wondered, given the cold, whether ….

wondered, given the cold, whether he was doomed himself. “My ears were frost-bitten,” he said. “I was so cold I worried about being able to walk out.”

Baeseman did hike out back to his cabin, warmed up, and retrieved the 210 pound 9-pointer.

“What a gift,” said.

Baeseman points to a large, mounted elk on the wall. Another story follows. Baeseman was hunting on the mountain tops in Colorado with a bow and arrow. Finding the large elk, he shot the animal. His arrow pierced the animal, entering from the bottom and exiting from the top. The dying elk tumbled down the side of the mountain.

Baeseman followed and, on his way down the grade, he discovered an arrow lying on the ground. This was a mystery. Why was there a strange arrow on this mountain side?

Closer investigation showed that the arrow had been lodged in the large horns of the elk and only came loose after the animal tumbled over the cliff.

A large deer on the wall is pointed to.

This is Baeseman’s deer from Fenwood. He recalls hunting for a large buck in a swamp. He heard the animal snort and, to get closer to the deer, he entered the marsh. First, he was up to his knees in chilly November water wearing only woolen pants. Next he was up to his waist. Finally, he was up to his chest. As light faded in evening, the buck emerged from a thicket for a brief moment. Baeseman took a quick and lethal shot.

“I had just enough time to pull the trigger,” he said. “He was just seconds away from making it.”

While often a solitary hunter, Baeseman does his best to share his deer lifestyle. He has mentored many Edgar youth, both boys and girls, about how to hunt deer. He is more eager, actually, to show pictures of local youth learning the craft of deer hunting at his Wien property than pictures of deer he has harvested.

Baeseman said he was lucky to be taught the ways of the whitetail as a youngster. Now, he said, he wants to return the favor to a next generation.