Gary R Akin

    I ran into my friend Jerry Olmstedt the other day as he was driving past my camp on Donnerville Road.  I’ve known Jerry for years and we have always shared information as to what the deer on Donnerville are doing to help each other out.  He usually stops in for coffee at least a time or two every season.  As we chatted I asked Jerry if he’d had any luck yet, and he replied he had.  So I invited him in for coffee since it was cold and drizzly and give me the story. He said sure and we took it inside to be near the woodstove… Here’s his story as told to me..

    I was hurrying to get to camp because I hadn’t had a chance to spend much time in the woods yet, and when I had, I hadn’t seen too much.  I was running late but not too bad, the weather was good and I wanted to relax and take a nice watch where I’d often seen deer come down this steep bank from the high ground above my property.  Well I hadn’t been there too long and I spotted something up there.  I knew it was a deer but being early in the season it was thick and I couldn’t tell if it had horns.

    Well finally it got down a bit and was closer.  It was fiddlin’ around and nibblin’ in this patch of raspberry bushes and I could see he had horns with at least forks.  All Right!!  I decided I was going to take him.  For years now, if I was on an afternoon watch I’ve only taken a neck shot. I don’t like trying to find a deer or following a blood trail in the dark.  I know there’s a higher chance of a miss, but when I hit him, he drops!  When he turned, I put the crosshairs on his neck and squeezed one off.  BANG!  He dropped like a rock!  But,….

     I could see those damn raspberry bushes thrashing around but I couldn’t see the buck.  I didn’t want to go rushing up there until things settled down.  I kept my rifle sighted up there where those bushes were moving but I couldn’t see him.  A couple times his head popped up and I fired hoping to finish him off.  I thought I put another into him and things settled down pretty much so I decided to go up and check.  When I got there, the first thing I noticed was his eyes seemed pretty clear.  And his chest was heaving!  Aw shit!  I’m not one for slicing his throat with a knife, so I decided to put one in him point blank in the neck.  I eased up to his side, pointed the rifle at his neck, and pulled the trigger.   CLICK !!!

To be honest, I don’t know what the hell happened.  Was it a misfire?  Did I squeeze off on an empty round I hadn’t jacked out after I fired into the bushes?  All I know, that damn buck was instantly on his feet and I was falling back in shock and disbelief at what the hell was going on!  I”m trying to jack another round in as that buck is making a couple wobbly bounds toward the next dropoff which is a steep embankment forty or fifty feet straight down to the big river!!

        Oh you gotta be shittin’ me.  SPLASH!!  OH!  You have gotta be fuckin’ shittin’ me!!!  I ran to the embankment but couldn’t see my buck.  I dropped on my ass and slid down that bank crashing and bashing everything in my way on my descent.  When I reached the bottom, I stood and spot my buck halfway across struggling to make it to the far side.  Oh, fuck me!  I’ve gotta let him get to the other side.  One, it’s illegal to shoot a deer in the water.  Two, if I shoot now he might get washed down into something where I can’t retrieve him.

      So I stood there helplessly watching him, hoping, please let him make it to the far bank.  Finally, thankfully, he made it to the far side.  I let him get a bit of distance from the water and then I put a finishing round into him.  Thankfully he dropped instantly!  Adrenaline is pumping through me.  I’m glad I dropped my buck, but I’m also thinking, Oh this really sucks!  You’ve just made your job a helluva lot tougher.  DUMB ASS!!

      Ten minutes ago my buck was laying in some raspberry bushes with me four feet away, in a location I could have almost backed my truck to.  Now,… I’ve got to find a way to cross this river, dress out that buck and somehow get back across safely with it.  Then,… I need to get him back up that friggin’ bank I just slid down on my ass just to get back to where I started.  Let me say for the record.  It wasn’t an easy task.  Nor did I enjoy myself.  The water was cold and running a tad high.  It was swift.  The bank was steep.  Pull him up two feet, give back one all the way to the top.  It took 5 seconds to slide down.  It took 45 minutes to get back up!

     But I made it.  I took a selfie with that buck as soon as I got back up the bank.  Heck, my shirt hadn’t even dried yet.  I know I’ll never approach a downed deer again until I’m sure I’ve got a good round in the chamber…

      After Jerry finished telling me the story of “The Backstroke Buck”, I told him, “Jerry, you drive past my place every time on your way into your camp.  If my truck is here, I’m in.  So if anything like this ever happens again,… stop in, just ask for some help.  And maybe I can call someone who’ll give you a hand!!

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