A Hunt

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to go on my first ever deer hunt. We spotted, shot, tracked, and ultimately killed a 10-point buck.

Leica M10-R, Summilux 50mm f1.4

Our hunt started, as lots of things do, with logistics. The property - owned by my friend Matt and his family - had a feeder that had stopped working. We arrived at their farmhouse and decided the first order of business was to load up the ‘99 Silverado ranch truck and see if we could fix the thing.

Leica M10-R, Summilux 50mm f1.4

Matt and his family hunt on a thousand acre rectangle near Abilene, Texas. It lies north of the hill country in the transition to the rolling plain that represents most of north central Texas. It’s shrubby and normally dry, but there was a storm the previous night and we left footprints in the clay-heavy soil. The ride to the feeder, along a bumpy county road, is straight out of any country song you can think of.

Leica M10-R, Summilux 50mm f1.4

It took about five minutes to fix the feeder - a bad electrical connection. We happend to be out there around the time the feeders normally go off, so we jumped up in the blind to see if anything would show up. The feeder went off, and some deer showed up. Two doe and a buck. Matt, quiet as anything, took aim.

Leica M10-R, Summilux 50mm f1.4

After a pregnant pause, Matt took the shot. The moments that followed were chaotic. The buck jumped straight up into the air, landed with a stutter, and took off into the trees. The rest of the animals at the feeder also scattered. There was a beat as the shot rang out, then Matt pulled the rifle back down, unloaded it, and said it was time to wait.

Leica M10-R, Summilux 50mm f1.4

We spent the next two hours tracking this animal across the property, mostly by the trail of blood and bone it left behind. We learned later that the bullet struck it’s left front leg below the shoulder, punching clean through and hitting the right leg in the same spot. It would move fifty or so yards, lay down, then take off again when it heard us coming. Eventually it ran out of gas and Matt, along with his father (who showed up at some point), were able to kill it.

I realized later that I didn’t take any photos after the first shot. I think that’s partly due to the chaos of tracking it…but it’s also partly because I felt uncomfortable in those moments. Killing an animal is an inherently violent act, one which I’ve indirectly benefitted from my entire life. I think seeing it die up close forced a change in my perspective, bringing front and center the idea that eating animals means killing animals. I’m still thinking through if and how that impacts my eating habits and, more generally, my life.

I’m grateful for the whole experience but I doubt I’ll do it again. I get the draw; it’s just not for me.

Leica M10-R, Summilux 50mm f1.4