SOLVED. Fiction- Man gets caught up in trouble, has to survive in desert, hunting goats and birds [s]

[Jenn]

I read this book in 7th grade, it was assigned in Reading class so I’d like to think it was at least somewhat popular or a classic or maybe got one of those Newberry type awards. Would’ve read it maybe 1998-99. I feel like the man was trying to track down someone and somehow he ends up out in the desert on some type of plateau or mountain. I remember him having a shotgun or something of that sort. He talks about the goats or rams or something. At some point after extreme heat exposure he goes into this open cavern type place and I think he’s there for a bit too. One thing I distinctly remember is him slingshotting or something to kill a bird and describing how he skins the bird and eats it. For some reason I keep wanting to say the title had something to do with Deer Hunter or Deer slayer and yes I know there’s a book called Deerslayer but this is not it. So HELPPP! Hopefully someone can help me figure out what this book was!

[Jenn]

Found it. That was fast. It’s called Deathwatch

[Andria]

Glad you found it, Jenn! Here's the link Deathwatch