Conference vmsnet::hunting$note:hunting

    
    Firstly if not stated somewhere in a previous note this is the first
    year of hunting in the brush in South Carolina, I have hunted in upper
    Michigan (UP), and the upper half of the lower peninsula in open farm
    fields.  There is a some difference in the two but visibility was
    always there in 95% of the cases.  Have also hunted deer in the
    southern part of South Carolina in open farm lands, only going into the
    brush if tracking became necessary.
    
    In Michigan hunting was done on the ground, in South Carolina 99% of
    the hunting was done from fixed stands ranging from 10' to 23' in
    height.
    
    Since I don't have a raised scope mount, brush hunting has taught me to
    find my target with both eyes opened then use only the scope.  It has
    also taught me need to practice some between long breaks, or when
    extended periods of time pass without having fired a shot.  On my last
    day out my bad habit of compensating for recoil resurfaced and cost me
    two deer.  Also found that I need to practice shooting at moving
    targets as the third deer I missed was a buck scooting between
    hardwoods.  Believe it or not this all happened within the space of an
    hour,  I won't go into the disbelief end of this tale, missing these
    deer, I went and looked for blood after it was all over for about an
    hour, these were forty & fifty yard shots.   
    
    Smoking in a stand, I have found that this totally dependant on weather
    conditions, smoke going straight up -vs- down, that the key is complete
    stillness.
    
    Type of firearm being used, this is a critical item.  I have observed
    that deer will not scatter immediately when being shot at so if one is
    proficient with a firearm then the semi-auto will better serve me, a
    pump may work as well, the lever action requires some additional motion
    which wastes time.
    
    Deer will respond to a whistle, actually called one back but couldn't
    get a clear shot at it.  
    
    Clothes, clean clothes are important, but I also experienced a
    situation were the secent of a deer I dressed was on me, and this also
    seemed to be a favorable secent to the deer. 
    
    Grunt calls, trying it several times had no positive results, well the
    cows started to respond but never any deer.  Others may have used them
    with success but not me.
    
    Have also learned that a .444 at 20 yards will down a sapling easily,
    and mounting said sapling is a breeze.

    Re: Sapling
    
    	How was it prepared ? A Crock Pot, fried, stewwed ?
    
    	Leonard, a safe and happy New Year to you and your family.
    
    	Red

	So just how long will a deer stay away from and area after
	'you've covered it'??

	I guess the answer is ....depends. Still hunting?, Drive? were
	you scented? On stand?

	I think there are too many factors to make it matter. I do the
	majority of my hunting, still hunting and until	recently, I 
	figured re-hunting an area 4 or 5 hours later was senseless. 
	Maybe not...

	On our last day this year the 3 of us were approached to organize
	a large area drive. 8 people and a dog. Basically the area was
	about 3 miles long bounded by lakes and fairly narrow. One end
	had a small access (~50yds) the other end had two a little larger.
	Near the center at the bottom, near our cabin, was a channel about
	200yds where the deer were to be pushed to two guys on stand. The
	only way out. The drive didn't produce. Probably a good thing
	anyway with 8 guys!! Now this particular stretch is one of the
	main troughways to the deers' winter yarding area. The point is,
	3 hours later, within yards of one stand we saw FRESH tracks.
	Well into the drive area. Now these guys were not exactly taking
	silence precautions etc. Makes one think. Did an area get missed?
	Did deer hide in shrubs? Double back?

	I think its fair to assume these deer are pretty smart. Maybe you
	CAN'T cover an area COMPLETELY still hunting or on a drive. My 
	guess is that although the area might not be too populus, it
	might be worth another check. 

	(Fortunatly we went home 2 out of 3 this year anyway ;-)
						
						/ Andrew /

    
    This deer season taught me:  I'm sure glad deer don't carry guns.
    
    
    
    Rick
    

    This deer season taught me something,  save all my vacation time for
    deer season, and then, use it for deer hunting.  This season is to
    quick.  Other than that, toss out all the commercialism of hunting
    products, and get back to basics.  Plus I learned a new way to cook my
    venison.   I am averaging a deer a year, come on now, the limit is
    three.  Hey Earl, you got me by one this year, wait till next year.
    Time to put the rifle up, and break out the golf clubs.  Now if I can
    learn something about golf, maybe I can play the game.
    Signing off until next deer season, good luck everyone.
    
