Crossbows go back to ancient times. Normal bows, to the stone age. So deer have had time to adapt. Humans, those shaggy bad smelling critters, were just one more predator. At a time when there were all manner of other toothy, hungry things out there we probably did not rank high on their list.
Of course things have changed. Oh, I still see the occasional bear, wolf or coyote "up north". But the main things deer need to worry about are cars - just in the last century or so - and the handiwork of Paul Mauser.
People have been hunting Wisconsin deer with firearms for a while now. The Ojibway were very motivated to trade beaver pelts for muskets going back to the 1600's. But the availability was low, and the range not much more than a skilled archer.
Paul Mauser was one of many talented guys who put their effort into making dangerous things in the 1800s. His innovations were built into the standard rifles and ammunition for the Kaiser's army, and are still the basis for most non fancy deer hunting guns today. Here's what I use. Sorry if Google/Facebook etc get unhappy with any sort of fire arm photo! *
This is actually a rather long prolog to a rather short story.
Sunrise on opening day of rifle season found me in a box stand on our hunting land. Basically tree houses built on 15 foot stilts they were constructed by the previous owner. Who, from the geometry of the window arrangement, must have been about six foot 8 and preferred to stand up the entire time! Even with a yard sale bar stool to sit on there are areas you just can't see. There was a beautiful sunrise.
The orange flag is for the edification of the next door neighbor who was hunting some distance off in that direction. Anyway, after sitting there craning my neck in various ways for 90 minutes I needed a bit of a stretch. Standing up I saw a buck had approached to within ten paces of the stand right on the trail shown. A most incurious chap he was still there after I quietly stepped back, took off the safety, lined up a shot......
Expired deer pictures all look the same. Suffice to say it was a serious task dragging him from the dense underbrush he ran off into. I had to actually get one of my sons who was hunting elsewhere on the property to come help me. Even with two of us it was necessary to take breaks getting Bucky back to home base.
And so that's hunting 2025, unless other branches of the family need logistical help or my unfilled doe tag.
Addendum. A friend hunting on the same spots I've spent so much time on got a nice buck the second day of rifle season. As a herd management strategy this is ideal, if accidental. With the mild weather there are a lot more bucks up and wandering than in most gun seasons. But they've presumably already taken care of "next year's crop of fawns" business. So they are less important than the now pregnant does. And if a year from now there is a mis match? More does than bucks? Well, they are not big on either monogamy or faithfulness that lasts more than a half hour or so!
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* Weirdly the United States had to pay the Mauser company a substantial amount of money post WWI for the patent on the "spitzer" ammunition Paul Mauser had invented. True, it was a complicated legal case and settled out of court, but rather remarkable...paying your defeated enemy for the ammo used to defeat him!
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