Deer Season: The Wait is Over

By Chris Erwin

For anyone who has become infected with that dreaded affliction “Buck Fever,” your wait is over. You can go back in the woods and try your best to cure your condition. “Buck Fever” is a condition that over takes you at the point of pulling the trigger or releasing your arrow at that big buck. The rush that floods your system over takes sound judgment, and some people have been known to be looking at that big buck and shoot the rack right off their head.

I was one of those people when I first started deer hunting. I’m old enough to remember when seeing a deer in Kentucky was as rare as seeing a pelican in church. I had rabbit dogs that went years without getting on a deer track.

A few months ago during the birthing season for deer, the population in the city has grown so much that the big cats started showing up. Bobcats and mountain lions were both reported on the prowl right in the city. Mauled and half-eaten fawns were witnessed and photographed. However, you may find that even with the ever-expanding population of city deer walking the yards and streets of Ashland, once you head out of the city and into hunt-able areas the deer are not so accommodating.

New gear for hunting deer has grown just about as fast as the deer population. Today you can buy laundry soaps that kill your scent. Doe in heat scents to fool the deer into thinking you’re on the make, just waiting for the love-struck deer to come bungling into your sites. We have deer calls and grunt calls, horns to rattle, special grass to plant. The list of products you can buy to help ensure your success is endless.

When I worked for National Mine Service Company, I worked with a guy by the name of Ed Nichols. He would always make a trip along with some of the other guys who worked at the plant to Canaan Valley, W.Va. each year during bow season. One year after returning to work, I noticed that Ed was scratched everywhere. I quizzed him to what happen on his hunting trip.

I thought he might have fallen out of his tree stand. Before Ed could answer, some of his hunting partners had to jump in to tell me what happened. Ed was hunting in the middle of a stand of saw briers that circled a pretty big spot.

Ed saw a lot of deer signs all the way around this stand of briers, so he crawled into the middle of them where there was an open place in the middle.

He dumped a whole bottle of deer in heat scent all over him, and then got up on a downed tree where he could see over the briers. Before long, a big buck was circling the patch. The deer was so excited he was standing on his hind legs trying to see over the briers.

Ed started slinging arrows at the deer but missed every shot. The next thing Ed knew, the deer jumped the briers and was heading right for him! He was so startled by the deer coming after him that he tried to jump through the saw-briers to get away from the deer. According to Ed’s hunting partners, he tore off part of his clothes fighting his way through the briers, which scratched him from head to toe.

Good Luck this season and stay safe!