Catalina

The rugged beauty of an island desert.

I decided to have my first deer hunt of my adult life on Catalina Island, all the way across the continent from my home in FLA.  A very good friend of mine works for the Catalina Conservancy, the organization charged with managing the majority of the island.  I'll call him FC.  Among other things, FC works as a hunting guide during the season.  I know, flying on a jet plane to procure meat isn't the most environmentally sound practice, but I would have the aide of a seasoned professional and a supportive environment to do this.  And I needed support, since my butchering ability is essentially nil.  Besides, the weather is great out there.

Don't worry, neither of these are the one I shot.

Let me cut to the chase, literally.   FC and I were out well before dawn, scrambling down a very steep hillside overlooking the channel while feeling the hot wind riding over from the mainland.  At his expert guidance, we settled down on the south side of the ridge line, and started scanning to the south.  The other side of the gully stretched hundreds of yards away.  We sat, watching the dawn slowly revealing more and more detail.  We were fully expecting any deer we spotted to be well off into the distance, and were carrying appropriate rifles.  FC made a vague gesture to our right (he had heard some crunching with his sound amplifying headphones). I glanced over, and closer that I could have believed there were three does.  I looked back over to FC, he had no reaction.  I had no idea his vision was sheltered from them so far.  I decided I needed to get ready, so I very slowly racked the bolt and put a .270 bullet in the chamber.  FC then spotted the trio and whispered his suggestion for a target.  Just seconds later it was done.  Almost no shot is perfectly clean, but mine was close enough.  She died quickly, and with only brief suffering.

After hanging for about two days in a walk-in cooler, while we enjoyed our time on the island with good friends, FC expertly fleshed the carcass, and I ultimately carried 35 lbs of meat across the continent via Delta Airlines back to sunny FLA.