Some people cannot enjoy themselves to hunt the deer in the group. But hunting in a group can give a different experience and result. Read more on how to take the advantage by hunting in a group.
Nothing is more exasperating to a watcher than to stay at a stand for hours only to find that the deer has taken some other direction and that nobody has informed him of the change. The hunters must work as a team or they will lose confidence in each other and in that case it is better that they hunt individually. Lack of planning has turned many a hunt which might have been an enjoyable and successful affair into a series of frustrating events. I joined in one of these hunts one Thanksgiving morning when the four men Involved should have been able to bag four deer. The actual results were somewhat different.
There had been about a foot of snow on the ground for two days, making tracking conditions almost ideal, but the hunters had had very little luck in finding deer or their tracks. There were quite a few deer in the area, but they were not in their usual haunts. I had not been able to hunt during this period, but had kept in touch with the overall situation by contact with hunters and by checking the roads for tracks.
I had decided that some of the deer had taken refuge in a piece of woods which had not been hunted since the last snowfall. This piece of woods extended north and south for about two miles and was at no place over a half-mile in width. Swamps, with considerable water, bounded the tract on the north and about half of the west side. Wide fields separated it, in most places, from woods to the east and southeast. Most of the deer which used this tract were those that ordinarily ranged in the woods to the east and southeast, and if started, could be expected to travel in an easterly direction.
There were three trails that deer usually used when traveling to and from this tract. One was located at the extreme north end and crossed a shallow swamp or meadow. Another crossed some two hundred yards of open fields at a point about a half-mile south of the northerly crossing. The third, the best protected and the probable choice of the deer was near the south end of the tract. There was nothing to prevent the deer from traveling to the southwest, except their instinctive urge to stay on, or return to, familiar territory. With one man on each of these three trails and a fourth in the woods to start the deer and to keep them moving, there was a situation in which someone was almost sure to have a chance to do some shooting.
In winter the deer are reluctant to travel from one direction to another. They would prefer to stay in one place for sometime. This could be of good help for the hunters.
When hunting in one or two companions having a proper planning on who will do what will save your time and energy. And the hunt could be more successful in this way. Another important thing about hunting in group is to keep informing the other about the movements of the deer. Lack of better information and planning could turn many a hunt which might have been an enjoyable and successful affair into a series of frustrating events. |
