A good year for deer hunting

Jim Cumming
Publisher

If there was ever a year to take up deer hunting in the Rainy River district, this must be the season. Saturday morning on a walk to Tim Horton’s for breakfast, several half tons passed by me heading east toward the border or east to Thunder Bay and points beyond in Ontario.
Successful hunters, who were heading home, were stopping at Canada’s favorite coffee shop. There were enough truckloads of deer in the lot. Hunters wandered back and forth in the lot comparing successes. I suspect everyone in the lot was heading home at that time of the morning. As I enjoyed my bagel and cup of coffee more came and left.
One truck with North Carolina license plates had four deer in it. Another had dealership tags from a community east of Thunder Bay.
I am not a deer hunter. I get great enjoyment watching the animals throughout the year. From time to time those friendly animals that seem so peaceful in a field or at the water’s edge have caused my heart to pound. I have even had a buck come racing down the middle of the highway at me. I came to a full stop and it only veered away at the last moment. I was left wondering about how I would explain being hit by a deer while being stopped.
This past summer we had a deer on the island. It hung around behind the cabin and if you walked up the back trail, it would snort and grunt as if to chase you off. At some point it would turn tail, its white flag tail high in the air and would spring farther back to the centre of the island.
Most of my panic attacks have come courtesy of deer springing out of the ditch and sprinting across the highway. Everyone I know has had those heart stopping panic stops.
I have been lucky.
–Jim Cumming,
Publisher