MonsterBuckDreams,
Of the 5 bucks that Ireferred to above,3 were tracked in the snow andone I picked up in the mud of a picked corn field and tracked him up the edge ofstream to his bed. Kind of a print here, someoverturned leaves there, another print with water still seeping in, etc.. Total distance about 400 to 500 yards. He was the one I missed. The other was not really a tracking job. I was still hunting through a small woodlot, maybe 80 acres, with a very strong wind blowing. I was moving verrry slowly when I came to a blowdown. I eased my way around it studying everything in about a 300* arc when I noticed something different. I really didn't know what it was but it caught my attention. I kept looking away from the object and back again several times and finally I realized I was looking at the eye of a deer. After several more minutes I could make out his head and shoulders but his rack was not visible through the brush and saplings so I moved slowly to a position where I could get a good look at him but still could not get an arrow in there. He was the one that eventually walked away.

Somethingthat I noticed in all of the deer that I've seen asleepis thata thin membrane comes down over the eye like an eyelid. However it's transparent or transluscentnot opaque. It seems as though they rely on sound and smell during this period and not sight, (their ears are constantly turning like antennas and you can see the nostrils flaring as they take in scents). So if you're very careful, one can move. In the case of the first deer I killed in bed, I tracked him in the snow and first saw him laying down quartering about 30 yards away. No shot.So I crawled to a broken tree trunk between him and me. When I got there I was only 11 paces (measured later) but I couldn't figure out how to shoot. I was on my knees, he was laying down, as result , no angle. So, I decided to try and stand up slowly and get a shot off. I drew my recurve behind the stump and slowly stood up. He was looking right at me but evidently could not see me. I could clearly see the membrane so it gave me insight in future hunts.Key points: Make sure you're in an area known to harbor deer, move very slowy then stop and scan ahead as far as you can see and then back to a few feet ahead, then back out as far as you can see, stop then do it all over again.

I grew up incentral NY. Great farming countrynot too different from most of the midwest. Corn, wheat, milo, woodlots, hedgerows, etc.. I never have been too successful in the, "big woods" areas. Haven't had the experience in patterning in those environments. Hope I haven't bored you too much.

laxdad