We Were the Deer
December 07, 2022
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Employee Spotlight
We Were the Deer
A Marine Corps combat veteran explains his initial experience with hunting deer.
It was 10:30 AM in an undisclosed location in northern Ohio, the woods were in full effect, I had the opportunity to watch every species come alive with the sun rising in the background from a thirty foot, raised platform. The frigid morning wind flowed across my face, gently pulling the steam from my face cover, and carrying it along in a whimsical stream. Two doe’s graze a field across the gravel road, one looks up and examines me in curiosity.
On this particular morning, I had let five doe pass 50 yards in front of my position awaiting my chance at a mature buck. I had my eyes on this magnificent buck, he had eight points on his rack and was making his way to follow in trace of the previous doe. As he came into range, I began to feel the excitement push through my being but then I hear an indistinguishable noise. I had been scented. The mysterious noise was a deer behind me, in the woods, wheezing to alert its fellow deer that they were in danger.
At that moment, I didn’t know what exactly the wheeze meant, but that buck did as he high tailed it out of there and so did my friend who was in a tree stand about 1,000 yards west of me. He had already climbed out and was waving me down from the ridgeline where that buck had previously stood. After he explained to me what exactly just happened, something inside me clicked, things started to come into perspective. We were the deer.
When that thought crosses my mind, I am not thinking in a present tense, I am thinking about the past, the deployments. With every step I draw closer to my friend on the ridge, as his face comes into focus, I recall his younger self back when he was a Sergeant of Marines. His name is Tom, but we always called him Deuce (a play on his last name), he was in our sister platoon on my second deployment. I recall seeing him come in and out from patrols, sometimes filled with excitement, sometimes devastated from the toll of fighting a faceless enemy.
My correlation with this thought directly corresponds to the time we had spent overseas, forward deployed. Over there, we were the deer, our enemy were the hunters. As ‘the deer’ we had to constantly adapt as our hunters developed different methods to entrap us. For instance, they would use IED’s (Improvised Explosive Devices/ roadside bombs) to stop our movement and ambush us; to combat this, we would use metal detectors to detect these pressure-initiated devices and disable them. To combat this, our enemy would study our tactics and begin using remote or radio-initiated devices and would eventually graduate to using low to no metallic parts to fabricate their IED’s by utilizing conductors like carbon rods and offsetting the battery packs.
The more time that our enemy had to observe our tactics, even as we develop new ones, they would implement ways to disrupt our patrols. They would force us off the beaten paths by setting traps, ambush us in rough terrain and have IED’s emplaced in walls of places where we would potentially seek cover. The more I think about my deployments, the more I think of how grateful I am to be on this hunt, and not just any hunt, but this specific hunt. The two Marines that I hunted with have seen the worst of the worst over there. Hell, my Marine, Josh, had lost both his legs and his right arm along with his best friend in combat. Yet, here he is, getting this tree stand therapy with us and loving every second of it. He has not let any enemy nor obstacle slow him down.
The deer behind me when I was in the tree stand had seen this scenario play out before, as soon as it caught my scent or sensed something wrong, it wheezed to alert all of the woods that there was danger present; just as we would if we were patrolling a heavily populated area and see no one about, that would indicate to us that something bad was coming. I wasn’t mad about being scented, it just revealed to me that we aren’t the only species who are forced to adapt to preserve life. It revealed to me that even other creatures are looking out for one another just as my Marines would watch over me and I would watch over them.
When the day came that I took my first deer, I didn’t get that adrenaline rush like I used to in enemy contact. Instead, I was filled with a deep, spiritual gratefulness. I was grateful that I had been presented the opportunity to take this deer in order to fulfill my family’s hunger over the winter months. I was grateful that this deer’s life would continue to serve purpose even beyond its final breaths, I was grateful for all the new memories gained with my Marines, their families and their friends outside of the hunt. I prayed over the deer, thanking God for this opportunity.
I had, once again, been reminded that peace can be found in nature, the time spent with my Marines blew a breath of fresh air into my spiritual being, it reminded me of the espirit de’ corps. It reminded me that instead of focusing on the negativity and ailments that may plague me, focus on the beauty of life and making the most of each day I have, no matter if it be with friends, family, co workers or complete strangers. It reminded me that this world is not and cannot be controlled by any individual and that our mindset has a large part in how we perceive this life and plays a role in the events we experience daily.
It reminded me that one day, many moons ago and many miles away, we were the deer. The ones who did not make it back home with us continue to have an unresolving impact on this world as their spirit is carried on by us, the ones that did make it home. Much like the deer that we hunt to provide for our families carry on a purpose after their final moments on Earth.
