It was the morning hunt up on Slaughter Mountain. I was sitting in a ground blind I built myself in a heavily traveled area of the lease. I built it in a stand of Cedar trees looking out into an opening of about 100 yards with a game trail running through it leading up into a rock cliff. The trail was about 150 yards long, right to left. It was between 9:30 and 10:00 am and I hadn’t seen any action. I was just about ready to leave my cover and do some walking when I noticed some movement out of the corner of my vision to my right. I spun around and saw what looked like a big German Shepard dog. Knowing that some area ranchers had sheep and goats, (Harold had mentioned a few weeks earlier that they were having issues with a pack of feral dogs killing their livestock) I figured this animal might be of the nuisance variety. Nobody in their right mind would let a domestic pet run free on an active hunting lease. By the time I got my scope up he/she was trotting directly away from me. All I could see was his/her back and ass. I had to make a quick decision whether to shoot or not shoot. He/she was about 50 yards from safety in the Cedar and rocks. I decided to go on what Harold had told me so, I squeezed one off. (Fired my rifle, lol) Had my crosshairs right in the middle its back. Didn’t know if I hit it or not. All I saw was it haul butt up into the rocks and Cedar. Decided to go out and walk the game trail in the event that I had just wounded the animal. When I got to where I figured I shot I started noticing gray and black fur. Then a few spots of blood started to appear. I walked about 10 yards and found a complete heart and pieces of what turned out to be liver. I walked on further to the edge of the cliff and found nothing. I decided to not go any further into that jungle of rocks and Cedar for fear of getting jumped by a wounded mad animal. So, I gathered up the fur and body parts and went to find Harold to inform him of my actions. I got to town and called Harold and we met at the feed store. I told him the story then showed him the evidence. He was taken aback and amused to say the least. I knew he had some dogs so I suggested we go back out and do some tracking. He said, Butcher (he always called me Butcher) “I am not too sure about hunting down an animal that can run off without a heart.” (Always loved his dry sense of humor) We did eventually take his dogs out there that afternoon. Didn’t find hide nor hair of whatever it was. Harold figured it was a momma dog/wolf carrying her pups breakfast in her mouth. When I shot she probably just dropped her cargo and split the scene. To this day I believe it very well could have been a momma gray wolf. Clay Simmons can verify this “Wolf Tale”.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 02:12:20 +0000
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