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You’re gonna kill Bambi?!?!

You’re going to kill a defenseless animal?

 The title of this blog is what I reply to all the time when people find out I am a deer hunter. So I did some research, 1st I looked up the word defenseless here is what it said “capability of not resisting attack.” If this is true that a deer is defenseless why don’t I have a deer on opening days of gun and archery season every season? Why do we as hunters spend all that money on scent control, camouflage, fast bows, accurate guns and go in a tree so high up it will give squirrels nose bleed? The answer is God gave defenses to these animals to survive the human hunter, which we are one of the easiest to fool to the more experienced like the coyote, wolf, and cougar.

Deer Sight:A deer’s eyes are located on the side of their head, which has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is, deer are able to view 310 degrees around itself. This wide view allows the deer to be totally aware of the surroundings, even when it is staring straight ahead. Deer also see at a lower resolution than humans, and are believed to be color blind. Deer are nocturnal animals. Nocturnal means that deer can see at night, which is one of the reasons they are more active at night. Deer have more light-detecting cells in their eyes than humans, which aids their nocturnal vision. Like other nocturnal animals, their eyes shine when exposed to light at night. This is due to a reflection off a special membrane in their eye. It is believed that deer can also see in the ultraviolet light range, which is abundant during the earlier morning and late afternoon. This ability to see better, in early morning and late afternoon, helps to explain why deer are more active during these time periods. These time periods are illegal times to hunt for humans, the other predators don’t have laws and when they (coyotes, bears, wolves) don’t really care if when they chew on a live animal hind quarters that it causes pain and suffering. We as hunters try to harvest the animal as quick as possible.

Deer Hearing: A deer’s hearing, being far superior to that of a human, can easily detect a faint sound. It is believed that a deer’s hearing is so sensitive that it can determine how far away a sound was made. A deer’s hearing is one of the reasons that it is so difficult to sneak up on it without being detected. The ears of a deer are vital in helping it avoid danger. When a deer hears a sound it will instantly turn its head and point its ears in the direction of the sound. The deer will focus all of its attention on smelling, looking and listening for any more signs of danger. If the deer doesn’t smell, see or hear any danger, after checking the area several times, it will usually go back to its normal routine. This is why we need to be quiet as a church mouse.

Deer Smell: Deer have a highly developed sense of smell, it is one of their best weapons for detecting approaching danger. The moist nose of a deer, similar to that of a dog, allows the deer to pick up the faintest of odors. The odor particles, drifting by on the breeze, stick to the moisture on the deer’s nose and are then drawn into the olfactory organs. A deer can detect the odor of approaching danger several hundred yards away and can smell 100 times better than ours. This is why you should always try to hunt with the breeze in your face, buy all of the Dead Down Wind Products and use Scent Lok Clothing. So as you can see, I don’t shoot a defenseless animal, I am at the disadvantage here, deer are a Defensive Dynamo!

 If I am fortunate enough to just encounter a deer I feel I have won. When I harvest one to feed me, my family and friends and doing my part in the circle of life that is when I feel truly blessed.