Gather round, friends and neighbors and faithful readers. It is time for another lesson on the reality of what is going on in the outdoors world (not to mention truth, justice and the American way).
Often in these “Guns & Cornbread” chronicles, I have told you everything we talk about here can’t always be sunshine and roses and cute little puppies. Sometimes we have to address what is really going on out there in the hook-and-bullet world. And because we are in the middle of the deer firearms hoopla in much of the country, let us look at the strange phenomenon of many deer hunters being cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs about deer horns.
(I know, I know — they’re antlers.)
The obsession with large antlers is understandable in that many of us think that bigger is always better. I mean, after all, it is much easier to brag to your buddies about a heavy nine-point rack with a wide spread than a skinny little fork horn.
(READ MORE: Big bucks, bigger bucks, and the cost of high-dollar hunting)
The big and brawny racks represent more than just the size to experienced deer hunters, though. A large, well-developed set of antlers is symbolic of an older buck that has seen several seasons and lived through it. Make no mistake, older deer that survive several hunting seasons are smart, and by smart I mean wary and very adept in avoiding hunters.
I am digressing here, but I don’t think many of us usually think of deer as being “smart” in comparison to other game.
Turkey hunters in the spring love to go on and give speeches about how smart and cunning a mature gobbler can be. If you would believe some turkey hunter stories (which are sometimes outright lies), they would have you believe an old gobbler has X-ray vision, can read your mind, can teleport to and fro, and is capable of doing advanced algebra and calculus.
All this from a bird with the brain the size of a medium peanut. Go figure.
(READ MORE: Fellow turkey hunters, here’s to all the ones that got away)
Deer, on the other hand, for some reason don’t seem to get much credit for joining Mensa International. Well, just talk to some of your friends who are really experienced at hunting old bucks. They can tell you some things about what they have seen well-seasoned deer do in order to survive. Hiding in areas choked with thick brush, where they know most humans are not going to walk, is just one of their classic moves.
OK, I just took a little detour there, but you get the idea. Heavy antlers are the mark of a mature buck that has been there, done that and lived through the seasons. Hunters who take a deer like this have learned over the years how to do it and have done the work to make it happen. It is usually not easy.
A hunter who consistently kills older, heavy-horned deer puts in a lot of preparation well before the moment the buck walks into view. They take scouting for these deer to a new level, and the time, money and boot leather involved would scare most of us away. My long-winded point here is most hunters who take big bucks earn them.
There is another side of this antler size obsession thing, however.
There are just as many hunters out there who may not really care about the size of the rack on a deer they may have a chance to take in season. To many first-time hunters and/or those who are younger, ANY legal buck is a pearl of great price. They are extremely happy simply to take a deer with enough horns (antlers) to make it legal according to their state’s regulations. They have taken a buck, they have filled their tag, and while, yes, a big 10-pointer would have been nice, they are just as happy with the Boone and Crockett spike.
Some of the rub comes in here when some experienced deer hunters (or at least they say they are) decide to chastise others on the size of their deer. This is bad news for all of us in the hunting community, and it can get pretty bad on that meeting place of great minds, the Book of Faces. Unscrupulous hunters can bloviate there with all of their wisdom and negativity with no danger of actually talking to anyone face to face in an exchange of ideas. More is the pity.
So, to circle back to where we started: Are many of us obsessed with the headgear of male deer at this time of year? Yes, some of you are. Is it always a bad thing? I say no, not always.
If you want to hunt like a rabid weasel and spend endless hours in that cold, uncomfortable tree stand for a chance at that big buck, I say go for it. (And if you are hunting from one of the new sling-type contraptions, hanging on the side of a tree, my hat is really off to you.)
But — and that is a big but — you do not have to in any way rebuke or look down on those who are just as happy with a 2-year old spike or fork horn as you are with that big 10-point buck who has been around.
Are we good with all that? Hope so.
Whatever the size of your buck this year, save me some back strap.
“Guns & Cornbread” is written by Larry Case, who lives in Fayette County, W.Va. You can write to him at larryocase3@gmail.com.