Deer Hunting

Deer hunting offers a fantastic irony. Many sportsmen relatively new to what the British call “blood sports” are unaware of the conservation miracles which have made their outdoor recreation possible.

This is nowhere more apparent than with the herds that tramp the country. There are more whitetail now than any time in our history.

What marks Illinois’ herd as special is not its recovery. That story has been repeated in state after state; many of whom have gone on to restoring other ruminants as well. Michigan and Kentucky, of instance, are among the states that now also offer fair-chase elk hunting where none existed even 20 years ago. No, what makes Prairie State deer hunting special is the size of the individual animals. Thanks to growing conditions and genetics, Illinois deer grow big. A typical yearling buck in the central counties, for instance, weighs in at 150 pounds---the same as a mature three-year-old in most herds. So it’s understandable why serious deer hunters dream about making a trip to Illinois.

There are a lot of would-be Nimrods around to dream of such hunts. According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 10.7 million adults spend their outdoor sports time deer hunting as well as elk hunting moose hunting and stalking other big game. Note the use of the word “adult.” F&WS figures are based on license sales, and, thus, do not include hunters under the age of 16.

Cumulatively, those who pursue deer represent five sixths of the total hunting population. They make 185 million deer hunting trips a year (making that Illinois dream hunt a distinct possibility), and spend $22.9-billion dollars on their outdoor sport.

More than numbers have changed since deer restoration efforts took off in earnest. The methods we use have flip-flopped 180 degrees, we have arms and equipment undreamed of in the past, and what we know about deer has expanded exponentially, and influenced how we hunt them.

When I grew up, deer hunting was very different. Although a few places, primarily in the South, allowed coursing deer with dogs, easily 99% of the harvest was taken by still-hunting. Taking a stand, by and large, meant spending some time sitting on a convenient stump overlooking a game trail. But mostly you moved through the woods, as slowly as possible, checking every bit of cover. And you carried a rifle---most likely the venerable .30-30.

Today it’s the opposite. It’s likely that 95% of whitetail deer are harvested from deer stands---with bows, cross-bows, handguns and muzzleloaders at least as popular choices as rifles.

As a result of the increased interest in deer hunting as outdoor recreation, the arms, themselves, have improved. Fifty years ago there were a handful of bowhunters, using traditional longbows and recurves. Today there are millions of archers, using gee-whiz, state-of-the-art cam bows, arrows made of space-age materials, and sophisticated sights and other accessories. Ironically, the fastest growing segment of bowhunting is composed of those outdoor enthusiasts who have opted to take a giant step backwards to hunt with traditional sticks & strings bows and wooden arrows.

As we learned more about the deer’s life habits, our equipment changed to keep up. Once thought to be mute, we learned that deer are actually quite vocal, communicating with at least seven different sounds. So we use grunt and bleet calls to attract them. We learned that the sound of male deer dueling for supremacy was, itself, attractive to them. So we use rattling horns to simulate that condition. We learned how sensitive deer can be to smells, so we use estrus lures to attract them, and other scents to mask our own odor.

“Deer,” actually encompasses a group of animals. For most of the population, “deer” and “whitetail” are synonyms. This is understandable, given the whitetails restoration to all its traditional habitat and expansion into other regions. For Westerners, “deer” mostly means mule deer, and its subspecies, the blacktail.

There are others as well. On Maryland’s Eastern Shore and some of its islands, there is a thriving herd of sika deer. Native to the Far East, they were escapees from a private hunting club more than a century ago. Small herds of fallow and axis deer can also be found, resulting from similar situations.

And let’s not forget our big deer. Elk, thought of primarily as a western animal, were actually native to the eastern woods as well, and there are several restoration projects going on. Moose have made a come-back as well, and are avidly pursued in the north country and Canada. Also in the north are vast herds of caribou.

Add in the deer-like animals, such as pronghorn, wild sheep and goats, which are often hunted using the same gear and techniques, and it’s no wonder so many of us are deer hunters.