| The next time when you are preparing for deer | | | | knowledge of that animal to be successful. I am not |
| hunting, better make yourself aware of the applicable | | | | in favor of bow-and-arrow hunting for everyone, for, |
| laws of different states and not only of the deer. | | | | although the hunting arrow is deadly in the hands of |
| Get yourself prepared before you steps in the forest | | | | an expert, the average hunter is too unfamiliar with |
| to hunt the deer. At the same time I try to make | | | | the weapon to make clean kills-a necessary part of |
| myself secure with better weapons than those old | | | | good sportsmanship. |
| fashioned bows and arrows. | | | | Quite a few men, with more patience than I possess, |
| Many successful hunters never acquire this | | | | bag their deer by continually watching some popular |
| knowledge, depending solely on luck in their hunting. | | | | game trail, or crossing, until a deer comes along. |
| In a territory where deer are plentiful, this results in | | | | There is one man whom I have often met at the |
| their bagging a deer with fair regularity, yet the | | | | same place in the woods where a deer trail crosses a |
| actual shooting of a deer is only a small part of the | | | | small stream. I think that he is there every morning |
| enjoyment that a sportsman finds on a hunt. When a | | | | during the season, from daybreak to midmorning, until |
| man goes into the woods, meets a deer in its own | | | | he shoots his deer. I would estimate that he has |
| element, outwits the animal and succeeds in killing it | | | | killed ten or twelve deer at that crossing. One year |
| with a well-placed shot, his satisfaction will be much | | | | there were very few deer in that immediate area. As |
| greater than in the mere killing of a deer that he has | | | | far as I knew, there was only one doe that had |
| accidentally encountered. To be sure, he can return | | | | raised her twin fawns within two miles of that spot. |
| home and embellish his story, belying the fact that it | | | | There were plenty of deer in the surrounding |
| was more or less an accident that he bagged the | | | | country, but for some reason, they seemed to shun |
| animal. He has the deer for proof of his tale, but until | | | | that particular area. One day I mentioned the scarcity |
| he comes to believe the story himself, there will | | | | of deer to him, suggesting that some other crossing |
| always be a slight feeling of dissatisfaction about that | | | | might be more productive that year. He merely said, |
| particular hunt. | | | | "I've done pretty well here in the past and I reckon |
| A very successful hunter once told me that deer | | | | that I will give it a few more days before making a |
| hunting was ninety per cent luck and ten per cent | | | | change." The next day I met him on the road and he |
| good marksmanship. He had hunted for a good many | | | | had a nice buck on his car. I had forgotten that his |
| years and should have known what he was talking | | | | crossing was one that was favored by bucks |
| about. "All that a man needs to do to shoot a deer," | | | | traveling across country from one herd to another, in |
| he said, "is to be in the right place at the right time | | | | search of does. |
| and to be able to hit any deer that he sees." | | | | Although this crossing watching requires more |
| This man believed it was luck that placed him at the | | | | patience than the average hunter possesses, it |
| right place at the right time, but I am sure that the | | | | usually pays off with a deer. Quite a bit of |
| knowledge that he had unconsciously acquired about | | | | knowledge of the country and of the movement of |
| the habits of the deer in the territory where he | | | | deer is necessary, yet patience is the most important |
| hunted had a lot to do in enabling him to shoot most | | | | qualification that a man must have in order to be |
| of his deer. While luck certainly plays an important | | | | consistently successful in this type of hunting. |
| part in deer hunting, the man who depends entirely | | | | There are fair laws for both the hunters and the |
| on it is very apt to be disappointed at the end of the | | | | animals. So always be on the safer side of the law to |
| hunt. The need for hunting knowledge varies with the | | | | avoid any unnecessary trouble that you might face |
| method used while hunting. It requires little | | | | otherwise. Some time you need more patience to |
| knowledge to shoot a deer in the nighttime with the | | | | continually watch the movements of the deer, which |
| aid of a light. | | | | I don't possess. People like the one I met in the |
| This is nothing but butchery of a bewildered | | | | forest even after hearing about the scarcity of deer |
| defenseless animal. On the other hand, the man who | | | | still sits on the same spot waiting for the deer. And |
| enters the woods armed with a bow and a few | | | | for this you need a fair knowledge of the country |
| arrows, which attempt to outwit an animal in full | | | | and the movement of deer can be of good use |
| possession of all its faculties, must have a thorough | | | | during the hunting. |