In September 2005, I was hunting mule deer in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico. I sit on a rock ridge just above tree line watching three shooter bucks slowly feeding their way towards what I hoped would be their bedding area. My plan was to watch the bucks’ bed down for the day, circle their resting place, stalk from above and get within bow range.
As I watched the deer I began to think about how, if I were not there, the scene that was unfolding before me would still be playing out. The deer would fill their belly, the hawk would fly above and the elk would bulge in the distance, rather I was present or not. The longer I watched them and thought about it, the more I questioned my theory that I had not, in any way, altered what the good Lord had allowed me to witness first hand.
On my hike up the mountain that morning, long before daylight, a small herd of Big Horn Sheep ewes had winded me, causing them to run up the mountain to my northwest, never to be seen or heard again. Now, some two hours later, as I watched the mule deer bucks feed I began to wonder if the ewes had altered where the bucks had decided to put on the feedbag. Had my campfire at the trailhead camp the night before caused a coyote, elk or deer to take a different path up the mountain, which caused the ewes to cross my path that morning which resulted in the deer coming to feed on that ridge?
I began to have second thoughts about not having altered the natural course of things that day on the mountain. My thoughts were supported by a little thing called the “Butterfly Effect”. The Butterfly Effect is a scientific theory that, in its simplest terms says that a single occurrence, no matter how small, can change the course of the world. Put another way, the theory says that small events - like a butterfly flapping its wings in South America – could cause a tornado in Oklahoma. Small events can have drastic effects, rather we recognize it or not. Consider how throwing a rock in a pond causes a ripple effect all the way across the body of water. A small effect altered the tranquility of the pond.
As hunters, we fail to recognize the butterfly effect on their hunting trips. We do not know what we do not know. Over the years, I have met dozens of hunters who think their hunting savvy allows them to go undetected by both man and beast. These hunters fail to consider if a butterfly can flap its wings and change the effect of storms half a world away surly their presents in the woods can affect the movement of their prey on any given day.
As for those mule deer bucks, they grazed over the ridge and out of sight, never to be seen again. I do not think a butterfly caused them to escape my watchful eyes, but you just never know. Next time things do not go quit as planned, think about the Butterfly Effect and ask yourself, “Does the theory hold true”.
Happy hunting.