When it comes to bragging rights this deer season, Ryder Seely of Wheatland, Wyoming, already has everyone else beat.
Stalking to within bowshot range of a big mule deer buck is tough enough in perfect conditions. Seely did it with his napping 1-year-old daughter in a kiddie pack on his back.
He even managed to get down and crawl without waking the slumbering tot.
“There was definitely some crawling involved,” Seely told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday. “There wasn’t much cover between the deer and us. I had to position her so she wouldn’t fall out of the pack when I crawled.”
He dropped the buck Wednesday in one of his favorite hunting spots, not far from Wheatland.
‘Day Care Is Closed’
Seely works as an Albany County Sheriff’s Office deputy. He and his wife, Hannah, have two daughters: Lyla, 5, and Lainey, 1.
His latest hunting adventure began Tuesday evening.
He’d drawn a great deer tag in a hunt area that opens for rifle season in October, but is already open for bowhunting.
He decided to go out archery hunting Tuesday, alone, “just in case” he would get the opportunity to fill his deer tag early.
Sure enough, right toward the end of legal hunting light, he put the stalk on a big buck with a nice tall, symmetrical antler rack.
He took a shot and was confident he’d made a lethal hit, but the deer ran off and it was getting dark.
It’s not unusual for big game animals fatally shot with broadhead-tipped hunting arrows to run for a while before dying.
So Seely wasn’t too concerned. He’d just have to come back early Wednesday, track the buck to where it had died and pack it out.
The next morning, however, he found out that Lainey’s day care was closed, but it didn’t take long for him to come up with a plan B.
Lyla had already gone out hunting with him before, so why not make this time Lainey’s turn?
‘That Deer Was Still Alive’
Putting Lainey into her kiddie pack and taking her along didn’t seem like it would be that big of a deal. After all, it was just a simple matter of tracking down and recovering the deer, right?
Wrong.
After hiking about 3 miles from where he’d parked his truck, Seely found the buck. Then it jumped up and fled.
“That deer was still alive, and we’d left the bow back at the truck,” he said.
Not one to leave an animal like that, Seely hiked all the way back to the truck to retrieve his bow, and returned as quickly as he could. Lainey was tucked away on his back the whole time.
He relocated the buck — which by then was bedded down again — and hunkered down to plan out a stalking route.
The timing couldn’t have been better. By then, it was time for Lainey’s nap and she’d already drifted off to sleep.
She Tried To Say ‘Deer’
Now the pressure was on.
“I knew I had about 10-15 minutes to pull the stalk off before she woke up and was cranky,” Seely said.
Ever so carefully, Seely crept, crouched and crawled until he was within 40 yards of the buck, close enough for a clear shot.
On top of all the skill and patience already involved in pulling off such a sneak, he had the added complication doing it without jolting his daughter awake.
But he pulled it off, and just in time.
“I stood up and pulled the bowstring back, and that’s when the kid woke up,” he said. “She got to see the shot.”
The tot’s usual post-nap crankiness was replaced with excited joy.
“She was tickled. I could see she was trying to say ‘deer,’” Seely said.
Father and daughter approached the fallen buck, celebrating a successful hunt together.
“She was really happy about it,” he said. “She kept touching the antlers, which still had some velvet on them.”
Antler velvet is a fuzzy membrane that covers deer, elk and moose antlers during the spring and summer.
It contains blood vessels that bring nutrients to the growing antlers. Once it’s served its purpose, the antler velvet dries up and either sluffs off on its own or is rubbed off against trees and brush by the animal.
Little Huntress In The Making
By another a stroke of luck, the deer was about 100 yards from a two-track ATV trail. That meant that Seely had only to gut the carcass and drag it up to the two-track, then come back with his four-wheeler to retrieve it.
Especially when it’s warm, it’s important to gut or quarter a big game carcass as quickly as possible so the meat doesn’t spoil from residual body heat.
Quartering and backpacking the carcass out wouldn’t have been an option with Lainey already in her pack on his back, Seely said.
Overall, it was a fantastic experience with his younger daughter, Seely said. As they grow, he hopes his girls learn to love hunting as much as he does.
If Lainey’s reaction to her first time out with Dad is any indication, she’s well on her way, Seely said.
“She was really excited that she got to go,” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
