HOW TO HUNT DEER IN A SNOWSTORM
Circle The Thickets
 Editor’s
Note: Chris Kirby, who lives in Orchard Park, New York,
the president of Quaker Boy Calls, also avidly hunts
during snowstorms. Kirby explains, "If you don't
hunt during snowstorms where I live, you may never get
a chance to hunt all deer season. Today, I'll share
all the secrets Chris taught me about hunting for deer
in a snowstorm.
According to Kirby, "I like to hunt when the snow
has fallen all night and continues falling when I get
up in the morning. When hunting in that kind of weather,
I usually find that more than likely the deer have bedded
down at night to dodge the snow. But by morning, they
must get up and search for food or at least move around
some." A few years ago, Kirby had especially good
luck on a morning he planned to
hunt. He had ideal conditions. A snowstorm had hit during
the night, and the snow still fell heavily when he left
his home. "I decided to check every thicket on
the property where I hunted," Kirby mentioned.
When Kirby inspects a thicket during a snowstorm, he
walks downwind of the thicket, moves inside the area
and then circles into the wind on both sides of the
thicket to look for fresh deer tracks. "If I see
tracks going into the thicket, I know a deer must have
laid them recently," Kirby explained. "Otherwise
snow already will have filled them. Next I move into
the thicket to jump the deer. If the tracks show the
deer moving away from the thicket, I know the deer just
recently has left the thick-cover area. I follow the
tracks, hoping to catch up with the buck."
 On
this particular morning, Kirby discovered a set of big
tracks going into a thicket. Because the tracks showed
the deer had walked into the wind, Kirby could pursue
the deer without the deer's smelling him. Since the
wind raged, he also could follow the deer without the
deer's hearing him. "I followed the tracks through
the pines and a feeding area," Kirby recalled.
"The tracks seemed to circle back to the pines
where I'd first picked them up. I could tell the deer
walked slowly as if unalarmed. I moved more quickly
to catch up with him."
 Just
as Kirby topped the ridge, he spotted the big buck,
a nice 8 point, moving down the ridge not 40 yards in
front of him. Cold and excited, Kirby quickly brought
his shotgun to his shoulder and took the shot. "I
just missed the deer," Kirby remembered. "I
must have caught buck fever and shot too quickly over
the deer's back. As the deer sprinted away, I took two
more shots and never cut a hair on the deer's hide.
"I was so excited after tracking the deer for about
an hour to finally see him. I also was surprised at
how big he was. I didn't take time to steady myself
for an accurate shot. I had the chance of a lifetime,
and I blew it. But I can promise you this, the next
time snow falls at night and continues in the morning,
I'll hunt those thickets again."
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