! Don't read this entry if you have a weak stomach about animal injuries ! I felt sick about it for years and years; deservedly or not, I often remember the episode with regret for my actions and inaction. Over time, it has slowly faded to become a fact of life. I am posting this journal entry because suppressing the past doesn't hide it, censoring doesn't erase it, but maybe sharing will help heal it.A few days ago, I was walking in the snow in the North field with Vince & Tessa. We encountered a small deer tangled in the fence; one rear leg was hung up above its head. It was a horrible sight even though the deer appeared to have enough energy to try to flee. Actually that made it worse. Also, Vince & Tessa were riled up over the creature and frightened it more by lunging.
I could not free it because its foot was so twisted in the wire. I was screaming at the dogs and crying and trying not to look at the deer and berating myself for not being strong enough and for not bringing a walkie talkie to call David for help. After a couple minutes I leashed up the dogs and we ran all the way to the house. I was exhausted and my big boots slowed me down.
Once to the house I saw David downstairs and must have sounded like a maniac as I told him the situation. He suited up and brought wire cutters and the two of us went back. He cut the wire from off the leg, and the disoriented frightened deer tried to come through the fence toward us, becoming trapped again until David took 2 sections of fence down.
In another horrible vision of nature the deer dragged itself across our field. Her dislocated leg was a mess, and her other hind leg weak from being trapped in a standing position. Who knows how long it was there to begin with? I tried not to watch but was compelled to experience its courageous crawl away from us and the unyielding pain. A truly horrible sight.
The next morning David checked the field and reported that drag marks indicated it had gone across the field and through the 3-wire fence in the neighbor's field and disappeared. Our hopes for its recovery were dashed yesterday when I again went walking with the dogs and found the deer still alive & alert in the NW corner but unable to stand.
I had Tessa leashed up so nothing happened at that point, but later as I was removing wasp nests from the red shelter she took off and ran back to the deer. I didn’t panic, half hoping that she would scare the deer enough to shock it into forever sleep. But by the time I got close it was clear she was just running around it and had pulled a little fur from its neck and it was frightened but not shocked out. I saw blood on the ground, and decided Nature needed a helping hand.
Back at the house, I made some phone calls which weren’t successful until this morning when I made contact with the Game Warden. He’s due here within the half hour, and we’ll both walk him to the field. David went out earlier this morning and said the deer had crawled into the neighboring field. We’ll have it at peace soon.
(David addendum – the Warden shot it with a rifle and loaded into his truck to take it to a needy family who could process the meat. He offered it to us first, but we declined.)
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