A Bit O' Excitement: Updated

Sheesh. I was leaving to pick up H-Bomb from school. Our dog, Mia, decided she wanted to come with us, so I loaded her up. Number One was getting ready to haul a load of calves to Colorado.

We drove over 1/2 mile down the road, and saw CG's two dogs, Taz and Hank, on the road, just hanging out. I stopped, called them over, tried to load them up. Those two snots just walked away from me, across the road heading away from the house. Of course. Maybe they're home by now, who knows.

Town and school were uneventful.

Then, as I was heading home, approaching Marie's Place, I saw a helicopter flying low behind a ridge. I thought by the time I got around the ridge, it would be headed toward the mountains. Not so. It was still flying very low, and very erratically. I thought it was having engine troubles and getting ready to crash, so we stopped to see what would happen. I thought I could call the sheriff on my cell phone if needed.

The helicopter was bright red, and just kept veering back and forth as it crossed the road in front of us. Then I saw them. Mule deer, running scared, just in front of the helicopter. It became clear that they were chasing the deer with their helicopter. They were still veering and flying so erratically that I thought they would clip a rock with one of the propeller blades. They touched down briefly, then sank beneath a low ridge.

I tried to call the sheriff, but my cell phone battery was dead.

The helicopter rose above the ridge, when I believe they saw my van sitting on the road. They took off, straight and very fast back toward the highway. Clearly they were not having engine troubles. And clearly this sort of activity cannot be legal. I was also concerned because our neighboring rancher has about 30 horses in the same area the deer were being harassed. The horses I saw did not seem to be upset, but who knows how long this would have gone on had I not stopped the van.

I started heading for home again, drove a couple miles further, when what do I see in the road? Our two dogs, Donut and Rico. Over 12 miles from home! I'm positive they were following Number One and the cows to Colorado. "Need any help??"

Thankfully our dogs are trained, and they were tired, so they both loaded up in the van with Mia. Donut (not a small dog) sat on H-Bomb's lap for a minute until I found him a spot on the floor.

We finally made it home, and I emailed the sheriff and the wildlife law enforcement ranger about the helicopter harassing the deer. I didn't have much information to go on, but I'm hopeful. I really haven't seen very many bright red helicopters around these parts.

UPDATE: I heard back from the wildlife law enforcement guy (a friend of ours), who told me that he had made some calls and the helicopter was part of a wildlife capture program. They are capturing deer and putting radio collars on them so they can track their movements around the county. He thanked me for the report, as sometimes people are stupid and chasing wildlife with helicopters (or ATVs, snowmobiles, etc.) IS illegal and dangerous.