There some occasion that it is difficult for the hunter to follow the tract. But fresh track is very easy to follow.
I will have to make it short, because we want to get an early start on the morrow.
Perhaps I had better tell you of one of my first deer hunting trips that happened before I was old enough to have a hunting license. This wasn't in Maine, but deer hunting is the same wherever we hunt and this incident could happen to anyone.
I had never hunted game with a pump-action shotgun and on this day, I borrowed a friend's gun of that type and went out to try to get a deer. Not knowing just where to look, I roamed the woods on the off-chance of seeing a big buck that was blind and hard of hearing, or one that would let me walk up to him for some other reason. There was about an inch of snow on the ground that made traveling kind of quiet, but all of the deer tracks I saw were old and not worth following. Probably it wouldn't have made much difference if I had found a fresh track 'cause, at that time, I didn't know how to take advantage of a fresh track anyhow.
After a while I came to a thick growth of hardwood sprouts. There was a woods road running through which made easy walking, and I took this road. The brush was thick on both sides of the road and the only place where I had a clear view was right down the middle. All of a sudden, a deer jumped into the road ahead of me. I brought the gun to my shoulder, but by that time the deer had crossed into the brush on the other side. While I was trying to get another glimpse of it, a second deer jumped into the road and I swung back to cover this one. This deer also crossed before I could get my sights on it. This happened with two other deer and I never fired a shot.
But, when the fifth deer jumped into the road, he did something that very few deer ever do. He turned and ran down the road, directly away from me. This time I sent a charge of buckshot right into his rear end. Of course, he kept on going and I stood there and tried to pull the trigger guard off the gun, thinking it was the second trigger of my double barrel. I never thought of the pump action until that deer was long gone.
Feeling kind of bad about wounding the deer, I followed the blood trail for about two miles. The deer rejoined the others and they traveled together until they came to a river that separated two states, where I left the trail.
Do you need any help with that corkscrew, Jim?
From this article we can take the conclusion that hunters can take the advantage on the fresh track; this will lead the hunters to the location of the deer. |
