Tri-State Outdoor News

Editor’s note: The following was written by Dru Hunsinger who is inflected with Multiple Sclerosis. Once an avid hunter, Dru has reached a point where he can no longer hunt. With the aid of a special computer, Hunsinger has taken to putting his memories down on paper.

It was a cloudy, gray, cold day with a temperature of about 35 degrees . The wind was blowing at 20 mph and coming from the northwest. It was the second to the last day of muzzleloader season for deer. I had taken a doe with the crossbow earlier in the season and another doe during the shotgun season. I was hoping to bag the big buck that was running with a herd of seven does where I live in Shelby County.

Here, the woods are few and far between. The local farmers have cleared most of the woodlots except for some small ones here and there. When I talk to the old timers they tell me even before their time and as far back as the 1800’s a lot of the forests were gone. What would I give for the old days?

I charged my mule last night and shot the old load out of the Thompson Center Scout before cleaning her up. The Scout was reloaded with 90 gr. of FF black powder and a new round ball was slammed home. Now she was ready to go to the woods. I sure like the Thompson Center Scout. They stopped making them 24 years ago after they had a big fire that burned up the dies used to make them.

I got on the mule and headed south on the paved trail. It’s a half mile to get to the neighbors lane that goes back to the woods. I have to go past a wood lot to get there. I didn’t see anything from the rode. As I traveled the length of the woods to get to a row of ash trees I continued to look for deer, but I didn’t see any. I used the last tree for my blind.

I got there at two in the afternoon and sat there until dark. Right at dark I could see six or seven figures coming out of the woods, they were 80 yards away. It was to dark too shoot so I grabbed my trusty Brinkman flashlight and shined it in the direction of the deer. All I could see were eyeballs. Shooting a deer was not my plan but I have taken a few coyotes like that. It was time to head back to the cabin so I thought I would go home by way of the field instead of the road, it would be much safer. The wind had quit and the sky had cleared, the moon was full and the stars came out. It was going to be a beautiful night. I often sit out in the open field on nights like this and just gaze at the stars.

I road my mule to the corner of the field were the county roads crossed so I could get up on the paved road. I misjudged the spot where I usually get on the road and rolled the mule on top of me and down into the ditch.

By now you’ve probably figured out that I am not riding a real mule, it’s an electric four wheeled scooter. I have had multiple sclerosis’s for 21 years. At the time of this story I had been inflected for seven years. As I write this I have no use of my left arm or my legs and very little use of my right arm. That is enough talk about me, if you would like to know more about MS or to donate to MS Societies call 1-800-FIGHT-MS. Please consider donating. MS ended my hunting, fishing and blacksmithing career. Not being able to feed myself, brush my teeth or do any type of physical activity is pure hell. I still have my memories and I will go on.

Now back to the story. I rolled the mule over in the ditch trying to get up on the road at the crossroad. A lady driving by saw me turn over so she stopped and turned her flashers. All heck broke loose, she jumped out of her car yelling are you all right, are you all rite!

Yes, I’m fine I said. I could hear barking coming from my house down the road, it was my dog Larry. Soon the lights came on. The lady who stopped to help me went to my house and alerted my companion, Jean. By then, two pickup trucks stopped and tuned on their flasher lights. It looked like downtown New York City with all of the light’s flashing, my dog barking and my woman yelling, “ What are you doing in that ditch.” “Looking for deer tracks what does it look like?” I said.

We rolled my scooter over then the two men lifted me up and put me back on my mule. I am always getting stuck or rolling my mule over because I don’t sit around. MS has not held me down and never will!

Eventually I was headed for my cabin to get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow would be the first day of muzzleloader season.

Awake way before daylight, I had a quick bite to eat and headed out the door. There was a very heavy frost, almost like it had snowed. It was the kind of frost that sticks to everything. Mercy, it was beautiful out. I looked to the East past the neighbor’s woods, with my monocular and I could see gray spots. MS had blinded the left eye a long time ago so there was no need for binoculars. I headed for the other end of the field, which is about a quarter of a mile from the road. The deer follow a fencerow that runs from half way between the woods and where I could see them feeding now. I could count them; there were seven of them, none of them bucks. Any one of them will top off my freezer just fine. I waited for them for a half an hour. The sun came out, mercy how much nicer could it get. Suddenly, all seven does headed my way, they were all in a row one right behind the other.

What a sight to see. They were 100 yards away from me when they stopped and looked back. The first doe was the biggest, she stood there stomping and snorting, getting ever so close. The Scout was resting on the fence. I’d like to have her a little closer. I let out a “BAAAAA” and she stepped closer. Now she was about 65 yards away. I leveled the sight to the middle of her neck and pulled the trigger. When the smoke cleared there were only six tails going the other way. She was down. I just sat there and enjoyed the moment. The round ball had done a fine job. I called the farmer on my cell phone. He came and threw her up on the tailgate of his pickup. I gutted her right there. What did I do after gutting her? I checked her in of course. We didn’t go to the butcher shop. I took the doe home and my big strong Polish girl friend skinned the back legs down and sawed the lower legs off below the hokes. Then she dragged it into the woodshed for me. We hung the deer from the come-along that was attached to the ceiling rafters. As we slowly raised her I performed the skinning ritual. After further trimming I gave the doe a good rubdown with various spices and herbs. Before applying the black pepper, salt, Dash, ground celery compound I wet the deer with apple cider vinegar, it helps the rub stick to the meat. I give the ribs to my tycoon buddy, Kenny. He cooks them on the open fire when he’s camping.

My butchering system is very time consuming. I go to extremes to properly prepare the meet for the freezer. You may think this is too much trouble and haul your deer to the butcher’s. If so, that’s OK, he has to make a living too. My final step before freezing the meet is to cool and age it. I do this by wrapping the meet in a sheet and hanging it back in the woodshed for four to seven days depending on the temperature. A fan is used to circulate the air during the cooling process. Before my girl friend Jean and I complete the final cutting and wrapping of the meet we treat ourselves to the back straps. You should do the same. You won’t be sorry.

I would like to dedicate this article to my girl friend Jean, she is my arms and my legs and to my cousin Dean Shadley the retired DNR Conservation Officer (and contributor to the Tri-State Outdoor News) for giving me my computer.