Information on Deer Stalking
Mitch Johnson
Approaching the deer's bedding from unexpected direction could help the
hunter. Some favored deer bedding area is in the low land near rivers,
ponds and swamps besides the low ridges.
Unfortunately there is no hard and fast rule, which the hunter
can use in order to locate these resting and bedding places.
There is nothing to prevent deer from lying down anywhere they
happen to be and they do this very thing during the night after
feeding. During the daytime rest period, they seek seclusion
where they will be safe from enemies and, to some extent, be
protected from the weather. This being so, there is a large part
of a herd's range, which the hunter may disregard when looking
for bedding areas. Open fields, feeding areas, trails that are
used by men, and even game trails are seldom used by deer as
bedding places, but they may be used by the hunter as starting
points in his search. Tracks found at these places will often
indicate the general direction taken by deer on their way to
their resting places. It is seldom possible to stalk a resting
deer by following its track to its bed, for it invariably watches
its back trail. The hunter should use his knowledge of the area
to which the deer seems to be heading, in order to judge where
the animal might be located and then stalk that area or the most
promising locations in that area.
Deer seem to be partial to low ridges when choosing bedding
grounds and will often use them even when they are near well-
traveled roads. Such places are almost impossible to approach
from the road without detection by the deer. These locations
should be approached from the opposite side, or the stalk should
be made along the top of the ridge if wind or other conditions
make the former approach undesirable. It is always best to try to
approach any bedding area from an unexpected direction.
Another favored bedding area is in the low land near rivers,
ponds and swamps. Deer often pick wood land meadows where the
swamp grass gives them concealment. These places are difficult
for the hunter to approach because of the grass and underbrush
which cover such areas.
I have found quite a few deer which were bedded down on points of
land that jut out into lakes and ponds. The hunter is often
tempted to save steps by crossing the base of these points
instead of hunting them. By doing so, he is very apt to pass up a
good chance for a shot at a deer. Deer in these places will
seldom take to the water when disturbed by man, but will try to
run past the hunter in an attempt to reach the main land.
Points of woods which extend into fields and cuttings, similar to
the points of land which extend into water, are often used as
bedding places, but deer which are in these places are not
restricted in their choice of an escape route. Deer in these
places are difficult to stalk and are a real challenge to an
experienced stalker.
Therefore it is very important for the hunter to know from which
direction of the bedding place he has to approach and make the
hunter more successful without much stalking and disturbance to
the deer before shooting.
Mitch Johnson is a regular writer for http://www.best-scopes-n-
binoculars. com/ . His articles have also appeared on
http://www.hubforcamping.info/and
http://www.interactivecamping.info/
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