Art Eatman
Staff in Memoriam
If a rancher uses a pickup truck, deer are used to pickup trucks. If he patrols around the ranch on an ATV, deer are used to ATVs. A parked vehicle is of no interest to deer, generally, from what I've seen in watching deer. A deer's attention span is around twenty minutes, so a vehicle's passing has little effect on what happens later.
I've watched deer when a truck passes. They'll freeze or
pivot around a bush or a patch of brush, hiding from the noise, and then go back to nibbling goodies within a minute or so.
Some forty years back at a deer lease, one of the old-guy hunters used to park his car near a dirt stock tank and watch for young, tender stupid bucks. He was late for lunch one day, so we drove down to check on him. He was sound asleep in his car. The car was surrounded by turkey hens, with three or four on the hood and roof.
I dunno. I've killed deer from a tree stand. I've killed running deer while walking-hunting. I've killed deer when waking up from a "hunter's doze" on a hillside. I've killed deer from just sitting in my truck, watching to see what comes out of the woods near sundown. I've hunted in brush country, desert, and river-bottom jungle. I never worried about my ego in all this stuff. I figure that sitting in ambush is what most cougars do, which gives me a bit of the "So what?" when folks go to spouting off about their style of hunting.
I've watched deer when a truck passes. They'll freeze or
pivot around a bush or a patch of brush, hiding from the noise, and then go back to nibbling goodies within a minute or so.
Some forty years back at a deer lease, one of the old-guy hunters used to park his car near a dirt stock tank and watch for young, tender stupid bucks. He was late for lunch one day, so we drove down to check on him. He was sound asleep in his car. The car was surrounded by turkey hens, with three or four on the hood and roof.
I dunno. I've killed deer from a tree stand. I've killed running deer while walking-hunting. I've killed deer when waking up from a "hunter's doze" on a hillside. I've killed deer from just sitting in my truck, watching to see what comes out of the woods near sundown. I've hunted in brush country, desert, and river-bottom jungle. I never worried about my ego in all this stuff. I figure that sitting in ambush is what most cougars do, which gives me a bit of the "So what?" when folks go to spouting off about their style of hunting.