Study a deer’s body language

Most people know this buck's body language. He's scent-trailing a doe.

Many years ago a book hit the market. It dealt with human body language. Some said that reading it would allow a man or woman to study the opposite sex's body language, and if everything clicked, good things could happen.

The study of body language is of benefit to certain people, and police are good at reading what a person is thinking when stopped for a traffic violation. Employers study the body language of a person being considered for a position with that firm.

Are they nervous, and is it caused by the interview or does it mean something else? People who refuse to look another in the eye seldom get the job because it's thought they are trying to hide something. A person who chatters often is very insecure.

Knowing how to read a deer's body language can mean increased success.

Body language plays another big role with people. Interviewers often stand while the person being interviewed sits, and this position provides greater leverage and an increased sense of superiority in the interviewer. However, the person being interviewed can figure this out pretty easily, and stand up to gain an equal or better leverage.

Sometimes knowing what the interviewer is trying to do, and beating them to the punch, can be an asset. It also can be detrimental in certain cases.

All of this having been said, it's been my practice for many years to study a deer's body language. Reading a deer can help hunters determine when to draw and shoot, and when to wait for a better chance. The clues are there in how the animall behaves.

A calmly feeding deer is at ease and is not suspicious. A deer that constantly looks around senses danger. A doe that stands with her head up, ears swiveling in all directions while sniffing the air, is on red alert. Young bucks follow the lead of a mature doe, and larger bucks often stay far enough behind the does to stay out of trouble.

Body language is easy to read. A doe moves slowly down a trail, and if she has been shot at or has detected human movement in a ground blind or tree stand, she will stop abruptly. Her and her fawns will lower their head, and snap it up to spot movement. if it is late October, and the rut is about to start, and she stops and checks out her back trail, it usually means a buck is trailing behind.

Little things can mean a lot when watching deer react to different stimuli.

Her body language tells you to sit still, don't move or make a sound. This assumes the hunter is downwind of the deer. If the deer can't smell you, and no noise or movement is heard or seen, it's likely the doe will get over her jitters and continue walking. Any buck will follow behind her. It means remaining silent and motionless.

A look from a buck toward another, a hesitation in a step, ears laid back, neck hairs that stand on end, a lowered head and antlers and a certain swaggering and threatening posture can tell hunters which animal is the boss buck of this crew.

Once the head goes down or turns with a hard gaze, smaller and subordinate bucks duck and move away. I've watched slow-thinking smaller bucks get antler tines stuck in their butt, and I've seen them still cowed, wary and limping 60 days later. Slow, dull-witted bucks often are physically injured by larger bucks, and some yearlings die. They learn quick from dominant bucks if they don't pay attention.

So, you ask, how can knowing a whitetail's body language help put venison in your freezer? It's relatively simple. Let's use the above examples.

A few examples of body language and what it means. There are others.

Once a doe decides there is no danger, and quits doing her head fakes, she moves on because she has detected no danger. The unseen buck that has been trailing her saw no movement, heard no sounds and couldn't smell any danger, so he walks down the deer trail past your stand and a quartering-away shot drops him.

A highly agitated deer will flick its tail back and forth while staring intently at a real or imagined threat. Often this tail movement precedes a sudden departure.

A quartet of whitetail bucks move along, and somewhat like young kids, they bump and jostle each other, act like their big brothers and get into mock antler-pushing contests. Hunters may not be interested in the year-and-a-half-old 4-pointers and 6-pointers, but has his eye on a big 8-point with a rack that extends past his ears.

Big bucks usually take casual interest in small bucks. They are more alert than naive basket racks, but if they pass close enough for a shot, and the buck stops, unless the hunter has made a big mistake, the buck may see another animal of comparable size. In every buck of any size, there exists the need to display their dominance. It is what leads to epic battles than can cause the death of another buck during the rut.

Watch that big buck's ears. If they are up and twisting right and left, he is listening to some distant and unheard sound. However, if his ears go back and the neck hairs rise, it usually means another big buck is nearby.

It now becomes a serious decision time. Shoot the buck within range or wait to see if an even larger buck is in the area. If it is the latter, the larger buck may approach for a closer shot or may turn and head the other way as he shags a doe.

The study of deer behavior is a continuous work in progress. It begins when fawns are little, and a doe never seems to lose their innate fear of everything. Studying that fear, and the cautiousness of a big buck or the easy-going attitude of young bucks, can help hunters find a chink in the armor of whitetail deer.

