I saw the small herd of deer standing clustered together in the middle of a huge field at the same time my dog did. She stood looking at them for a moment and then sprinted towards them. I yelled NO! and Kory stopped for a moment before continuing towards the deer in a full on sprint That was it - the chase was on.
Kory had been bluff charged a couple of times during the summer by momma deer and those charges had scared my dog. Good. I thought that she had finally gotten the "chasing deer thing" out of her system, but as I watched her sprinting towards the deer I knew that was not the case. My dog is very athletic, very fast, loves to chase, and I knew from experience she was now in The Zone. There was no point in calling her anymore. The deer turned, and in an almost perfectly straight line ran across the snow and headed towards INL land.
Within a few minutes deer and dog were a mile away and still going and I watched as they all disappeared over a rise. Just as I was saying a few choice words not suitable for publication my husband called me again. The guys were all looking through the store, rummaging through containers and liking what they were seeing. Was I going to be home soon so I could answer any questions they may have about the outdoor gear we had? Uhhhh...............no. By that time I was standing in the middle of the field and headed towards INL land yelling Korys' name so she could find her way back to me. Snow was knee deep and I was already cold, but thankful I was wearing snow shoes. Could he manage at the store OK?? Thankfully he said he could hold down the fort.
Trudging through snow I continued to call to my dog and 20 minutes after she had disappeared my wayward mutt came sprinting back the way she had come. I hated that she chased the deer because it is winter and they need to conserve as much energy as they can. Running right up to me I looked my dog over, saw that she was uninjured and then looked at her face - my dog knew that I was angry at her and turned on the puppy-pleading-eyes, in hopes that I would fall for her cute face and forgive her for chasing. I did.
Wandering through the deep snow again we both eventually picked up the trail. Walking was easier once I hit the trail - I had packed the snow down over previous snow shoe trips and I watched as my pup pranced and danced from one snow covered sage bush to another, doing her puppy things. As we reached another trail that would circle us around and back towards town, I saw him just before Kory did - a huge, white, snow shoe rabbit. Automatically I scanned the frozen horizon in search of my dog and realized that she had seen the snow shoe rabbit as well. Again, the chase was on. She was so fast! She was SO fast, and I watched my dog again as she effortlessly covered a half mile or more before finally breaking off the chase.
Just as I was (for the second time) standing on a trail watching my dog disappear over a rise my husband called me one more time. Was I close to the house yet?? No - why?? He needed change. HEY!! That was great - that meant he had sold something! Cool! I told him where I kept the change, thanked him for manning the store in the cold, hung up the phone and refocused my attention back to my dog. She was a runnin' fool. It took her 30 minutes of criss crossing the field, sniffing every sage bush, and galloping through snow to eventually find her way back to me.
By the time we made it back to the road my snow shoeing legs were ready to carry me home for some warm apple cider. My dog had had a great trip out onto BLM land. And so had I.
More pictures of this trip can be found on our OAR Face Book page: https://www.facebook.com/Outdoor-Adventures-Revived-OAR-295312997264285/#