Hunter or Hunted?

This weekend I went for my weekly hike. I'm on winter schedule now - and I don't want any poo-pooing from all you folks up in the Mid-West about our 'winter'.

We don't get much snow in the City of Albuquerque but the Sandia Mountains do and the trails typically get very icy because of snow, melt and refreeze. So I move into winter training mode. Fortunately for me, I have spur of foothill right behind our neighborhood. It rarely is covered with snow for long and never gets the refreeze phenomena. In addition though not very high, it is very steep (my hiking buddies and I affectionately call it the "Trail of Death" because of some of the issues descending) so I get a very good work out.

For years, I've run into a group of four deer that seem to winter on the same height. Don't know if it is the same group but it is always four. On my hike this weekend, I was descending when I saw this deer just below me across an arroyo.

For some reason, I looked up hill a bit more and there I saw something that didn't look right. On closer inspection it was a bow hunter that was stalking the deer. They allow bow hunting in the national forest. It can be a bit of shock when you're hiking along, go around a corner and find yourself face to face with a guy in camoflage with a big ass bow and nasty looking arrow tips!

I made a quick decision that I didn't want to incur the wrath of any hunter and stood still. Another deer joined the first. We all pretty much stayed in our places for a good quarter hour. I'm wondering if I'm ever going to get down.

Finally the two deer started downhill and I figured I could move on. After descending for another 15 minutes I came across two other of the deer and they started to move uphill toward the hunter. I should have pinned my business card on one of them in case he was successful so I could claim my share of the meat for moving them in his direction.