Unwritten rules of hunting etiquette

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Daniel Lile
  • 14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  There are soft crushing sounds as a hunter slowly maneuvers through a frosted green field in early January. He has been scouting the field for around two months and is finally ready to make his move. The hunter has harvested three deer this year using his rifle but dreams of a bow kill; after climbing his tree stand he knows this is the spot where his dream will come true.

The 6 a.m. sunlight gleams through the trees and illuminates the field; the hunter finds deer tracks as far as he could see. Suddenly he hears an old familiar sound of leaves and branches braking and he freezes, hoping and praying that it's not just another stupid squirrel.

The hunter then sees it, a beautiful 140 pound doe emerges from the thickets. The deer is 70 yards out and closing in on his tree stand. The deer slowly and calmly works his way through the field. 60, 50, 40 yards out the hunter draws back his bow waiting for the deer to turn broadside for that perfect shot.

All of the sudden the hunter hears laughter; two unaware and uncaring hunters walk around the corner on their cell phones with shotguns slung nonchalantly over their shoulders. The hunter whips his head back to see only the deer's whitetail darting back into the thickets...his hunt is ruined.

Hunting is very popular in and around Columbus Air Force Base and if you and your fellow hunters are not educated on simple hunting etiquette and manners then this could happen to you, or worse, you could be "that guy" who does it to someone else.

As you pull into the woods when going hunting and park next to two other cars then you should hunt somewhere else. You could walk in on someone and ruin their hunt or you could accidently be shot. Even if you are wearing orange, people make mistakes and it is better to just avoid the situation altogether. If you are heading to or leaving your hunting spot, walk as quietly as possible, even if you don't think anybody else is hunting there, you don't know for sure.

If you are hunting early in the season and you see a doe with a yearling (baby deer) is it smart to shoot it? If you kill the doe, the yearling will most likely die without the protection of its mother. Sure you harvest the doe but you're killing two deer and only harvesting one, not to mention the suffering the yearling will go through before its death.

Some people hunt for the meat; others are big game hunters and want the trophy. There is nothing wrong with wanting a trophy as long as you harvest the deer as well. Shot placement on a deer is the key to harvesting the most meat possible. Sure, you could take both its shoulders out and drop in on the spot but you're ruining the front two hams. The best shot you can make is a classic double lung; the deer might take a little bit of tracking but it saves you a lot of meat in the long run.

If you are not hunting on public land make sure you have permission to hunt on the owners land. It's their land and they don't have to let you hunt it, especially if they themselves are hunters and you harvest a huge buck that they have been trying to get for the past two years. You're taking all the hard work they have put in and stealing their deer for yourself.

I could go on for pages giving different examples on what not to do, but it comes down to just respecting those around you. Be courteous; whenever you go hunting you want to go in and come out of the woods without anybody else even knowing you there. Get to know the hunters in your area and know where they are so that you don't intrude on one another. In the end it always makes for a safer and more enjoyable hunt when hunters are not stepping on each other's toes.