CAN YOU STAND TO SIT STILL?

Author's note: As a reminder, I'll be on a week-long bow hunt starting October 18 and do not plan to post new blogs during that period. I may post an update about the hunt results around mid-week since I am not hunting too far from home.

By Ray Hansen

I’ve spent many years in the woods chasing whitetail deer. Many times, I’m out there when no hunting season is open, and all the shooting I do is with a camera. At other times, if the season is open, I carry a gun or bow, and if I’ve got a deer tag, I fill it.

One thing never changes. When I want to see deer that can be photographed easily, or that can be cleanly killed with a legal hunting weapon, it happens when I’m sitting still and the deer is moving. Try to go out in the woods looking for the opportunity to “sneak up” on a deer that’s going to stand there waiting to be shot, and all you’ll see is white tails flagging as the deer run off. Most of the time, you won’t even see that. The deer discover you long before you see them, and they either flop down and let you walk past, or they slip away undetected. I’ve watched deer do these things to other hunters many times.

I participate in “herd reduction hunts” in Illinois State Parks every year. I’ve found them to be a particularly good place to park your butt, keep your eyes open and ears tuned, and let other hunters who cannot sit still move deer for you. As long as the animal is watching that other guy walking through the woods, it is not paying attention to you. That gives you a big edge.

I’ve talked to guys who said they “walked around, hoping to scare up a deer and get a shot”. What kind of shot? Three fast rounds of high-powered, potentially deadly lead fired vaguely in the direction of a leaping, twisting, running animal? Answer this: Where do you go to practice that kind of shot? As hunters, we have an ethical responsibility to make a clean, humane kill on the animals we target. Therefore, if a “running shot” is taken, it is because the person firing believes he can make that clean kill – not simply wound the animal.

Again, where is it possible to practice that type of shooting – say at a target one-hundred yards away, moving fast and occasionally leaping or changing direction quickly? And having practiced that type of shooting, how well did you do? Were you able to hit an eight-inch circle consistently? That is about the size of the heart / lung kill zone on the average deer.

Another consideration: When firing at deer running in the distance, what is on the other side of the animal? Do you know for certain that another hunter is not out that way? Can you live with the consequences of a tragedy?

This season, especially if you are hunting in an area where other hunters are in the field, pick a good spot, and sit still. Watch for unalarmed deer. You’ll have a safer, more productive time in the woods.
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008