Hunting season

This morning I got to experience what it feels like to be a deer in the hunting season here in Alberta.

Walking between my two cabins this morning I heard a very sharp loud crack and saw a small spruce branch fall to the ground just beside me as I made for the cabin door and parked inside.

I didn’t take time to look around as this was obviously a rifle shot aimed at me. I phoned 911 and the RCMP were dispatched from Sundre shortly afterwards. I was told over the phone that they are investigating but have not heard back yet (afternoon).

Around noon I went out into the snow to investigate, looking for tracks. And I found them: Fresh large 4x4 wheel tracks on the subdivision road some 100 meters from my cabin, which is barely visible from that road at low light.

There were no human footprints next to the tracks, but there were a lot of deer tracks in the snow all around the subdivision road.

Back at my cabin I discovered where the broken branch had come from, just 2 feet above where my head was at the time of the shot.

So I surmised that some trigger happy good-for-nothing ‘hunter’ was sitting at the wheel of his rig looking for something to shoot at.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of stories like mine in Alberta, sometimes with fatal outcomes.