    Bob
    

    
    	- Taught me a few lessons on Tracking Deer (snow tracking) from
    	  a well learned hunter and friend.  
    
    	- Taught me that I need to practice starting a campfire under
    	  wet conditions.  While hunting in Maine during a very wet
    	  snowstorm, I attemted to get a fire going to dry out.  THings
    	  were very wet and I gave up after about an hour, this could have
    	  been dangerous for me if I'd have been lost and was spending the 
    	  night in the woods!
    
    	- Taught me that Tinks #69 really works.  Next Bow season I'm 
    	  going to find a set of rattling antlers and put out some Tinks
    	  for a laugh;  we'll see what I come up with.
    

    Let's see, since this was my official "first year" of hunting I learned
    lots and lots of stuff.... Most importantly....Use your peripheral
    vision!  And I also agree with one of the other replies.... Save up
    your vacation and take it to hunt...
    
    Christine (who didn't get a deer this year, but her hubby got his very
    first buck with his muzzleloader!)

    
    Well it's taught me I can't afford deer hunting (at least �200 a day to
    shoot Red Deer Stags), but that I can enjoy the more scientific work of
    controlling the herds through culling (mainly hinds). [At least as a
    'worker' on the cull I don't have to pay for the hunt - I even get
    'paid' in the form of room & board for the cull]
    
    It has taught me (or perhaps reminded me) that the majority of the
    public are blinded by the Bambi Syndrome - especially when the National
    Trust voted to ban Stag Hunting (where a pack of dogs bring a stag to
    bay so that mounted hunters can come up and despatch it humanely), and
    the board of directors set the decision aside because without mandatory
    control the farmers would have exterminated the Red Deer whereas the
    Stag Hunts merely keep the numbers constant and deal with "difficult"
    animals that are raiding orchards and the like.
    
    It has taught me that man is essentially mismanaging nature: we
    eliminated the wolves that were the natural cullers of the Red Deer
    herds, and we fenced the lowland valleys preventing the natural
    migration from Summer grazing down to the wintering over grounds in the
    valleys. This leads inexorably to the situation where 50,000 Red Deer
    hinds had to be killed this year to prevent the herds starving to
    death.
    
    And finally it has reinforced my belief that you can hunt well with a
    double rifle. (That is on stalking hunts: I am not sure that this is
    also true of brush and forest hunting such as exists in North America)
    
    /. Ian .\

    I learned not to let my wife have surgery in the middle of the
    month...
    
    Not many deer in the Kennebec Valley Medical Center...
    
    Jim
    

    I learned that when you are stand-hunting along a deer run you
    should take time to follow that run in both directions, using
    due caution, and learn the best ambush points, as well as *when* 
    the deer will be on a given point along the trail. I spent most
    of the season too close to the field where the deer were feeding at
    night. In fact, they were 500 yards from the field right at
    sunset, and even further back up the trail before sunrise. Next
    year my stand will be higher up the mountain, in a bottleneck
    I _should_ have found in mid-October, not mid-November.
    
    Dana
    
    PS Ian, that double rifle would do just fine for New England hunting,
    where ranges are usually close and a quick second shot is often
    necessary. Unfortunately it probably costs several times as much
    as a Winchester or Marlin 30-30 lever-action, the favorites here.
    
    PPS Jim, my buddy learned not to get _his_ wife pregnant during
    February, damned few deer in the Maternity ward either ;-) ;-)

    And another lesson - a small deer at twenty yards may look 
    like a much bigger deer at 30. Result - arrow flies over
    deer's back. 

    Another lesson.  Try to harvest your deer in the daylight hours and not
    just before sundown.  When it is dark, I want to be at camp with a cold
    beer, a hot fire, and a nip from the bottle.  Not blood on my arms from
    a sloppy job of gutting a deer in the dark..
    Bob