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Hunting prep work a big deal

The pandemic is playing havoc with all our lives and schedules and we who are outdoors persons are no exception.

Many of us have found relief by spending some time in the woods breathing fresh air and not having to worry much about face masks or distancing while in the woods. I take quite a few small jaunts to my favorite haunts just to look around and one afternoon, two wild turkeys strolled along in a field and finally crossed the road in front of my car. It was a small thing but I surely felt better just seeing them. But since the State Game Lands and other private lands will soon be open to not only hunters, but also hikers, photographers, berry pickers and peace-and-quiet lovers.

When hunting seasons start this fall, any one venturing into the outdoors for any reason are now required to display at least 350 square inches of fluorescent orange while doing it. Here’s what the Game Commission said about that new rule.

“The Board of Game Commissioners adopted amended regulations that require hikers and other non-hunters to wear at least 250 square inches of fluorescent-orange clothing on the head, chest and back combined, visible from 360 degrees, when visiting state game lands at any time during that period.Those using shooting ranges are exempted from the requirement.

This, of course, is for the hiker’s own safety. The chief cause of hunting accidents is the “hunter mistaken for game.”

August outdoors persons are looking forward to archery season now. Hay bales appear in backyards, camouflage clothes airing on clotheslines, the realization setting in that this season, archers will have a Sunday — Nov. 15 — on which to hunt.

Prime in every archer’s thinking now is “How do I locate that big buck to hunt with bow and arrow?” Some years ago I had the privilege of interviewing a hunter who had this process down to a science and had some great bucks to prove it.

Frank Lecorchick of Barnesboro does it almost yearly and in 1996, he bagged a recordbook-buck with a bow and arrow. He first saw the buck in August and employed certain techniques from then on that insured he’d have a chance at it in season. But, according to Lecorchick, there are some things that you have to do as soon as you spot that August buck.

“I first saw this buck one August night while I was spotlighting,” Lecorchick told me. “Immediately I switched my scouting from evening to morning and that is vital. Evenings he’s just milling around in the middle of a field with other deer, but I sneaked in at dawn many mornings to see just where he would enter the woods. That’s really important. Once you discover which end of the field he leaves from, you can get in there and almost find the very trails he uses. They lead to bedding areas and this is where I would start putting up a treestand in season.

“I do my watching from a distance. I use binoculars and a spotting scope because I don’t want to disturb the area. I thought I had him pegged for the 1994 season but I found I didn’t. Come season, I never saw him. I realized I needed to do some inseason scouting and I needed to branch out. I was not seeing any rubs that this big boy would have made, no tracks big enough to be him. I began to wonder if he was not perhaps coming from across the hard road, from a creek bottom I knew was there.

“I stopped archery hunting one morning and went over there just to scout. Sure enough, there were a couple big deer trails leading from the creek bottom to the field where I would see him at dawn. I headed deeper into the woods to look around and found some really big tracks on a deer trail.

“I’ll bet that’s him,” Lecorchick thought. “Then I found a couple huge rubs and I was convinced. I relocated my stand and a few mornings later he was mine.”

Just a couple of simple changes in routine based on early scouting can make a huge difference. But, you must be sure your scent does not drift to a big buck as you scout. And every day that you hunt that buck, check the wind direction and if it is not favorable to you, go elsewhere.

If you are not focused on any particular buck, but scouting at night or early morning, be sure your scent is not drifting toward the direction from which he usually comes into sight. Install your tree stand or ground blind a week or more before season begins.

I’ve been to several yard sales this summer and have found quite a few items for my own hunting trips. A great pair of boots, hunting socks and gloves, and a backpack are among the treasures I’ve found at nice low prices so far.

I always get a kick out of the remarks I get when I buy hunting stuff at a yard sale. ” I bet your husband will like these.” I simply answer “I don’t have a husband.” Often folks aren’t sure if they should ask who they are for because they are sure that this old lady standing in front of them is surely not buying hunting socks for herself. Since I began hunting in 1953, those questions have never changed.

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