A LEGACY OF CONSERVATION

                Hunters, farmers, blacksmiths, textile makers, bakers, doctors… all of these and more have traditionally been seen as valuable occupations in society - until recently that is. More and more it seems that hunters are coming under attack and continue to be seen in a negative light. The Cecil the lion story probably comes to mind immediately. There are many other instances of hunters coming under attack, though. Society doesn’t see hunting as a good like it used to. This is largely thanks to a few bad apples and a united front from the “antis”.

                But it pains me to say that the antis are not the only ones hurting our beloved heritage. I can’t begin to recall all the times I have seen one hunter tearing down another hunter because “that deer is too young” or “dog hunters are a bane on hunting” or “if you bait you’re not a hunter” or (fill in the blank). How can we expect to preserve hunting and the lands on which we do that if we can’t even maintain a united front amongst ourselves? The strategy of many successful military leaders has often been to divide and conquer. The antis don’t even have to divide because we are doing that to ourselves. Now all they have to do is conquer.

                According to the US Fish and Wildlife Services’ survey conducted in 2011 there were 13.7 million hunters in the US that year (6% of the Nations’ population). History has given us countless examples of a small group of people having a tremendous impact. By merely looking at the foundation of our country and the events that took place we have numerous examples. Hunters are another example of a small group having a tremendous impact. The population numbers of many game species were dangerously low at one point or another. Conservation efforts funded by hunters helped to bring numbers back up to huntable populations. According to The National Shooting Sports Foundation hunters annually contribute $371 million to conservation through a self-imposed excise tax on guns and ammunition. Additionally another $796 million are spent on licenses and permits, and $440 million are donated to conservations groups bringing the annual, grand total of conservation funding from hunting to $1.6 billion.

                Many hunters have joined ranks with conservations organizations pertaining to their query of choice but Whitetail hunters seem to be slacking off in this area. According to a survey conducted by the Quality Deer Management Association less than 1% of whitetail hunters are members of any such organization. This is particularly bad due to the fact that whitetail hunters make up a majority of the hunting population. I would encourage all hunters to consider joining and donating to a whitetail conservation organization. It’s great to donate to The National Wild Turkey Federation but the work they do primarily benefits turkeys. Habitat improvements designed for improving areas for deer tend to have a much more widespread benefit encompassing multiple species aside from just deer. That’s not to say I’m not advocating for you to donate to the NWTF or any other organization but rather do so in addition to donating to a whitetail group.

                Hunters are primary stake holders in nature and wildlife so it should come as no surprise that we spend so much money to conserve what we love. However, I think we can do much better. I have recently taken it upon myself to join some of the main conservation groups associated with hunting and would encourage everyone to do the same. I would also greatly encourage everyone to join a relatively young organization called the National Deer Alliance. It is free to join and you actually get to participate as opposed to reading a publication they put out – that’s not to say they don’t put out publications, though – without any input. Every week the NDA send out a quick survey that takes anywhere from ten seconds to a minute to complete. The cool thing about the NDA is that they are trying to unite hunters across the continent and not just within a state or region. By doing so, their goal is to present a united front for deer hunters everywhere and to advocate on their behalf based on the input they get through the weekly survey.

                As hunters, it is time for us to stand up and emulate the goal set forth by the NDA but not limited to a species. We need to present a unified front to the general public and demonstrate our value. According to the study by the US Fish and Wildlife Services mentioned above, more than 90 million people participated in some form of outdoor recreation involving nature and wildlife that year, whether it was hiking, bird watching, fishing, etc… The entire nation benefits from the efforts of hunters but they lose sight of that when we can’t stand together as a whole and defend ourselves because we are too busy bickering amongst ourselves. We all participate in a heritage that is deeper than any other but if we aren’t careful we will lose it. By coming together we can present society with the facts and show the good we provide. If we participate personally or financially we can further increase that beneficial impact and maybe this era of hunter criticism will end.

I have taken the liberty of attaching links to some of the great hunter advocacy and conservation groups below and strongly encourage everyone to check them out and all the others and consider donating and getting involved. You may think your contributions are merely a drop in the bucket and so it’s not worth it but if everyone had that view then where would we be?

