Arkansas Sportsman

Opening of gun season has hits, misses, near misses

Deer will move regardless of the weather.

The question is when.

Opening week of modern gun deer season greeted Arkansas with radically unseasonable weather. Morning temperatures were cool, but they climbed into the 80s in some places by midday. Only pride and tradition kept us from hunting in shorts and sleeveless T-shirts.

Opening day, Nov. 12, was an exception. I hunted in central Arkansas, where a blistering north wind sliced through my clothes and made me feel like it was in the 20s. No deer moved near me that morning, which made it seem even colder.

After brunch, I took a long, refreshing nap in my Little Guy teardrop camper, which is so small and portable that I can take it anywhere.

I returned to my stand about 3 p.m., by which time the wind had abated. The soft autumn sun drenched the field with rich golden light, which I scanned every few minutes through my binoculars. I spent the intervals playing iPhone Sudoku. Expert level only for me, thank you. You're allowed three mistakes per game. However, I discovered to my dismay that scores are largely rewarded for speed. You get higher scores by solving a puzzle quickly with three mistakes than you do by solving it slower with zero mistakes. This is a flaw.

That became irrelevant at 4:05 p.m., when a big-bodied deer stepped into the field from a brushy thicket. The distance, according to my Leupold RX-750 rangefinder, was 186 yards. My Browning A-Bolt II, chambered in 25-06 Rem., is zeroed to hit 1 inch high at 200 yards.

Sunlight glistened off its antlers, so I put my binoculars on it.

It was indeed a buck, with a tall rack that curved well outside the ears. The tines were very long. Problem was there were only four, a 2x2. I looked at it from every angle it presented, but no matter how hard I strained my eyes, I could not grow a third point on either beam.

What a shame. A normal 8-point buck, with its mass, symmetry and tine length, would easily be a 115- to 120-inch rack.

The buck fed at the edge of the field for 10 minutes before it jerked its head up and stared across the field at a hardwood thicket. Perhaps a bigger buck was going to join it.

My buck quickly turned and re-entered the thicket, and no other deer appeared.

The story was similar in northern Grant County, where the boys at the Old Belfast Hunting Club maintained a running text message commentary.

"What are you seeing?" texted Mike Romine.

"Diddly," I replied.

"Bo?"

"Squat."

Deer weren't moving in Grant County, either, and everybody was cold.

When I revealed that I was in Pulaski County, Romine texted, "I guess that's what happens when 'Deer Repellant' hunts in another county!"

It wasn't so slow everywhere. At 8:15 a.m., Basel Khalil of North Little Rock texted a photo of a big 8-point buck he killed in the Winona Wildlife Management Area, west of Little Rock.

"Are there many hunters over there?" I texted.

"Yes!" Khalil responded. "I use them to my advantage!"

I spent the rest of opening week back at Old Belfast, but the hunting is much different now than in recent years. For starters, we are having a late fall, and oak trees are still raining acorns. The acorn drop usually peaks in mid-October, and the supply is usually exhausted by now.

Also, recent logging activity has dramatically changed the way deer use the area that I hunt. I have always been able to set my watch practically by deer showing up around 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. My cameras are catching them between 11 p.m. and 4:30 a.m.

On Monday, though, I had some excitement. At 4:45 p.m., a group of deer streamed through the pines opposite my stand. They dispersed when a buck ran in to chase them, but I couldn't see him clearly. Deer continued to funnel past my stand well after dark, so I didn't leave until I was certain they were gone.

The next evening, at the same time, four does passed my stand about 70 yards away. I placed my rifle on a padded rest and watched. The does looked behind them and bolted.

I got ready, and the buck that was chasing them arrived shortly after. It was a spike.

Things like that are fun to watch at close distance, but it's frustrating, too.

Sports on 11/20/2016

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