Most of the time when we go to hunting we might have come across many wounded animals, and even tried to do their best to help the deer recover from their wounds, but some time it used to fail. These wastages in deer are also due to when you shot the animal in the evening when they are hardly visible. And before shooting the deer it is always good to check the local laws of hunting the deer.
In the past twenty years, I have failed to recover two badly wounded deer and in each case they were shot late in the day, and bad weather the following night made it impossible to follow their tracks the next day. I am quite sure that both of these deer were killed though I never found any trace of one of them. Fox tracks led me to the remains of the other.
The hunter should be very careful while shooting late in the day, for, although visibility may appear to be good, the diminishing light can cause slight sighting errors which may cause a serious wound instead of a clean kill. Every shot should be investigated at the time and if there is the slightest chance that a deer has been wounded, the hunter should return the following day and attempt to recover the animal. If he finds that he cannot return on the following day, he should notify a game warden or a local guide of the fact that he has wounded a deer, so that the animal may be recovered if such recovery is possible.
Before a hunter snoots from or near a road, he should check the laws of the area in which he is hunting, for in some states, shooting is prohibited within a specified distance of a road. In places where such shooting is legal, the hunter should use caution and not shoot lengthwise or across the road, even if this means passing up a chance to bag a deer. The safety of other motorists is more important than killing the best deer that travels the woods.
Every year we read or hear about hunters and fishermen becoming lost in the woods and of the trouble and expense that is taken to find them. The state wardens, the sheriff's department, guides and other woodsmen all turn out to look for the lost person. Not all of this is necessary. The search is necessary if a man fails to show up at his camp soon after he is expected, but there is no need for the man to be lost in the first place. The search is necessary because the missing man may have met with an accident and may not be able to travel, but no man should go out of sight of camp, in the woods, without a compass, and there is no real need for one with a compass to become lost.
A man doesn't need to be a navigator or a surveyor in order to be able to utilize this instrument. All that he needs is a steady mind and something to give him a positive general direction. Almost any cheap compass will do this, if the carrier will only believe it, and if he has taken the trouble to notice the direction in which he started when he left camp at the beginning of the hunt. Most hunting camps are on a road, stream or pond that extends for some distance on each side of the camp and it is only necessary to find this road, stream or pond in order to find the camp.
When hunting in strange territory, I usually spend a part of the first day in familiarizing myself with the territory in the immediate vicinity of the place where I am staying. I walk the road, if there is one, for at least a half-mile in each direction from camp, observing any outstanding features which might serve as landmarks. I make short circles or half-circles near the camp, noticing any unusual formations such as trees, rocks, brooks, wood roads, chopping or anything which might be of help in determining my exact location in relation to the camp in case that I should become confused when re- turning from a hunt. This procedure would not help a man that is completely lost, because when he is in that condition, even the back door of his own home is liable to be strange and unfamiliar enough to be unrecognizable. This does not seem possible, but I know from experience that a man who is merely turned around can look at familiar objects without recognizing them and even after he has recognized them, cannot believe that they are in their proper place.
When a hunter goes for hunting and makes the shoot and sure that he has shot the deer, it is better if he checks the deer or warns the warden. While going for deer hunting always remember to keep your compass with you, so that you have less chances of getting lost in the woods. And try to always familiarize yourself with the places before hunting in strange or new places. |