Quality Deer Management Association - https://www.qdma.com/

Whitetails Unlimited - http://www.whitetailsunlimited.com/

National Deer Alliance - http://nationaldeeralliance.com/

Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation - http://www.rmef.org/

National Wild Turkey Federation - http://www.nwtf.org/

Ducks Unlimited - http://www.ducks.org/

A Lucky Move

                As I mentioned in my previous post, I had ACL reconstructive surgery a few days before Christmas back in 2013. As previously stated, I spent hours upon hours glued to the television watching the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman’s Channel. This is what turned me onto turkey hunting and the reason I enjoyed a successful first spring gobbler season. As any of you who watch either of these channels or any outdoor television at all knows, they air plenty of bowhunting. Well I got to thinking while I was doped up on pain meds and laying on the couch that if I could get a bow I could effectively extend my season by months. Maybe it wasn’t the most prudent thing to do considering I had no cash flow coming in but one day in my dazed stupor I went online and purchased a ready to hunt bow package.

                It wasn’t as if I just went on and purchased the first one I saw. I had been considering it for a while but just hadn’t pulled the trigger on it so to speak. I had done my research and knew all my measurements so at least I got that part right. However, I got maybe a little over ambitious with the draw weight and selected a 70lb bow. When my bow arrived a few days later I was unable to try it out as I still needed crutches to get around or stand for long periods of time. I went ahead and unpackaged it though and immediately got a sinking feeling as I strained against the string and could not budge it. I am by no means a big guy and at 5’ 9” and 155lbs soaking wet this bow was too much for me. I ended up putting it back in its case and setting it off to the side for a couple weeks.

                When I was finally able to get around without the use of crutches I pulled the bow out again and for the first time went out to shoot it. With no amount of ease I was able to fight the string back and get approximately ten shots fired down range at the target before the burning in my arms rendered them useless. Part of me thinks that maybe I was just weakened from laying on the couch for weeks on end because over the next few days I found that each time I went out I was able to almost double the amount of shots I could pull off in one session. Before long I was firing between 60 and 80 shots per session and feeling very confident. Additionally, I began extending my range out and got to where I could confidently hit a 6” diameter target at 50 yards ten out of ten times. I knew I was accurate enough to shoot a deer at this point. Unfortunately I would have to wait all spring and summer before fall rolled around and archery season came back in.

                In my research on turkey laws while prepping to go on my first turkey hunt I stumbled across the archery section of deer hunting and discovered that there were four counties here in Northern Virginia that have a late antlerless-only archery season that extended into late April due to high deer densities. One of those was the county in which I live. I knew that a family friend had 16 acres and it was only about ten minutes from my house so decided to try to get permission to hunt there. Since they have a lot of young children they hadn’t permitted rifle hunting but I thought maybe archery hunting might be something they would consider. I made the call and found out that not only would they permit it but also they wanted some of the deer removed. Furthermore, I learned that there was already a ladder stand up on the property that had belonged to the previous owner. All the stars had aligned.

                On the first day I went out the nervous anticipation was almost more than I could handle. To this point I had shot a handful of does with a rifle but I didn’t know how I would react being so close. My only saving grace was my confidence in my ability to make a good shot. I set a range limit of 40 yards for myself and dove head first into archery hunting.

                Before hunting this property I had only hunted public land or areas with a smaller deer population so I was not prepared for what was in store. On that first afternoon I saw approximately 30 deer. I had climbed into the stand around 3:00 PM and after sitting for an hour I gradually became aware of some slight movement about 80 yards off to my left in a big thick area. As I looked closer I made out the flick of a tail here, the twitch of an ear there – there were approximately 20 deer bedded within 65 yards of my stand and they hadn’t noticed me. I watched as one by one they stood up and began picking their way off the property between two hills. That evening as the sun began to set I saw another group of about ten deer moving way off to my left. They went down across a creek and through that same area and then subsequently through that same gap.

                After a few sits and seeing this same behavior time and time again it was evident that my stand wasn’t in the right place. There were a number of reasons why I couldn’t move, though. The ladder stand I was in had been there for so long that the tree had actually grown around it and it was now a permanent fixture there. Also, I didn’t have any stands of my own to erect. Since I hadn’t been working for a couple months and had spent so much on my bow and setup I knew I couldn’t spend money on a stand. And the last reason was that even if I had a stand to put up, my knee was in no shape to be trying to get a stand safely into a tree. I resigned myself to this fact that my only hope of getting a deer down was for one to deviate from the route they always seem to travel and happen to pass my position.

                From the time I first sat that property to the end of the late archery season was about four weeks. I probably hunted about ten days over the course of that time but to no avail. Finally it came down to the last day and I only had a couple hours in the morning to get it done. The sun had barely began rising when I noticed what I thought was a group of four does. They were making their way out of the gap and working towards the creek to my left but were doing so at a slow rate. Given my time constraints and it being the end of the season decided that I had to make a move. As quietly as I could I climbed out of the stand, all the while keeping a close eye on the deer and freezing whenever a head looked up. Once I reached the ground I tip-toed to the trail that ran adjacent to the creek and then went to intercept them as fast and silently as I could. The trail is covered with moss and everything was still wet with dew so my main goal was not to step on any twigs.

