Dick Martin: Plenty of hunting left to do

Is hunting over for the year?  Is it time to sit back, reminisce about seasons past, and start making plans for next fall? Not at all. There's still time to fill that skillet or freezer with wild game. All you need is stamina, persistence, and at least a 2-3 inch fall of fresh snow.  Archery deer hunting is a good example. The deer season lasts until Feb. 4, and hunting deer over snow can be an exciting business.

Given that new snow you'll look for tracks around likely deer hangouts, thick brush, snow shedding evergreens, creek bottoms with good cover, and wildlife areas. Since the muzzleloader season is well over, many deer will have drifted back into the latter because they're maintained for deer and other wildlife with food patches including energy rich field corn and food strips of green cover. Sooner or later you'll find a set of tracks or more likely quite a few since deer tend to group up into small herds at this time of year. Then you follow those tracks.

Take some necessities along. Since it's likely to be a long day, and you'll be walking for long hours, have a light backpack with a thermos of coffee, some sandwiches, and another thermos of hot soup. That long day of walking is where the stamina comes in.

Persistence is important, too. On one hunt made years ago with several friends, we dressed in white camouflage and hunted until we found a herd of five does. One of us stayed right on the tracks while the others spread out on both sides. We jumped them in half an hour, and they fled, leaping and snorting with white undertails semaphoring wildly.  We kept at it, and in an hour jumped them again. This time they hesitated, bouncing round and wondering what we were before they fled. A third time one of them waited too long, and gave a hunter a decent shot. Worth the effort.

Then there's rabbit hunting on snow.  That season lasts until Feb. 28, and hunting cottontails on fresh snow can be excellent. They move at night, hopping around, feeding on twigs and bark, and any greenery they can dig out, then hole up for the day in warm cover. That means curled over tall grass, cattails, heavy brushpiles, and dense thickets, unless of course it's really cold, around zero or below, when most go down woodchuck holes.  So, you walk until you find tracks then follow them to where they end in a good layup spot.  Tracks going in and none coming out means he's in there, so you put your finger on the safety and move in.  One for the pot.

 Squirrels? Their seasons ends on Jan; 31, and while they'll often sleep for several days in bad weather, they like to come out in better and move around, digging here and there for an acorn or hickory nut stored before to make a quick lunch. Early afternoon is when they'll most likely be about, and tracks in the snow show you where concentrations are located.  Finally, come coyotes which are free for the taking anytime with no seasons and limits. Be persistent, walk and follow those tracks with a flat shooting rifle, and you'll get one often enough.

Dick Martin is a retired biology teacher who has been writing outdoor columns for 30 years. You can reach him at richmart@neo.rr.com.