Pennsylvania Game News - June 2012 - 51

bagged or, as in my case, the turkey at last rests still at our feet. Perhaps it’s my experience as an archery hunter that influences my normal choice of what to do when game sees me. Bowhunting by its nature has us interacting with game at close range, where we’re more likely to be detected by the sharp eyes, ears and nose of wildlife. Bow shots connect best when game is unaware of us, calm and not on edge to bolt. Many times by being patient, remaining still and not drawing my bow until the deer looked away, turned away or at least walked behind a tree that obscured my movement, I got the shot. If that wasn’t possible, I drew slowly and deliberately and released the arrow while the deer stood and stared. I’m convinced that in those cases the deer saw me, but had not identified me as something it should run from. That last strategy got me one of my riflekilled does last year. I was walking parallel to a hilltop hayfield inside the woods edge, headed for the point I’d descend and work my way back up along the creek. Two hunting companions were also in the area, one below me and one in the next hollow, moving toward the point. We thought we might pinch some deer between us. I had almost reached the point when several deer jumped up on the other side of a huge, fallen treetop. Some split away and ran down over the hill, but I had the impression that not all were gone. Then I

saw her, just the head and about half the neck peering at me over one of the limbs of the deadfall. I’d been seen. What do I do now? Once again I had to make a choice. This time I was standing upright in wide-open woods, with a rifle in my hands. I knew that if I tried to kneel to shoot, the deer would see my movement, and with the change of angle I would lose sight of her. She was close, about 30 or 40 yards, so I decided to take an offhand neck-shot. Slowly I moved my left arm into the rifle sling, for extra shooting stability, and brought the .30-06 into aiming position. Through the scope, the doe’s head and neck were magnified as she stared unblinking. Applying pressure against the sling with my crooked left arm, I steadied the gun. I put the crosshairs in the middle of the deer’s neck as far down toward the upper tree limb as I could, so I had the widest possible target. At the shot she fell; through the scope I watched her collapse. In many hunting scenarios being spotted by game results in the hunter going home empty-handed, but it doesn’t have to always be that way. What you do once you’ve been seen depends on each situation. You can move fast and get the shot, move slowly and get the shot or wait for the situation to change for the better. Sometimes that wait is for another opportunity another day, and that’s certainly okay, too. 

Cover Painting by Dwight KirKlanD
THE PEREGRINE, also known as the duck hawk is not a hawk at all but rather a member of the falcon family. The falcon family is characterized by bulletlike heads, short necks, relatively short tails and long pointed wings. The peregrine is 15 to 20 inches long with a wingspan of 43 to 46 inches. It is dark blue or slate color above and white to pink on the breast with blackishbrown cross barring. The top of its head and its cheeks are black, contrasting with the white on its throat. It also features a black “moustache.” Seemingly headed toward extinction in the mid-20th century, peregrine falcons have been successfully reintroduced at several Pennsylvania sites. They do a good job of controlling pigeon populations in the state’s big cities.
JUNE 2012 51

Pennsylvania Game News - June 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - June 2012