Some deer that a hunter has trailed really gave him troubles when they dive into the water because it is very difficult to track again from where they come out of the water. The deer also uses some tricks to throw the hunter off the trail. In this article you will get some tips on how to spot the deer while trailing.



Deer will sometimes take to water in an attempt to lose the hunter. When they follow brooks, it is a simple matter for the hunter to watch the shorelines in order to find the spot where they emerge from the water. When they enter a pond or lake, the trailer is very apt to assume that the deer have crossed over it. Deer seldom do this except at a narrow place on a large body of water. Usually they will swim or wade along the shore until they think that they have thrown the follower off the trail and then they leave the water.

I was trailing one day when two dogs entered the chase and drove a buck into a nearby lake. When I arrived at the shore, the dogs had abandoned the chase. I walked along the shore of the lake for about two hundred yards until I found where the deer had left the water and I resumed trailing. Incidentally, that was the only deer I ever followed that failed to give me any warning when it was about to lie down. It ran for almost a half-mile in almost a straight line, and then dropped to the ground to rest. When I jumped him, it was so unexpected that I failed to get a shot. These three tricks, with variations, are about all that a deer will use in trying to throw the hunter off the trail.

One variation of the circling trick, which is very exasperating, is when deer run to a place where other deer are, or have been feeding, and there is a ready made maze of tracks to confuse the hunter. Sometimes deer run to the location of other deer, which are resting, in an effort to transfer the hunter's attention to them. Sometimes these tricks work to the hunter's advantage and he is able to bag a deer other than the one he is following. When this happens to me, I have a feeling that the bagged deer is the result of an accident and not of my own efforts.

I remember one large buck, which I jumped one snowy day when there were no deer moving and tracks were practically nonexistent. I followed him at a fast pace until he began to show signs of stopping and then I slowed to a stalking pace, watching ahead and to each side of the trail. Coming to a windfall about thirty yards to my right, I saw a deer's head and neck above and beyond the blow down. I didn't stop for a second look, but shot the animal as soon as I knew that it was a deer. At the sound of the shot, several other deer bounded from the surrounding area. I checked the tracks later and found that the buck, which I had been following, had not stopped there, but had passed on by the place where four other deer were bedded. I had shot the smallest deer, a male fawn that didn't weigh over sixty pounds. I was not a very proud hunter as I dragged the animal home.

During trailing, the deer sometimes leads you to other deer who are feeding in groups. This can lead you to bag at least one even if you don't get the one you are trailing.