Bow HuntingALL the preceding discussions lead up to and culminate in this chapter.
I am convinced that no one man is capable of telling exactly how deer hunting should be done in the various sections of our great country. Up to the present writing, hunting deer with the bow has been a rather haphazard process. The sport is too new for tried and true rules or an accepted standard of hunting technique. Perhaps, the future will reveal secrets not now known to the bow hunters. The best we can do at present is to relate ways that deer have been taken with the bow and to lay down some general rules that should be of some help in successful hunting. The author has been fortunate in getting opinions and experiences of some successful hunters. Two of these have contributed to this work. DEER HUNTING IN THE EAST Deer hunting in the East may be done in four ways: still hunting, hunting in pairs or small groups, watching, and drives. No matter what form of hunting the archer decides to use,he should be prepared to start out adequately equipped with hunting gear. He should see that his broad heads are sharp,that his bow is in good condition, that he has extra bow string or strings, that he has not forgotten to take along the various articles that have been previously mentioned. He should see that he is properly clothed. I think that I am correct in saying that every bow hunter wants to bag a deer by the lone wolf route. It is, therefore,natural to expect that the hunter will want to try his luck at still hunting first. The still hunter has the task to perform of getting within bow range of the deer and, in order to make this approach, he will have to apply all the knowledge he has been able to get.He must at all times be on the alert and he must concentrate on ways to prevent the deer's getting his scent. One of the best ways to cover up the human smell is to get rid of as much of it as possible. The human sense of smell is far from being sensitive, that is by comparison with that of deer. My nose is about average when it comes to smell, yet I can detect the presence of a per-son who has just had a beer or who has eaten fish or onion. I do not happen to smoke; therefore, I can smell a pipe, a burning cigarette or a cigar for quite a distance. Well, deer do not smoke, drink beer, eat bacon or fish and they don't like onions.If I can smell these things with my dulled olfactory nerves, I an convinced that deer can smell them at a considerably greater distance. On the strength of this argument, I advocate refraining from smoking while hunting. If one must have tobacco, chew it—deer are not likely to smell it in that form and, besides, tobacco juice will not start a forest fire. Avoid eating foods with strong odors. The healthy human body is always in a state of perspiration and deer are very apt at detecting human B. O. If one is unable to take a bath before starting out on the hunt, he should, at least, put on clean underclothing each morning, especially sox. Dr. Pope records that Is hi could smell a white man at 100 yards if the wind was right; and that he said a white man smelled like a horse, made a noise like a horse, but did not have horse sense. Some people go to the extreme of bruising certain leaves and smearing them on their clothing, thus trying to add to their person a woodsy smell. Anything the hunter can do to eliminate or subdue the human odor will be greatly in his favor. It must be remembered that wild deer consider man as his worst natural enemy, which he, in truth, is. The bow hunter should carry a pair of small binoculars. These glasses should be about 6 x 24 or not over 6 x 30. The"six" means the power of magnification and the "24" or "30"means the diameter of the objective lenses in millimeters. Roughly, 24 m/m is about 1 inch and 30 m/m is 11/4 inches. These cannot be worn resting on the chest as hunters usually wear them. In this position they are in the way of the bowstring when a shot is made. They may be suspended from the hunter's left side or, better yet, carried in the coat pocket. I Could never do anything with my hands while binoculars bounced on my chest. I once saw a picture of Arthur Young,made while hunting in Africa, which showed his glasses on his chest but tucked in an improvised pocket that was sewed on the front of his shirt. This might work out, but I believe even this would interfere with the bowstring. Continued......
|
|||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||
