Reading Deer By Joe Kosack Associate Editor D EER are tough to figure out. It doesn’t matter how much sign is around. Whether there’s a full moon, or if there are white oak acorns littering the forest floor at one of your favorite whitetail retreats. Every hunting day before you head out, you still have to take a calculated guess on where deer will be. Yep, a guess! Unless you’re using telemetry to track deer, it’s pretty hard to know where they’ll be when you’re afield, unless you’re hunting funnels in suburbia or farm country. So when you do see deer closing in on your stand, the last thing you want to do is tip them off or rush your shot. Knowing how to read deer can help you with that. It provides that insider information you need to finish almost any hunt. Reading deer is a product of years 26 of hunting and woods experience. It comes from having close encounters and interactions with whitetails and countless hours of watching them. It’s a skill that makes most hunters better and almost every deer more vulnerable. But there are no absolutes here: both hunters and deer are prone to err. The best approach for hunters is to get to their stands quietly and to sit on stand undetected and downwind in a location where there is fresh deer activity. If you’re working a new area, just pick the most agreeable spot that will keep you within your effective shooting range of the activity area. Stand location adjustments can be made in subsequent hunts if you picked wrong. The idea is to be close and increase your chances for success. Remember, it’s almost always a better show from GAME NEWS