DON'T Educate the Deer By John Kasun Deer today have an advanced degree in evading hunters. I KILLED my first buck with a bow in 1956. Archery season was one week - bucks only. Typical bowhunting gear back then was a recurve or stick bow without sights and shot with fingers. Wooden arrows were tipped with steel broadheads that were difficult to sharpen. At that time, my father and I were among the few bowhunters in the woods. A lot has changed since then. The number of bowhunters has exploded. Today's equipment is high-tech. And the deer are a lot smarter. In those early days, hunting pressure was only a FEBRUARY 2016 -DIGITAL-ONLY CONTENT fraction of what we have today and it was normally concentrated in the short two-week rifle season. However, increased hunting pressure and longer seasons have had a dramatic impact on the deer. Although it took years, today we face a well-educated deer population that definitely adds to the challenges bowhunters face. For example, when bowhunters first started to hunt out of trees, deer never looked up; they had no natural predators that struck from above. Today, it is a different story. Deer often notice hunters in trees. And while it is not a