Mature bucks: they are out there and they can be tough to take. However, for those willing to kick their skills up a notch, you just might find your tag on one of these trophies.
It was mid-morning when a change was in order. For the first few hours of the first day of rifle season, like so many other hunters, my hunting is done from a tree stand. After that you’ll find me making tracks. I guess it comes honestly since that’s the way Dad hunted. Over the course of his lifetime no other hunter in camp took more deer than he did. And with good reason, because he paid attention to details.
“Check out those areas other hunters don’t like or where they seldom go,” was Dad’s advice. Even at camp Dad would pattern those who hunted within the vicinity of camp. Tracks in the snow became his silent partner and would show where others had, and more importantly, not gone while in the area.
“Hunters generally would take to the trails and old logging roads that provide easy access. It works for some, but check out how the deer react to where other hunters hunt and how they get there. Look at areas 25 to 50 yards to either side of woods’ roads. As deer begin to sense hunting pressure, they will often find sanctuary there. They will lay down and watch the hunters walk by,” Dad pointed out.
After being pursued time and again, the deer patterned the hunters. Deer adapted by lying down at the end of the ridge or on the steep side of the terrain. By doing so, in the event the deer are compromised, their escape is quickly accomplished by taking a few quick bounds down over the side of the mountain.
Dad was extremely aware of his surroundings. Often his strategy was to still hunt in the opposite direction from where other hunters approached a given area. In more than a few cases his plan worked and another ear tag was filled out.
“Older deer have seen it all and are wary of movement,” Dad said. “Once the shooting starts, the big boys are on full-time alert and use their eyes and what they have learned about hunters in the past.”
While a whitetail’s sense of smell is acute, the eyes are an important part of a whitetail’s defense system.
There are occasions when a young deer will catch your movement, stare, and stamp its foot in an effort to get you to move. But older bucks approach the situation differently.
When mature bucks see movement, they will, especially when they know they are being hunted, simply slip off into nearby cover. No games — it’s a matter of survival, and they have become good at it.
Last season this advice paid off as several deer approached the bottom of a small but sharp ridgeline. I was positioned above the deer at the base of a deadfall. Several deer in the group were looking my way. I froze in an effort not to reveal my position. Moments later it wasn’t difficult to see a nice buck halfway back in the pack.
The deer stood still as they scanned their surroundings. Now more than ever my every move needed to be slow and deliberate. After all, by now these deer had seen hunters and understood their intent. It seemed to take forever, as another deer joined the group. Minutes later the 8-point was wearing my tag.
While field dressing the buck, it wasn’t long until my brother, Mark, was at my side. “Yep, that is the same buck I saw earlier in the morning,” he said.
“Why didn’t you take him?” was my reply. Mark said, “He was working his way through the clear cut, and from my tree stand I could see he was with a small group of deer. I saw he was a good buck and slowly began turning in his direction to get a shot when my safety harness scraped against the tree behind me. He looked directly up and when his eyes met mine, he was GONE.”
Sounds, whether it be talking, a car door closing, or the ripping sound of Velcro, or any other unnatural sounds for that matter, in the deer woods will be quickly processed as danger.
In the case of the bucks’ first and only encounter with my brother, the buck knew what he heard and what he saw spelled trouble. He immediately made an exit. And here’s how it works.
When whitetails tie two of their senses together, they do an immediate disappearing act. Also, you can bet if that buck had made it through the day, it would have avoided my brother’s tree stand as well. Deer have been known to skirt around known tree stands where hunters have been spotted.
Odor and scent are how a buck will locate a receptive doe or elude a hunter. Odor control is vitally important when hunting with a bow.
And it is just as important for those hunting with a firearm.
Cooking odors can be strong and cling on clothing for extended periods of time. At breakfast in camp with other hunters, the clothes worn for the first meal of the day are not what go on my back in the field. My outerwear is stored in plastic bags and stored away from the odors of camp in our storage shed. Upon my return from the field my hunting clothing is stored in the shed until going afield again.
While at camp, I bathe with no scent soap and use scent-free deodorant to remain as odorless as possible.
One great piece of advice Dad shared with me early on still rings true to this day. “You’ve got to spend time in the woods.” Time in the field observing and learning the whitetails’ way will help you to become one who will become a deer hunter and not simply one who hunts for deer.
Charlie Burchfield is an active member and past president of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association, an active member of the Professional Outdoor Media Association, Outdoor Writers Assoc. of America and the Mason-Dixon Outdoor Writers. Gateway Outdoors email is GWOutdoors@comcast.net
