwhile, I was thinking that January 28th turned out to be a great day. Fred shot his 2nd deer of the season, and we were able to recover it. As I was leaving our hunting area, I thought how good it felt to help recover Fred’s deer and still get home early… WRONG!!! As I pulled out of the drive and onto the road, I noticed something lying in the middle of the road. At first I thought it was a fiberglass luggage rack  (WRONG).. it was Fred’s deer, still in the sled. After putting on the 4-way flashers, I pulled onto the side of the road and dragged the sled and deer behind the Blazer. I thought …. 

no problem, I’ll call Fred on his cell phone WRONG!!  – his phone was off. I threw everything from the back of the Blazer onto the side of the road thinking that the sled would fit into the back of my Blazer  (WRONG).  I had to clean out the back seat so that I could fold the seats down so that I could fit the deer and sled onto the back. Now, I threw everything into the front of the car and took off trying to catch Fred. What I failed to realize was that 20 minutes had passed since he left. My first thought at this time was boy…….is he in for a surprise! I took off to the check-in-station, but when I got there, he had just left. I tried to call his house again, but his phone was still shut off.

Fred

In a panic, I told the check-in person what happened and went to look for the deer (imagining the deer and the sled smashed to a pulp on the major highway that I had just traveled on) I found nothing. I then went back to our hunting area, and for some reason, I turned my cell phone on and someone was calling me. It was my partner Leo, calling from my house. He said he had something that I had lost and we both started laughing. I went back to my house, where Leo was waiting with my deer and sled. After a few handshakes and a few more laughs, I checked the deer in (to everyone’s relief). It was a nice button buck (and probably my most memorable deer). All we can figure out was that with the cold and snow, I did not take the time to close the tailgate when I got Leo’s stuff out of the bed of my truck. The shock and panic is something I hope that I never have to encounter again. I guess it’s true – HASTE MAKES WASTE---and, WHATEVER!!