Deer Season Jitters

Chestle

Chestle

Well-known member
I've been whiling away some spare hours hunting....well, hiking with a gun :) .... at a lake with public hunting near my house. I've seen a total of two rabbits in many hours of walking. However, the Lab and I are after quail. It seems quail on public land near a big city may have been eradicated. Rabbits don't seem to be doing much better.

Anyway, deer season has begun. Saw the orange pumpkins up in trees where I was hiking with a gun and the jitters set in. I have seen a lot of deer sign. I know it's unlikely that a deer hunter would shoot my Lab. Especially with her wearing an orange skid plate. OTOH, I've read a few too many stories of PEOPLE getting shot by deer hunters, despite wearing orange.

The thought of losing my Lab to such an idiotic accident is too much. I've just decided no more hikes with a shotgun until rifle deer season is over.

Am I the only one that feels this way?
 
Nine day deer season for rifle in Wisconsin--the weekends and week of Thanksgiving. Nine days I will not go to the public hunting grounds ever. Stories abound, some of them may even be true.


Just not worth it for me and my dogs.
 
I try to get out west during rifle season. I feel much safer out there where I can see and be seen vs being hidden in brush.
 
I try to stick to private ground or to WIHA that doesn't look like deer cover or adjoin private deer cover. After opening weekend I don't like to share WIHA with other hunters. During deer season there's no way I would hunt a WIHA that had another truck parked even remotely close.

You couldn't pay me enough to hunt the public ground at the reservoirs during rifle deer season. I don't even like to run my dogs on that ground in late october/early november, but that's as much about courtesy as it is safety.
 
Seems like deer season in the part of Kansas we hunt was more "exciting" than we've experienced over the past years. Orange was out in gangs. We avoid areas that look like "deer country" as much as possible. We didn't have any issues but it does make one a bit nervous, especially when you find that you are being viewed through a riflescope from the window of a vehicle. Interestingly, we kicked out more deer with masses of hunters around than ever and not one shot forthcoming. Guess the hunters were looking the other way.
 
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