Planning Ahead

By A Sayward Lamb

With fall only a few weeks away it isn’t too early to begin making plans for the upcoming hunting seasons. Here in Maine, where I live, bear hunting over bait starts the latter part of August, and guides are presently carrying out pre-baiting where they have chosen to hunt. Preparations are also being made to construct suitable blinds to accommodate their clients, or themselves, within shooting distance of the baited sites.

Most of the other hunting, including bow hunting and regular gunning seasons, start in either October or November, so now is the time to get your mind thinking about all the preparations you will need to do to make your hunting, both fun and successful. Let me pass on some of my ideas that you might find helpful. Many of you who are experienced hunters, may already know much of what I have to say, but just the same, a few reminders can’t hurt and they may help you avoid a few problems before you start hunting.

I believe we should take first things first and one of the most important things you need to do is to get yourself in shape, both physically and mentally. The physical things you need to do are not particularly difficult but is time consuming. This means getting outdoors and taking long walks as well as other physical exercise, to get your body conditioned to be able to withstand the physical exertion required to be out in the woods and fields all day. I know that many of you already are taking walks or doing other types of exercises at public or private gyms. Those of you who do this are physically way ahead of many hunters who never have the opportunity, or time, to be able to get this sort of exercise.

Another good idea is to take hikes or walks out in the woods, preferably on land where you will be hunting. If this is impossible, you might be able to get out into the woods by using public lands or getting permission to use private lands for this purpose. By getting outside into the woods, you will find that it will require more exertion while walking mainly because you will have to traverse rougher terrain where you will no doubt find fallen trees, branches, or other obstructions. If you happen to be using land where logging has occurred, you could possibly find skidder roads and logging roads, often filled with pot holes, skidder tracks, etc. that makes for much harder walking than on main roads, or sidewalks. The added exercise will strengthen your leg muscles and make it easier for you to stand the rigor of a long day’s hunt.

If you happen to be on your “hunting grounds” it might not be a bad idea to take a small notebook and pencil to jot down any interesting observations that you happen to notice. These notes might include anything from game signs and trails, to references regarding surrounding terrain or other things such as a prominent patch of wild raspberry or blackberry bushes that might be a good place to look for deer later in the fall. It might help to take note of deer trails, bedding sites, or mast crops where game might be found. Also, it’s a good idea to keep this notebook in one of the pockets of your hunting clothes where it can be easily found for future references.

Mentally you will have to begin to make your plans for the upcoming hunting seasons. Whether you will be hunting locally, travelling to some remote area, or taking a few days to hunt with friends, you still have to get everything in order prior to your trip. This means making a checklist. This includes clothing, personal toiletries, hunting gear, as well as food and camping gear (such as flashlights, propane lanterns, etc.). If you are going to be getting your own meals, then you also need to plan a menu for each day’s meals and make a grocery list, as well as making arrangements to get those supplies before you get to camp. In my own instance, I am fortunate in that I have a friend who invites me to stay with him at his remote hunting camp for a week of deer hunting in northwestern Maine, near the Canadian border. We plan to take a few staples with us, such as casseroles, muffins, biscuits, etc. His camp is fifteen miles from the grocery store where we purchase our groceries. We generally arrive at his camp on the weekend in time to make a list and then drive to the store and purchase what we need for meals for the next few days. We used to bring all the food from home, but found that often we had too much and besides, with all the gear we take with us, we found the food took up too much space in our vehicles. We also found that we ended up bringing many of the staples back home because if we left it at camp it would freeze during the winter. Now we only get enough food to last a couple of days ahead. We know we will be hunting sometime during the week in the area where the store is located, so we stop by and re-stock our food supply when we are down that way. I always plan to start packing my gear several days ahead of when I plan to leave to go on my hunting trip. As I pack my gear I check it off from the list. This works very well most of the time, however I still remember when I went deer hunting in the Seeboomook Lake area, north or Greenville. I was unpacking my gear after we arrived on a Sunday. I discovered that I had forgotten my ammunition! Unfortunately, none of the others in our hunting party had the same caliber rifle, so I couldn’t borrow any ammo from them. So, instead of hunting early on Monday morning, I found myself driving several miles to a sporting store in Greenville to purchase a box of ammunition for my rifle. It was a lesson learned the hard way, and even today I sometimes am reminded to “be sure to take my ammo”, by my old “hunting buddies”.

There are many things that can be done ahead of time, such as checking over and cleaning your guns, as well as sighting them in, to be sure the sights are in alignment. Here is a tip that I learned years ago. Most of us (in this part of the country where we have heavily forested areas) like to sight in our rifles for one hundred yards. Instead of having to walk back and forth all of that distance between the shooting point and the target, you can save yourself many steps by doing this. For the older type of deer rifles, such as .32 caliber, 30-30 caliber and 35 caliber set your target up twenty-five yards away. For some of the higher-powered caliber such as: 308; 30-06; 7mm, etc.; sight in with the target set at thirty-five yards away. The reason this works is the fact that the trajectory of the bullet passes that level on the way up, and then arrives at the 100-yard mark again on the way down. Once you get the rifle sighted in at these shorter distances you should try a few shots at the one hundred-yard range to be sure it is sighted accurately. Even if you have to make minor adjustments, sighting in at these shorter distances saves time, as well as many steps.

For those of you who are fortunate enough to have your own bird hunting dog, September is the time to take the dog out into the field and “fine tune” what you have already taught the dog. I raised Brittany’s for many years, as well as trained them, which presented many challenges. In the end, all that effort paid off with the many hours of enjoyment while bird hunting with a well-trained dog.

One of the drawbacks about getting out into the woods at this time of year is the fact that visibility is impaired with all of the leaves still on the trees. But if you are observant you will still see plenty of signs of game, such as deer tracks and trails, turkey droppings, tracks, scratching, feathers, etc.. Signs of smaller game will be harder to observe, but you will certainly know when you flush a Ruffed Grouse, or see a rabbit go out from under your feet. So, take the time now to enjoy the out-of-doors, get in shape, and by planning ahead you will find yourself ready to go hunting without last minute preparations. Once this is done, keep up your routine of getting out into the woods, do a lot of pre-scouting, and you will notice that once the leaves come off, and the weather gets cooler, the pattern of game may change. One of the reasons is the fact that the food supply changes as the mast crops and berries ripen, and fall to the ground. Another reason, particularly with deer, is the onset of the rutting season. If you are persistent, and continue your scouting trips you will no doubt find just the spot where you want to be, come the opening day of hunting season. Let’s hope that your efforts will reap rewards. Happy hunting!