Snowy weather and hunting season always reminds me of the movie "Jeremiah Johnson." That movie has become a favorite of many of my hunting buddies as well.

Many times when we are hunting, lines from that movie will be scripted into our hunting dialogue. In one scene, Jeremiah shares some rabbit that he has cooked over a camp fire with an old bear hunter.

The old timer says, "You cook good rabbit, pilgrim."

This statement came to mind when a hunting buddy gave me a piece of jerky that he made.

As we met near his farm, I said, "You make good jerky, pilgrim."

Gone are the days of real mountain men. Hunters seldom endure either the dangers or the hardships that hunters faced 200 years ago.

However, I did get a glimpse of ingenuity, risk, danger and bravado that might have bordered on crazy during this deer hunting season. It would have made Jeremiah take notice and certainly proved that you've never seen it all.

The day started out like any other in the middle of a season: deer not moving and hunters not seeing deer.

My buddy Roy decided to make something happen as he hunted a mountainous terrain. He went back into an area that received little hunting pressure and was very difficult to navigate. Deer had made many trails along the steep face of the mountain, but few hunters would venture along them because of the steepness and the slippery terrain.

Old Roy likes to go into places where other men would shun. If it looks uninviting for a human, you can count on him to head right into it.

Well, Roy headed right for the edges of that mountain terrain, and, sure enough, he started to see deer.

About an hour into the hunt, a large group of deer came into sight. Roy, being the good shot that he is, brought down a large deer.

Well, that deer took a mighty leap and was over the edge. Roy and one of the locals we were hunting with peered down the face of the mountain. There was the deer at the base of a tangle of tree roots in no man's land.

The local told Roy, "No one goes down there for a deer 'round here!"

Roy handed him his rifle and told him to have me meet him at the road on the bottom of the mountain face.

I guess this is how hunting story legends are made and I was right in the middle of it. I pulled Roy's truck into the driveway of a little house at the base of the hill and was met by three young boys.

"Hey, mister, a guy is falling off the mountain and momma's calling for the helicopter!"

You can imagine what was going through my mind as I raced around the building and looked straight up the mountain.

Here came a deer, then a man, then a man and a deer like a toboggan run down the mountain. He was using a rope and his legs to guide the deer and as a brake of sorts.

Roy was hanging onto the rope and the deer for dear life as they slid down the icy slopes.

I remember telling the three boys, "That's no man; that's Old Roy! Cancel the helicopter!"

Roy came to a safe sliding stop in a grassy area and didn't look too much worse than when I last saw him.

He looked up at me with a grin and said, "I hope me and the deer aren't bruised up too much tomorrow."

I shook my head in disbelief as we loaded the deer and the gear into his truck. He finally looked over at me and said, "I think I might have found a good place to go hunting next year."

Until we meet again, remember that even if you're at the end of your rope, hang on and have a Happy Holiday!