 I reached the opening of the thick bushes where the crossing was and knelt on my right knee. I could just make out the brown through the leaves as they edged closer and closer to my ambush position. As I scanned the group I could make out little nubs on three of their heads but none on the head of the fourth. I waited until that deer reached what I estimated to be 40 yards. When I felt my target was in range I drew back my bow, anchored my release against my cheek, and shifted my left foot further left to where I was leaning out from behind the bush and had a clear line of sight to the group. Now had a shot at them but they could clearly see me too. I took aim and released the arrow.

Amidst the flurry of commotion that ensued as they whirled and dashed back the way they had come I heard a distinctive and loud “THWACK”.  They had all jumped my string when I shot and I had no idea what had happened. I heard the arrow strike something but since I had never shot an animal with a bow I didn’t know what it would sound like. It was so loud that I thought I had missed and hit a tree beyond where they had stood. Shaking and uncertain, I crossed the creek to see what could be seen. I reached the spot where the deer had stood moments before and to my surprise there was a trail of bright red blood that anyone could follow. There was blood absolutely everywhere. I slowly began following the blood which was a task easier than any prior tracking job I ever had. Up over and around a knoll I tracked – the blood although not spewing anymore was still plain as day and I knew with the amount of blood loss that deer would be down. As I dropped down to the creek I began scanning the bank on both sides certain my deer would be laying there. It took me a minute to process it but my deer was actually lying right in front of my but had collapsed in the creek itself and was half submerged.

Ecstatic, I dropped my bow and jumped in the retrieve my prize. Upon dragging it to the edge I began to examine it. First, to my chagrin, I noticed two tiny nubs protruding from in front of the ears. While it was a legal kill as antlers must be over 1” long to be considered antlered, my goal had been to kill a doe. Next I took a look at the shot placement and I immediately said a prayer in thanks for my finding this deer. Apparently when I released the arrow, the deer, which had been slightly quartering me, had spun 90 degrees to his right and the arrow had hit him in his left hind leg. People are often amazed when I tell them the next part. I still got a clean pass through as the arrow exited through his ribs on the right side. My arrow had hit the femoral artery and then clipped the lungs on the way out and any organs in between resulting in an absolutely devastating shot.

Looking back and knowing what I know now and having the experiences I have had there are things about this hunt I would not repeat and would caution others not to do. First, I would not take such a long shot when a deer is looking at me or is on high alert. That’s the easiest way to take a good situation and turn it into a nightmare. With archery hunting the ethics of a shot become more and more of a question as the distance increases. I have since taken shots that long and one or two longer but that was only after countless hours of sitting in stand and learning to read deer mannerisms and body language. If the deer is tense or acting spooky and clearly knows something is not right I will either pass, wait for the deer to calm down and become comfortable again, or allow it to come in much closer. This hunt I just described in addition to some other shots at tense deer (fortunately those resulted in clean misses) drove this lesson home for me.

           Another thing that should have stood out to me is that by that time of year the bucks are back in bachelor groups and since I knew the other three were bucks I should have concluded that the fourth was as well. I don’t give myself such a hard time for this one since I was still learning about deer (I still am but I have learned a lot since that day). Some may not have an issue with shooting a button buck but since I had sole permission to hunt there and no neighbors hunt I wanted to manage it for mature bucks – the first deer I took there went entirely against that management plan. I won’t go into the management aspect anymore for now and will just leave it at that. That discussion will be for a different day.

At the end of the day, though, despite my errors, I felt a deep sense of accomplishment in my success. I know that a huge part of my kill was chance but at the same time, I can count, with one finger, the number of people I know personally who have snuck up to and shot a deer from the ground with a bow. Granted, I know very few people who hunt but for now I only know one person who has pulled that off and that one person is me. While lots of things could have gone wrong, they didn’t and that’s often a big part of having a successful hunt. I know I’m nowhere close to being a good hunter and that I was merely fortunate in this instance. I do what I can to take a lesson from every hunt and grow each time. While I derive a certain amount of pride from the fact that I managed to shoot a deer this way, I have no delusions about it and know that I could attempt this 100 and fail for one reason or another.  As much as we strive to become better hunters, a little luck goes into almost every kill. Just like the saying goes, “Success is where preparation meets opportunity” and in this case I think you could substitute the word “luck” for “opportunity”.