I am a mature, middle age buck and most likely the predominate buck in my heard. I may move around just before daylight, when the woods are filled with hunters, because I still like to stay up early and play in the woods. You can rest assured I’m headed to my sanctuary, my beloved secret place, where I almost never see or hear a human being. If I see a hunter with a one eyed beam or smell human scent, I’ll freeze in my tracks and then bed down immediately. There, lying in my temporary bed, I dream of my sanctuary where I no longer will hear hunters, whiff hunters nor see hunters! As long as I occasionally get a whiff of scent coming from a live body, hear guns bumping stands or hear the cadence of stomping feet breaking sticks, I will not move a muscle. I’m thinking: By the time the sun is straight overhead the dangerous elements will taper off and then leave completely, and then I’ll have peace! The thought of all my bucks of kin, who in their impatience hurried back to their sanctuary and stumbled past a stand hunter, then whammy it was all over, gives me the shudders. I will lay still another hour fighting the urge to eat and get to my sanctuary. I wish Mother Nature had given me a larger belly! Finally … 12 noon and everything is quiet. It has been 6 or 7 hours since I last filled my stomach. I will nibble along the way as I travel, carefully, to my sanctuary. There I can eat and drink and lie around till dark comes again. I rise, stretch my aching muscles, urinate, defecate and remember I must be on my way. This piece and quiet won’t last long, before the woods will become dangerous again. I begin making my way: Nibbling at a poison oak plant here … picking up an acorn there … a young briar shoot over there, then a dogwood bud and that bit of moss up yonder. I’m a browser by nature and I like variety in my diet, I don’t like filling my stomach with only one thing. We’ve examined people's movement patterns and the mature buck’s movement patterns: now let’s change our pattern of movement to co-inside with the mature buck’s pattern; then we will be well on our way to seeing more big bucks. Suppose while all the other hunters are stumbling around in the dark scaring deer you are still asleep in bed. Not to over sleep; when it's light enough to slip silently through the woods you need to be in the woods. You’re not going where other hunters go. There is no need to beat someone to your hunting spot. So take your time. You’re going to a sanctuary! The best time to go to a deer’s sanctuary is immediately after day-break. The mature bucks are bedded waiting for an opportune time to safely return and Mr. Buck, old big boy, is already there. Just remember, the closer you get to the sanctuary the greater the need for submissive hunting techniques. If you are still with me, in my exhaustive twelve year study of how deer react to human intrusion you have two screaming to be answered, at this point. First, in the eyes of a mature buck, what characteristics must be present before an area becomes their sanctuary? And second: Submissive and hunting sound like contrary terms — just what is submissive hunting? First thing's first — the matter of sanctuaries — then I will tell you all that I know about submissive hunting, to which I’m sure you will add some twist of your own. The term, “sanctuary,” in its narrowest of definitions is what many writers use to refer to a buck's bedroom. However a buck’s bedroom will only hold one buck. On the contrary a sanctuary may, and usually does, hold several bucks! Allow me to digress, for a minute. Deer are rumen herd animals which we discussed earlier. Remember, a mature buck needs to eat often, approximately ever four hours and must lay or stand still to digest his food. These requirements are hard to fill during high exertion times such as hunter pressure or the rut. The fact is mature bucks must have sanctuaries where they can satisfy their needs for food and water during daylight hours. If mature bucks didn’t have sanctuaries the record book would have to be rewritten every year. Longer seasons and more hunters are only two forces causing mature bucks to seek out sanctuaries for day time living. Due to modern aids such as topographic maps, GPS units and the ATV sanctuaries are becoming fewer and fewer in number. Add to that, all mature bucks must have one. This spells buck concentrations! Several mature bucks are likely to reside in an area, defined by them as their sanctuary, including the predominate buck in the area! Deer seek out places that are remote, or the lay of the land around them renders the area hard to access; even though, they may be quite close to hunting camps or civilization. Things that create night-mares for two legged predators — such as impenetrable thickets or swampy areas — may be just the ticket for a mature buck in need of a sanctuary. You will recognize places where hunters, in your area, will not or can not go. If you find an area of at least a few acres, that from every angle of approach you seem to run into a brick wall, you may have found a buck's sanctuary. The larger the area the better and the harder it is to access the better. The commonality all thicket sanctuaries share is: They will almost always be located on somewhat higher ground and have areas holding water within in their confines. The reverse is true of swampy sanctuaries; they will almost always have humps of high ground surrounded by watery areas. All of the above are my definitions of a deer’s sanctuary. Remember a buck’s definition is quite simple: A place the hunter can not reach undetected and has food and water. In Chapter 5 we are going to cover, “Submissive Hunting Techniques” in detail. In short we’ll get down to the nuts and bolts of what I have spent 12 years learning. How to present yourselves to mature bucks in such a manner so as to keep them from considering you as being their predator! CHAPTER 5
May all your goings be downstream easy! Wildwood Dean, here ...