Too Much Nature

Also published as, "The New Iowan," The Chronicle, 11-12-2009


This past weekend started out wonderfully. On Saturday I made honey wheat bread from scratch and on Sunday morning I awoke to the sun shining. My husband noticed the dogs were barking at a large buck resting in some tall grass. After rounding up the dogs, I enjoyed watching the buck for awhile, thinking about how nice it was to live in the country after leaving a suburb of over 130,000 people.

As I went on with my day, the buck stuck around. I kept the dogs inside but my wire-haired terrier stayed close to the window. After the buck left, I let the dogs out. A few minutes later they were barking at a large hunting dog that was on the scent of the deer. Not wanting a new member of their pack, the dogs chased the third dog away through a field to the west. I put the dogs inside for awhile to avoid more barking.

Later that afternoon, the buck and the hunting dog were nowhere to be seen so I let my dogs out. I regretted this decision when the dogs ran off barking and I saw the buck rise to his feet. I yelled for the dogs to come. I got bits of hot dog to entice them back to the house. I set off my truck horn remotely. Nothing worked, and the dogs were now in a barking standoff with a large buck who did not look pleased. I was out of ideas, and worried that I would have to deal with dead or injured animals in a few moments. I started text messaging an Iowan friend who confirmed what I already knew: “Unfortunately, dogs learn the hard way!”

I got in my truck and drove up the lane at the buck-dog battle. As I drove closer, I honked and revved my engine. The buck looked at me but did not care that my vehicle was 20 feet away. I could see slobber swinging from his mouth as he lowered his head at the dogs lunging at him. The buck tried to leave, but my terrier started running laps around him and he couldn’t, though he was five times her size. He fluffed up his tail and started to lunge back at the dogs. Finally I gave up, and drove down the lane to park.

That maneuver triggered my dogs’ “she’s home” response and they started to come towards me. I had the hot dog bits and lured the dogs over after a few attempts. I grabbed the little dog and threw him in the truck, then got the terrier by her collar and took her in the house. Throughout this 25 minute ordeal, the buck stood his ground and never left!

After getting the little dog inside, I laughed at my city girl self as my heart raced. When the buck finally departed, I thought that had been enough nature for one day! To my surprise, the hunting dog returned – two hunting dogs this time! My dogs had enough energy left to bark at them through the window while I, on the other hand, was too tired to care.


Copyright Rachel Burns 2009