| For most people the answer to this question is | | | | The hunter who has prepared himself properly to |
| when they can. It is dependent primarily upon the | | | | enter the woods under cover of darkness to go |
| legal hunting dates. When you can get off from | | | | to his hunting spot and wait for sunrise has the |
| your job may be relevant too. There are hunters | | | | most intensely exciting hunt. Spotting the stately |
| who work around deer-hunting seasons and there | | | | dream buck as he becomes visible through the |
| are hunters who hunt around their work | | | | fog and filtering light is dramatic. Arriving at a |
| schedules. Some people hunt year-round and | | | | stand in darkness without alerting the deer in the |
| others hunt only an hour or two. There are those | | | | area can indeed mean that deer are right under |
| who travel across states and around the world | | | | your nose. Quietly entering the woods with |
| hunting deer at all times of the year, taking | | | | deer-like footsteps and with a flashlight held |
| advantage of different climates and seasons; | | | | pointed to the ground and used minimally can |
| there are those who scout and observe deer | | | | really be the first step in the greatest of hunts. |
| year-round even though they may actually hunt | | | | Proper scouting allows hunters to enjoy the most |
| only one day or a couple of weeks each year. | | | | success with the least effort in the least amount |
| Most people must take time to hunt. They are | | | | of time. |
| not likely to allow anything to interfere with their | | | | If you take your deer in early morning, you will |
| hunting time. | | | | have the whole day left to enjoy the after-hunt |
| Hunts in all states are organized to allow the deer | | | | experiences, dress and preserve the deer, or |
| ample time off from hunter pressure to bear | | | | hunt for another deer. |
| their young and nurse them. Hunting from | | | | Remember not to shine your car lights into the |
| February through August is virtually non-existent | | | | area and not to slam your car doors. |
| for this reason. Full-blooded Native Americans | | | | It is important to carry a flashlight whenever you |
| have the right to take deer anytime regardless of | | | | are in the woods in darkness, but keep it aimed |
| the season as part of their ancestral rights. | | | | at the ground so as not to arouse the deer but |
| Deer seasons are scheduled in the fall throughout | | | | to notify other hunters of your presence. Never |
| America. There are several reasons for this. The | | | | presume that there are no other hunters about! |
| rut is well advanced, which makes the bucks less | | | | You can bump heads with another hunter in the |
| cautious and creates an advantage for the hunter. | | | | most unexpected places at any time. Simply that |
| Also, it is only during the fall and early winter | | | | there were no other vehicles about means little. If |
| months that deer sport antlers, which most | | | | you could avoid the flashlight when entering the |
| hunters prefer. In old times it was when most of | | | | woods pre-dawn it would be to your hunting |
| the farm work was done that deer-hunting took | | | | advantage. Safety must come first. Carry a |
| place. The hunt season was also governed by | | | | flashlight. There is no deer worth dying for. |
| when meat would not spoil and could be laid in to | | | | The transition from the darkest hour before the |
| provide food for the winter months. Fall hunts | | | | dawn into the slowly increasing light is one of the |
| were usually when there was a good tracking | | | | best experiences in deer hunting. It is majestic. It |
| snow, making it easier to hunt and also to locate | | | | is a new dawn. The whole woods is resonant with |
| wounded deer. Animals were fat in the fall, having | | | | the sounds of good morning. |
| feasted on acorns, crops, and other mature mast | | | | During gun season, and especially on opening |
| food. Roads are frozen over, making them more | | | | morning at sunrise, you will hear guns going off in |
| accessible. Fawns are well developed and most | | | | the hills that excite the imagination and may stir |
| does are bred. In the autumn there is a sharp | | | | up visions of the Civil War. |
| increase in deer activity which peaks in late fall | | | | One drawback is that it is usually quite cold in |
| with the breeding cycle and maximum acorn | | | | early morning, and sunrise does not produce |
| availability. All these conditions helped to establish | | | | expected warmth. It is during this transition period |
| the tradition of fall deer hunting. | | | | that shivers can make you shake and spoil your |
| Quite apart from the biological reasons, the | | | | steady shot. Take it easy in your early morning |
| convenience of the hunter and the traditions of | | | | trek, being careful not to get heated up. Lighten |
| hunters are the chief factors in the establishment | | | | up on the clothing for the trek in, and put more |
| of the hunting season. The legislature is out to | | | | clothing on when you reach your waiting place in |
| please the public, which is the voting public, of | | | | order to avoid the handicap of shivering. |
| course, and they are the elected "public servants." | | | | Most states stipulate that the hunter may take |
| Some farmers and entire communities keep | | | | deer no earlier than one half-hour before legal |
| Saturday or Sunday Sabbaths on which they do | | | | sunrise and no later than one half-hour after legal |
| not hunt and allow no hunting on their lands. It is | | | | sunset. It is a good idea to find out just what |
| always best to respect these local traditions. In | | | | time legal sunrise and sunset are for the given |
| some locations, Sunday hunting is not only | | | | day of the hunt. This is particularly true for hunts |
| shunned but forbidden by local law in the form of | | | | on tightly regulated government lands. Terrain |
| ordinances. It doesn't make for good hunter | | | | differences allow sunlight to filter in later or earlier |
| relations with the public when a Sunday morning | | | | in some locations than others. Deep valleys have |
| church service is interrupted by gunfire on the | | | | later sunrises and earlier sunsets. The rising sun in |
| ridge behind the churchhouse. | | | | the east may be delayed by an hour or more by |
| DAWN TO DARK | | | | some topographical obstruction such as a hill, and |
| The majority of hunters like to be in position to | | | | the same may be true of the sunset. Overcast |
| hunt deer before daylight. Some anxious hunters | | | | days are slow lighting and quick darkening. |
| are so intent upon early light hunting that they | | | | In some popular hunting locations such as the |
| enter the woods at midnight and sit quietly until | | | | public hunting areas of state forests and military |
| dawn in hopes that they will be undetected by | | | | installations, especially those where hunters are |
| the deer moving into the area and be able to see | | | | monitored by check stations upon leaving for the |
| deer in the vicinity as soon as the sun comes up. | | | | hunt and departing, officials are equipped with a |
| This is, of course, going too far for most people, | | | | device which can determine almost the exact |
| but getting there early might put you right on top | | | | time that an animal was shot. The test is reputed |
| of deer when daylight comes. I am the type that | | | | to gauge the time of kill within 15 minutes with |
| likes the woods more than my urban life. It is no | | | | accuracy. When it is suspected that an animal was |
| problems for me to enter before dawn and exit | | | | shot before legal hunting time, this test can be |
| after dark. There is seldom a rush to get back | | | | administered and used in court as evidence. All |
| home. Daylight has found me perched in a tree | | | | game wardens are capable of applying this test. |
| with deer bedded beneath more than once. | | | | |