Success Starts With Safety

This month, our deer season moves wide open into the magical time of the rut. It’s a period that bucks lessen their concern for hunters and turn their attention to breeding.

Looking at this season’s harvest photos in GON and on GON.com already shows that there have been some nice-sized bucks taken.

Do you think you have to hunt from a elevated platform or tree stand to drop a deer? Clearly, hunting from above gives you the range to scan a larger piece of the woods or field with reduced scent, and it allows you to be concealed. However, think about how our ancestors hunted. They hunted from the ground with spears and arrows and used wind direction and natural cover to their advantage. They set up behind blowdowns or thick cover to conceal their movements and outlines. While we hunt mostly for sport and for the great food, they hunted to survive. If they weren’t successful, they, their family and their tribe didn’t eat.

I hunt mainly from tree stands, but over my time hunting whitetails, I’ve learned to hunt from the ground. My son Jared’s first deer was taken from a pop-up ground blind, and it was quite an event. Ask some of your dads, granddads or other family members to help you with your setups. The more you do the more responsibility you will take on as you learn what it takes to put it all together.

Early that morning, we drove our ATV in the dark to our selected spot. Jared carried his unloaded .243 rifle, and I carried the pop-up tent, two chairs and a pack loaded with supplies. On the way, I showed him a fallen branch that formed a “Y” that would be used as a rifle rest. I carried that, too.

We set up with the rising sun at our back and watched it gradually move on to the opposite ridge. It was a frosty morning, but I brought a thermos of hot chocolate to ease the chill.

Not long after sunrise, a lone doe started making its way down that ridge. She took her time, feeding as she strolled down the trail. Jared had her in his sights, and I asked if he was ready to take the shot. He said “yes” about the same time he pulled the trigger. The doe only went about 10 yards and dropped, a perfect double-lung shot. I was really proud that he had the patience to take the shot and wanted to participate in getting his own knife “wet” as we field-dressed her where she laid. He was 9 years old at the time.

Since, then, he has developed into quite a hunter. He’s arrowed an elk in Colorado, as well as taken a mule deer by rifle at a long distance, both on public land. He’s shot his share of turkeys, too, on both public and private land.

It all started by taking the Georgia hunter-safety class and making sure that we hunted safe each time out. I hope that you have success and follow the same.