Back Cast

I know what I’m doing, sitting on a prairie hilltop before sunrise in late August, with binoculars hanging around my neck, is not wholly unique.

Bowhunters do it often this time of year, with the archery season just days away.

It’s just that I haven’t carried a bow into the field in years and have forgotten what it’s like to scout for deer in this time of plenty, when the animals’ options are many.

While the corn and bean fields that are about a five-minute hike from here are undisturbed, harvest has started on the grain field behind me. The three combines parked side-by-side below the hill signal that work will continue sometime soon, maybe later today when the deer are bedded and I’m back at work.

The deer I see are scattered. A doe and a fawn slowly weave through an L-shaped stand of evergreens where, in seasons past with the landowner leading the way, we’ve hunted pheasants with mixed success.

In a CRP field south of there, three deer, maybe four, it’s hard to tell, move slowly through a fold in the idle grassland. The animals are undisturbed, likely doing exactly what they’ve been doing all summer without interruption. Not one head pops up from curiosity or alarm at the passing vehicles carrying folks to work.

It’s a good start – five, maybe six, deer – for the first morning of scouting. I’ll be back in an evening or two to see what the deer are doing then, which is likely the reverse of what they are doing this morning.

Sitting here in shorts, T-shirt and a flannel over that, and a travel mug of coffee between my legs is easy duty, enjoyable. The hard part is deciding if my youngest is ready for this. Ready to pull the trigger on an animal that he’s never hunted or squatted over in the tall grass to field dress. We won’t be dealing with what he’s used to – pheasants, grouse, partridge and fox squirrels. This is different.

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department decided some time ago to give kids an opportunity to hunt deer in September when the majority of hunters are elsewhere, counting the days until November.

Since then, it’s been up to parents to decide if their kids were mentally and physically prepared for the opportunity to hunt the state’s most popular big game animal.

The camp I’m sitting in is clear, which is why I’m slowly trying to unravel the movement patterns of a handful of deer.

The youth season is short, just 9 1/2 days. It gets even shorter when you mix in school, cross country and football practices, and two weekend cross country meets.

Finding time to hunt, it may turn out, could be more difficult than deciding which rock pile to hide behind to ambush a doe.