[mxz1997]

Success!!!!!

I came upon a very nice 4 X 4 jackolope, marking his dominance into an old barbed-wire fencepole. I approached him head on, and the wind must have been swirling, because he nosed me and jerked his head up to look for the source of said scent. In doing so, he managed to snag, then securely anchor himself, in the fence; first on his rack, and eventually on the fur around his head as he struggled. I thought it Providence that this jackolope be “shewn to me” and I aimed my gun. I was going for a poorly-chosen head-on chest shot, but upon hearing the "crack" of the gun, the beast tried to duck! With his neck firmly anchored it amounted to more of a collapse, and my bullet cut along his back from base of skull to tip of tail down to the backstrap. This added new strength to this huge jackolope! Wrenching himself from the fence, he actually started to de-cape himself! As I fumbled for another shell he continued to snort, tug and further extricate himself from his fetters at the expense of his hide. Soon he was stripped naked, down to his paws, when the barbed wire gave way, with only a three-foot piece still wrapped around his antlers. With a mighty tug, he finished his impromptu self-skinning job Leaving his entire hide caught on the demolished fence. With no discernable effect he turned and ran back along the fence, towards an old pile of farming implements, beer cans and willows,common in these parts of the North. I’m not exactly sure what happened next, but I believe that he ran past an old pickup whose only functioning part happened to be the drivers-side mirror. He must have caught a glimpse of himself; skinned and entangled in barbed wire, and suffered what I can only describe as “fright-induced-instant-death syndrome”, or FIIDS, as I have seen it referred to in whitetail circles. As wild animals are often wont to do, his reflexive motion caused the lope to turn back towards me at a dead run (literally) and attempt to jump over the same fence that proved to be his Waterloo. He made a poorly-timed attempt to clear a wicked-looking metal fencepost, failed, and gave himself a nasty slice from brisket to paunch on the tip of the post. As his reflexes gave out, he managed a strange head-first twisting jump and snagged the remaining barbed-wire high in an overhanging branch of and old spruce tree. By the time I caught up, panting and sweating, a strange silence hung over the field. There was the majestic jackolope; skinned, gutted, and hung not 10 yards from my truck. All that was left for me to do was affix my tag,(you know they sell tags for them now) and my season is done. I also found an arrow in his left shoulder where some hunter had made a previous attempt at killing this mighty beast. Strangest thing I’ve ever seen, and true as the day is long. Jackolope is at the taxidermist and is the first he has ever mounted. It cost me extra to have the taxidermist mount the neck without any fur, but I think the remaining strand of barbed wire in his left antler is the finishing touch. Forgot to add: He green scored 197 12/32.