A deer hunt is about more than just venison

By Luke Clayton

It’s deer season. Bowhunters have been in the woods for a few weeks and many ranches with working land permits allow hunting with all legal weapons. Acorns litter the ground and the leaves of sweetgum, elm and hickory are just beginning to change color.

This is my 63rd year of deer hunting. Due to obligations to Uncle Sam and family matters, I only missed a few years. Looking back, that’s a very long time to do anything. I will be 75 in a few months and am blessed with good health. I can still drag a buck back to where I can load him onto a truck and climb a log, although much more slowly and carefully than before. I still bowhunt, but downsized the 70-pound bow to 55 pounds years ago. Thanks to modern technology, the bow I shoot today with this lighter draw weight is faster than some of the 70-pounders I hunted with years ago.

If you’re younger than your mid-30s, you’ll probably scroll through this column and dismiss it as the ramblings of an old hunter, but if you’ve spent a lot of time in the fall woods hunting deer, you can probably relate. As a hunter in my teens and 20s, deer hunting was all about catching a deer and taking down a big buck. Oh, I wish I could take some of those hunts from back in the day. I would certainly slow down and as the saying goes, “Take time to smell the roses.”

Don’t get me wrong; I still hunt just as hard and probably a lot smarter than I did 50 years ago. My goal is to put two or three deer in the freezer each year, but these days being in the fall woods is just as important as antlers for the wall or meat in the freezer.

The camaraderie with family and friends is a big part of deer hunting and deer camping. Sitting around a campfire in front of a cozy cabin on a crisp fall evening and telling stories about deer hunts from long ago and the big buck that “Ole Joe” missed on opening day is far better than watching or even watching the evening news on television That open-air show where the hunter seems to pocket a huge dollar in every episode.

And there are the sights and sounds of the woods that may or may not include the sighting or harvest of a buck. How about the giant orb weaver spider’s web, glowing silver with dew, that you almost walked into on the way back from your morning hunt? There is hardly a sight in nature that is so impressive. How long did it take this little spider to create such a perfect geometric structure?

Have you taken the time to stop and look at the dazzling colors of the dragonfly perched on the top strand of the barbed wire fence you just crossed? This little beetle’s life quickly ended with the cool weather, but its colors would put a rainbow to shame.

How about the color of the leaves adorning a stand of hickory trees on a distant ridge late one afternoon, gleaming in the light of the day’s last rays of sunlight? Have you stopped for a minute to take in the beauty? I know that in my younger years I never took the time to be a hunter. Oh, I’m sure my eyes took in these sights, but I seriously doubt I stopped to recognize or fully appreciate the beauty of nature that was gifted to me.

How about the smell of wood smoke on a crisp fall day or the pot of steaming coffee bubbling on the camp stove? Or the smell of a big breakfast of fried eggs, bacon and potatoes? Who could start their morning hunt without first fortifying themselves with a hearty breakfast?

What if you had ever listened to a gray (cat) squirrel making those quiet meowing noises in the late afternoon, just before the end of legal shooting light, much like a domestic cat waiting for a large saucer of milk? How many times have I heard a distant coyote open up with its mournful howl just as the sun was setting, only to be answered by others of its kind from distant parts of the forest. Do these notes sound in an effort to gather into a pack, or do they simply alert others to the section of forest they will be hunting?

Owls have the ability to telegraph their location through the forest. I usually hear one noise, then another, and another. I have often wondered how far into the evening forests these night-hunting birds say “good evening” to each other. Or are they actually communicating with each other? Do they all only start hooting when the sun goes down? There are a lot of things about deer hunting and spending time in the woods that I kind of take for granted without asking why, but the older I get, the more I wonder about such things.

After a successful hunt, is there anything tastier than freshly roasted game in camp? Most deer hunters know that venison is best when it’s been cured for a few days, but tell that to a group of hungry hunters in camp after someone has taken the time to carve a few delicious deer steaks, season them with salt, pepper and garlic to season and dust. Dredge in flour and add some hot fat in a cast iron skillet over a bed of glowing hardwood coals. This and a pot of cream sauce with a pot of rice on the side are the ingredients that go into making unforgettable deer camp meals.

We deer hunters have once again made it to the time of year that is most important to us. With the opening of rifle season in a few weeks, campfires will shine brightly across this great state, from the Pineywoods to the Panhandle. We hope this time-honored tradition continues forever. I fully intend to be there for as long as possible and share my passion for wilderness life.

I better wrap up this week’s column now; It’s time to check the scope on my old deer rifle and make plans for my first rifle hunt of the season with my friends in Kaufman County. In a week or two the bucks should be rattling their horns. The sight of a mature buck slipping through the woods in hopes of sneaking in and escaping with the doe the two bucks are fighting over is quite special.

An old hunter once told me around the campfire, “If you have adrenaline in your body, a buck bumping his horns will get him going.”

Email outdoor writer Luke Clayton via his website, www.catfishradio.org.