I spoke to a good friend and hunting partner the other day about planning a trip. We’d reflected on what we’d learnedlast year and had fun telling each other some hunting stories. We started talking about a new hot spot we found last year that we’re both excited about and how it is hard to get in there without spooking the deer. He then passed along a tip that another friend had told him about. We both feel that this is borderline cheating and I thought I’d get your opinion.

Apparently, this other friend has a pretty good trick for not spooking deer when traveling through their territory in the early morning hours. He brings a standard one-watt LED flashlight in the woods and scans the area before and while traveling through. If he sees eyes glowing, he keeps the flashlight pointed into the eyes of the deer. He went as far as to say, he’d once gottenreallyclose since they were near his stand and they (the deer) stuck around so long that he had to keep the light in their eyes until he was on the stand and settled in. He then turned off the light and waited for daylight. Shortly after, guess what… no real surprise, he shot a deer with his bow.

How does this make you guys feel?

There are rules about using lights, but they vary and are very vague from what I’ve seen. Further, most safety courses tell you that you should carry a flash light in the dark so that you can be identified as a human. But all rules aside for a moment. What do you think; is this cheating?