Know what the body language tells you, and use those weaknesses to your advantage. Sometimes killing a buck is nothing more than reading their body language, which in many cases, will tell hunters what they can expect next from the deer.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Fighting frostbite is not fun

Halfway between my beak and sideburns is a patch of frostbite.

What is frostbite, and how it can affect people. This old grey-beard was out today for three hours trying to dig out from last night's storm. The air temperature was 6 above, and a strong swirling west wind had my facial hair frozen solid.

Was I aware of it? Duh! Of course, every time I wiped my nose, it grated ice against my cheeks. But I'm all too aware of the danger of frostbite from previous experiences, and it's something the general outdoor media really doesn't cover very often.

My first bout with frostbite came many years ago. At the time my twin brother and I lived in Clio, our old hometown, and every Friday night we would go to the Frankenmuth Conservation Club and shoot skeet and trap.

This particular evening was about 10 above zero with a 20 miles-per-hour breeze. We had a new guy shooting with us, and he was slow and very deliberate. I never could shoot well with gloves on, and held my shotgun in my left hand, waiting my turn. It was taking twice as long to shoot a round as normal, and by the time everyone had fired 25 shots, the fingers on my left hand felt oddly numb.

What’s wrong with my hand?

My shotgun was cased, and we walked to the clubhouse. George said: "What's wrong with your left hand?"

I looked down and the fingers were white and looked as if they had been dusted with powdered sugar. I couldn't bend them, and went into the bathroom to run some warm (not hot) water on them.

It took about five minutes for the fingers to start thawing, and that is when the pain kicked in. The pain was enough to bring tears to my eyes, and I softly dried them off, stuck my left hand under my right armpit and said we had to leave.

Some skin was lost off my fingers but I didn't lose any digits. Two or three years later, while running fox with hounds. I got my right hand wet, and one of my fingers developed frostbite.

Again, some skin peeling but no permanent loss providing you don't count very tender pinkies. If my fingers get cold, they hurt, and this is a lingering result of frostbite earlier in life.

Winter ice fishing is a great deal of fun but wet hands can lead to frostbite.

One might think me a bit foolish to have suffered two bouts of frostbitten fingers, and I'd agree. Even more troubling was getting caught out in a blizzard of 1978, burying my vehicle in a four-foot drift and having to walk over two miles home into a stout north wind wasn’t fun.

That trip involved walking into the teeth of a 40-knot wind without any protection for my beak. Now, my nose isn't small and dainty. It rides on the leading edge of my face like a miniature ski slope. The thing sticks out quite a bit, and is subject to a skin-peeling wind and cold temperatures.

By the time I made it home, the end of it was slightly frosted. A warm washcloth helped, but as it thawed out, it felt like a mad dog was trying to eat it off my face. Again, some skin peeled off, and it too is very sensitive to the cold.

In the early 1980s, I was riding on a snowmobile with another guy after ice fishing, and we had several miles to go to get back to my vehicle in sub-zero temperatures. I had a warm snowmobite suit, good boots and mittens, but no protection for my face as I clung to the back of a snowmobile going 50 mph down the frozen lake.

It seemed the coldest and longest snowmobile ride of my life.

My cheek seemed to burn, and I held one hand up to block the wind from hitting it directly, and that caused me to nearly fall off the bouncing sled. I tucked my head into the sled owner's back, held on with both hands, and we eventually arrived at the car.

One of my friends spotted my right cheek, ran for his camera, and began shooting pictures. I knew I was a popular guy but when several others showed up to shoot close-ups of my face, I asked the question.

"What's going on?"

"Your right cheek is frostbitten," one of them said. "Hold still and quit moving around, and we'll be done in a few minutes."

The minutes slowly passed, and finally I dug out my cameras amidst all of their howls for me to stand still, and I told one of the guys to shoot several photos. He did, and finally I could get inside out of the cold.

Four times in my life I've had some part of my body frostbitten, and suffered through the thawing-out process. It hurts, and now my hands and face are sensitive to the cold, but I take more precautions.

Anglers, hunters and anyone else who spends time outdoors, especially in brutally cold temperatures, run the risk of frostbite. It's not fun, and needn't happen if the sportsman is properly prepared.

Take this advice from a frostbite pro: cover all exposed skin to avoid problems.

The photo above shows me with frostbite on my cheek. This was a minor case, but another 15 minutes on that sled without facial protection may have disfigured my face. There isn't anything cute about my face, but I've decided that having part of it fall off once the skin and flesh dies, is not my idea of a good time.

Play it safe and cover up in the cold and when strong cold winds blow. It's incredible just how fast fresh can freeze under bad conditions, and the thawing out process is not a walk in the park.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors