Pennsylvania Game News - February 2010 - 51

TREESTANDS are excellent places from which to shoot deer, but if whitetails are not moving through your hunting area during daylight hours, you should recognize that and do something about it, such as still-hunt. Deer are prey animals and their coloration has developed through the eons primarily to hide them from predators that are sharper eyed than people. It’s no wonder that we “citified” humans, who have limited time to hunt, can’t spot whitetails against the background they live in. Although we see in color, the tan of a deer’s coat is difficult to distinguish among the similar browns and grays of the late fall and winter woods. I’ve always prided myself on my ability to distinguish small variations of hues and tones — even though this is a given, not a developed skill — and this helps some. I’ve added to that a trial-anderror knowledge of the effect of light on a deer’s sleek coat as opposed to the dull roughness of surrounding tree bark and stone. I also look for the texture of deer hair compared to that of other woods objects. A tried-and-true trick for spotting deer in a forest scene is to watch for the “unnatural” horizontal line that the animal’s back presents, especially when it’s standing broadside to the observer. A brown “box” or lengthwise rectangle deserves a hunter’s second look, as it may be the blocky torso of a whitetail. The dark back to light belly coloration of a deer can make it appear two dimensional, adding to the challenge of seeing it even when it’s right in front of you. Some parts of a deer’s body don’t blend in. I can’t count the number of times I’ve caught the quick flash of white that, with continued watching in that direction, revealed itself as part of a deer. A whitetail’s ear flicks and shows the white hairs within. The white tail is raised in alarm, the white rump hairs flared. Or I see the white rim around the black eyes and muzzle, or notice the white throat patch when the deer FEBRUARY 2010 Bob Steiner lifts its head to sniff the air for my scent. The inside of a deer’s upper legs are also light colored, and sometimes that movement can be seen against a darker background. Not all deer display the same amount of white markings, though, and all have the ability when alerted to clamp down their tail and rump hairs and show little white from the rear. A snow cover during hunting season helps us hunters see more deer, but only up to a point. A sunny day after a snow is ideal, but when the day is overcast, things seen against the white background can appear as flat, dark silhouettes, without texture. Shapes are important to recognize then. Hunters should get to know what a deer, or parts of a deer, look like from various angles. Binoculars help in this. They are a critical component of my deer hunting gear, necessary in addition to my rifle scope. Binoculars let me get closer to “odd” objects that draw my attention or the place where I thought I saw motion, without moving and giving myself away to the game. I think that seeing more deer requires a hunter to be adaptable and to develop an educated — and sometimes aided — eye.

Pennsylvania Game News - February 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - February 2010