Bad Boy Buggies, Mules, Ranchers...all great, helpful tools that make deer hunting so much easier, in many cases, than it would be otherwise. However, based upon some observations made this year while hunting, over-reliance on these tools can also have a cost: they can cost you your hunt.
Our land is situated where we can see some awesome wheat fields that usually, all things being equal, are loaded with deer every morning and every evening. It is amazing to me that the hunters that neighbor us and have excellent stand sites on the edge of the wheat, consistently run every deer out of that location every morning by driving their Bad Boy Buggy to the stand. Not to mention the 30 minutes they spend parked at the end of the field with lights on, clanging metal and unloading the buggy. I think to myself, what a waste of time. During what would be a very quiet and uneventful 30 minute walk to their stands, they spend 10 minutes on the buggy running every deer off the wheat over into our lease in the process.
Sitting in our stands we have witnessed the event time after time after time after time. So many times that now the deer immediately begin fleeing the wheat as soon as the "neighbors" pull their trucks into the gate at the end of the field.
Not that I am complaining, but I just find it comical that they probably go home every morning and say, "Well, went hunting and didn't see a thing." During three days of morning hunts this year, I am sure they both went away saying just that while our group tagged three nice bucks and an awesome mature doe. Some of which were run to us by the buggy boys.
I wonder sometimes what lessons we may learn if we could watch ourselves from afar as we approach our stands in the morning. Secondly the walk to the stand I find to be magical, it is usually during a wonderful time of the morning when there is an ultimate stillness in the air and the world seems at peace. It is similar to the feeling of having a nice cup of coffee after the duck decoys have been spread and waiting for shooting light. These times make me feel at one with nature, makes me feel like I am really listening both to the world and myself. Maybe I should run too, if I ever consider breaching the peace of that time to save a few minutes by riding into the stand.
To answer my original question, "Motorin, what's the price for flight?" The price is the difference between connecting with our quarry and not seeing a bleeping thing.
Our land is situated where we can see some awesome wheat fields that usually, all things being equal, are loaded with deer every morning and every evening. It is amazing to me that the hunters that neighbor us and have excellent stand sites on the edge of the wheat, consistently run every deer out of that location every morning by driving their Bad Boy Buggy to the stand. Not to mention the 30 minutes they spend parked at the end of the field with lights on, clanging metal and unloading the buggy. I think to myself, what a waste of time. During what would be a very quiet and uneventful 30 minute walk to their stands, they spend 10 minutes on the buggy running every deer off the wheat over into our lease in the process.
Sitting in our stands we have witnessed the event time after time after time after time. So many times that now the deer immediately begin fleeing the wheat as soon as the "neighbors" pull their trucks into the gate at the end of the field.
Not that I am complaining, but I just find it comical that they probably go home every morning and say, "Well, went hunting and didn't see a thing." During three days of morning hunts this year, I am sure they both went away saying just that while our group tagged three nice bucks and an awesome mature doe. Some of which were run to us by the buggy boys.
I wonder sometimes what lessons we may learn if we could watch ourselves from afar as we approach our stands in the morning. Secondly the walk to the stand I find to be magical, it is usually during a wonderful time of the morning when there is an ultimate stillness in the air and the world seems at peace. It is similar to the feeling of having a nice cup of coffee after the duck decoys have been spread and waiting for shooting light. These times make me feel at one with nature, makes me feel like I am really listening both to the world and myself. Maybe I should run too, if I ever consider breaching the peace of that time to save a few minutes by riding into the stand.
To answer my original question, "Motorin, what's the price for flight?" The price is the difference between connecting with our quarry and not seeing a bleeping thing.
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