A chilling thought on a hot summer day

Not enough snow to prohibit deer travel … yet
photo courtesy Dave Richey Outdoors ©2012

We've all grown up with the adult advice that too much of
anything is never good for you. The primary examples used when I was a young man included such things as alcoholic beverages, tobacco and chasing wild women.

Most people realize that eating too much sweets, too many steaks or too much fried foods isn't good for a person. Too much Thanksgiving turkey bloats a person and makes us drowsy.

This "too-much" attitude can apply to many things about deer hunting as well. Too much east wind, too many trips to the same stand, too many does in the herd ... all of these things can be bad.

A chilling summer thought

Even though it is 80 degrees in early August, my thought processes are never far from deer. This leads me to wonder about snow. Can too much snow be a bad for hunters and for deer? The answer is a qualified "yes."

Let's take a look at the problem. Some parts of the state last winter were knee-deep in snow. What exactly are some of the problems associated with too much snow for hunters.

• The obvious thing is that too much snow can have a limiting effect on how deer travel. The more snow, the less the animals move out to feed. The less feeding that takes place means that deer are not as visible, and that isn't good.
  
• Another problem with too much snow is it becomes more difficult for hunters to get around, and the result is many sportsmen stop going out. They dread the idea of hiking a half-mile through deep snow, and running the risk of a heart attack.
  
• We all know that snow makes things slippery, and it's very easy for a boot to slide off a tree stand step or the ladder of a ladder stand. Snow blows, can obscure moving deer, and many hunters do not care to be out in the really nasty weather.
  

Too much snow causes problems for deer as well; Such as

• The deeper the snow, the less deer will move to feed. The deeper the snow, the more difficult it becomes for young deer to get around and to find food. Prolonged bouts of snowy weather and cold temperatures can lead to winter die-off or increased predation.
  
• Deer spend most of their time in heavy cover, and snow can obscure the view of a deer moving through thick underbrush. Those deer that do move may pay an inordinate amount of attention to a hunting blind. They may still hang back in a thicket and not move until after dark.
  
• It's difficult to tell a buck from a doe in swirling snow. They same thing applies to foggy weather. A friend of mine shot two bucks last year by accident. They looked like does, which is what he was hunting, and he glassed the deer with binoculars, and then switched to a scope. He studied their heads and could not see antlers, but when he walked up to both animals, each was a nice buck. Their antlers were made invisible by fog hanging four feet off the ground.

Swirling snow can lead to taking a bad shot

One could make the argument that he shouldn't have shot. However, long periods of studying both animals with binoculars and a high-powered scope failed to reveal antlers. He still wishes he hadn't shot.

So here we are, just barely into August, and each day brings us closer to the hunt and the inevitable snow that follows.

A friend of mine from the Traverse City area had 20 inches of snow one day last year, four inches the next and the next, four inches again and about six inches the next day. If anyone is counting that is 34 inches several day, and it continued to pile up.

Many don't seem to be aware of it, but two years ago we got 165 inches of snow that winter and about 120 inches last winter. Who knows what the weather will bring in several more month.

Granted, deer can head for the conifers where there is some thermal cover, but the combination of cold temperatures and increasingly deep snow, can place some young deer and mature breeding bucks in serious trouble early in the winter.

That, in a very bad winter, can become a death sentence for deer. And that is a chilling thought on a hot summer day.

Doggin’ the fox

Brother George with a nice red fox he shot while doggin’ the tracks.

Many years ago there were far more red foxes than coyotes, and one of the things almost every winter day was to cut a fresh red fox track, and take off cross-country on foot along the straight-as-a-string trail.

Once I was driving to brother George's house, and spotted a fresh track that crossed the road a quarter-mile from his place. I stopped, got out of the car, and studied it. The track was smoking hot.

George and I put our heads together, and he felt the fox would probably skirt behind the barn, head off across the open field, hunt those fields for mice, and then settle down for a nap atop a clump of uprooted trees a half-mile from his house.

Two people working together is always a good plan.

We took turns dogging the tracks, and it was his turn. I'd lag behind, check ahead through binoculars, and try to make certain we didn't accidentally bump the critter. We headed out on the hot track, and the fox did cut behind the barn, moved down a hill, and crossed the field.

I glassed the track from cover, and lost them near a patch of sumac this side of a fence row 300 yards away, and on the other side of the fence was the tree-tops that would provide a sunny hiding place for a napping fox.

We eased through the field, spotted several areas where the fox had tried for a mouse, but the tracks stay straight until it came to a small knoll, and we bellied up to the edge of the knoll. More fox stalks are blown when people rush to see what is on the other side, and blunder into the fox. Once spooked, the animal will run for a long distance.

My head just eased over the top, and I glassed everything within view. The fox was nowhere to be seen, but its tracks cut through the field, into a cluster of sumac bushes near the hill-top, and we couldn't see the tracks past there.

We huddled, and whispered back and forth, and felt if the fox wasn't in the sumac, which we didn't believe possible, we'd have a reasonably clear look at the tree-tops. Perhaps the fox was already sunning himself.

I studied the sumac until my eyes were watering, and couldn't see tracks coming out. We had to keep going while we were fairly close to the animal. Stalling now could ruin the hunt.

We crossed the open field and approached the sumacs with caution. We could then see the fox tracks heading toward the fence line and the nasty mass of tree-tops scattered about like jackstraws.

Be ready to move but make sure the fox isn’t in sight before moving.

"I can see his tracks down to the fence," George whispered. "Check the tree-tops, and see if you can spot him. We'll stick out like two sore thumbs while crossing the field to the fence row."

Long minutes were spent glassing the tree-tops before I spotted the reddish-russet color of the bedded fox. He was facing away, directly into the wind, and we formulated plans. I would give George hand signals, and a palm raised upright meant for him to stop.

He watched a minute or two longer, saw the fox raise his head and check his back trail. We waited until he checked his back trail the second time, and we had five minutes. As soon as his head went down, George stayed low and ran for the fence only 40 yards from the fox.

He eased into place just as the fox's head came up to look around, and when it went down, I moved out. We met at the fence, and George pointed to a hole in the fence that would put him only 25 yards from the fox but he couldn't make a sound getting into position.

The fox looked around again, and when his head went down, George crawled to the hole, and snaked through. He had to depend on me now to tell him when the fox raised his head again.

Don’t shoot until the animal presents a clear shot.

Two minutes later the fox raised his head, and I made one small hand movement to George. He raised his 12 gauge 3-inch magnum, started to aim and the fox stood up when it caught the movement, and with one shot this fox hunt was over.

Stalking fox is no different than stalking bedded coyotes. Work into the wind, check closely before making a move, and when the stalk leads to a close shot, make it count. It's an exciting way to spend part of a mid-winter day, especially this time of year when foxes and coyotes are in the mating season, but not with each other.

The two species are deadly enemies, and a coyote will kill every fox they can catch. One rule hunters can count on: if fox are abundant, there aren't many coyotes around. However, if coyotes are thick, very few fox exist in the area.

Are you reading for the challenge of dogging a fox track to the animal's resting place. There's little margin for error.

Drove around square-mile sections until you find a coyote or fox track. Check the other roads to make certain the animal didn't cross out, and if it is still within the section, take up the track if you have permission to hunt someone else's land.

Move slowly with all possible haste, check ahead for the animal, don't move until the coast is clear, and always stay downwind if possible. It a great way to spend a snowy winter afternoon.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors