kmaples posted on January 20, 2011 07:53
It’s silent as senior Justin Harbison hides in the brush, waiting. The peacefulness is perfect—it gives him time “to think about things.”
Patience is key. His cold breath is all he sees for over an hour, and then out from behind the trees, a large buck finally appears. He sets his sights on it, knowing it’s all his.
With cool beads of sweat now forming on his forehead, his finger is poised on the trigger, and he knows when the right moment comes.
BANG! The bullet strikes the deer before it can even react. Success—at least for the shooter.
“It’s not the killing of the deer that’s good about hunting, but the sport,” Harbison said. “It’s kind of a family tradition. My father’s been doing it and I feel proud to carry on the tradition.
“We try to use every part of the deer. We display the head in the house or barn and also use all the meat.”
Student hunters can bring home white-tailed deer, squirrels, rabbits and many other animals during winter hunting season.
“I enjoy the chase the most,” senior Tres Waldman said. “It’s really relaxing to walk around in a field waiting for an animal to pop up, and when you see it you get an adrenaline rush.
“You need to stay quiet the whole time and relax, line up your shot and take it.”
Killing animals while hunting, according to Waldman, is no different than crushing a bug, but he avoids killing mothers and young animals.
“When an animal dies, it’s like killing a spider. I don’t feel bad for that, so why would I feel bad for bigger animals?” Waldman said. “Sometimes when you see a mama deer with its babies, who will follow right behind it, you leave them alone because you don’t want to take the babies’ mom.”
Avoiding breeding season is one of the reasons that deer hunting is only allowed in the fall and winter so the population can repopulate, according to Hancock County wildlife counselor Kevin Russell.
This kind of regulated hunting helps the animal population remain controlled. During the week in November where hunters can use guns to kill deer, Russell said 104,000 were harvested. This is only a fraction of the 750,000 deer estimated in Ohio in September.
“Each animal has a habitat and if there are too many animals, they can starve or have a lack of shelter,” Russell said. “Hunting keeps the population in check.
If we notice (the number of) something like pheasants are getting low we limit the amount that you can bag.”
While hunting the animals keeps them in check, the hunters do not want to make them suffer in the process.
“If it’s still alive, I’ll kill it in a humane way so it doesn’t feel any more pain,” Harbison said. “It’s not nice to leave it there in pain.”
Sometimes the injured animal runs off, forcing the hunter to track it.
“I have had to track a deer and it took me about three hours to find,” Harbison said. “It was really cold out. We just followed the track of blood until I found it.”
Besides tracking, which is the worst part for both, the students enjoy hunting as a pastime.
“It’s fun to do, and it’s a good time.” Harbison said. “It’s something where you can just go out and think about different things and relax.”
Hunting seasons for each animal can be found at Ohiodnr.com. Deer hunting with archery is open until Feb. 6.