Most hunters like to see some snow on the ground for deer season, just enough to see tracks but not enough to make it hard to get around in the woods. While it's possible to track a deer to it's bed and sneak up on him, it's not feasible where I hunt. The cover is too thick and my property is too small. All I would be doing is chasing the deer away. Nevertheless, it's nice to be able to see where the deer have been traveling and if any of them were in front of my blind since the last time I was there. It also makes it easier to find one that has been shot and ran off into the swamp to die. Even a deer that has been hit well can easily run a hundred yards before it goes down, and a hundred yards is a long way in heavy cover like I have on my land.
Snow conditions have been close to ideal this year, but there are no guarantees in this business. The deer in my neighborhood have lots of country to roam around in, and roam they do. I have read that it's possible to "pattern" deer in agricultural areas. They hide in the brush all day and come out into the fields to feed at night. Hunters try to ambush them on the established trails that connect the bedding and feeding areas. The deer around here don't seem to follow predictable patterns like that. You are just as likely to see one at noon as you are at dawn or dusk. All other factors being equal, the more time you can spend in the woods the more likely you are to see a deer.
I'm sorry Uncle Ken was disappointed that there was no crash sequence in my road trip story, but I am not about to put one in there just to entertain him. The point I was trying to make was the stupid way that some people drive. They must know better, but they do it wrong anyway. I'm surprised that there aren't more crashes than there are. Maybe there's some truth to that old saying, "God protects the fools and the drunks."
Speaking of Uncle Ken, congratulations on the sale of his painting.
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