Spotting wildlife difficult at times

Bill Witt was driving my Dodge Ram as I scanned the landscape from the passenger seat. We were looking for elk east of the town of Kittitas. Movement was noticed and three white rumps spotted.

"Deer," I said.

Bill stopped the rig, but the animals had disappeared in the sagebrush. We were after elk, yes, but, as with most outdoor-minded people, we enjoy spotting and watching all wildlife.

We drove north and then east for a quarter mile without seeing the deer again. The land I was hunting was covered with sagebrush, which is short in some areas and tall in others. What's more, although seemingly flat, the three-mile wide valley is full of minor dips and small hills where an entire herd of deer or elk could disappear.

After a lunch break, we retraced our original route, stopping from time to time to scan the area with binocular and spotting scope. At one stop, Bill said he spotted a deer.

"Oh, now it has disappeared, there it is again, can't see it now," his narrative continued for several minutes as I tried to spot the animal. Finally, after half an hour and adjusting to Bill's continued description of the area where the deer were traveling, I saw movement.

The sagebrush was taller than the animals and they were not traveling in a straight line, but, rather, meandering left and right and away from us, with only a part of the deer appearing as it walked through an opening. At this time it was apparent two doe were moving through the sagebrush together, about a mile from our location.

A wise hunter will know seeing an entire deer, hooves to ear tips, is possible, but more often only a part of the deer is visible, such as an ear, nose or a rump.

During the regular season three of us were traveling through a stand of sagebrush. Ahead of us, at 50 yards, was the face of a deer. It was obvious and definite; a deer head looking back at us, but just the head or, rather, face to be specific. The driver couldn't see it, even though we continued to point to the spot. Finally the animal moved and was spotted by the driver.

So two factors are at working to make an animal more difficult to spot in the wild; having only a small part of the animal visible and the possibility the animal will remain completely still for several minutes. Movement is always a giveaway to the location of an animal, but when an animal doesn't move, spotting a part or bit of the animal is important.

After we left the two deer across the valley, I looked to the right and spotted three deer in the open, two bucks following a doe. They were not in a hurry or concerned about us being 200 yards away.

Down the road another mile and five deer, two bucks and three does were spotted, with movement being the factor giving away their location.

Ellensburg hunter, Court Martin, described his use of spotting only part of an animal and using this effort to his advantage while hunting with his father, who was not hunting, on a late archery hunt.

"We spotted the buck the evening of opening day and I did not have enough time to put a stalk on him. I traveled to the area the next day and nasty weather was making hunting difficult. Only spotted one doe and nothing else.

"Dad and I headed back on Saturday and began spotting deer everywhere. We began working our way up into higher ground and into the wind. Dad was just above me and softly whistles. He points to our front where a few doe were standing.

"I moved slowly toward the deer and finally spotted the tip of on antler behind a tree, with no other part of the deer visible. The buck was bedded down. I moved ahead, slowly, and nock an arrow. The buck stands up, unaware of me and starts walking away. He is at 80 yards.

"I keep creeping closer, slowly, as I don't want to spook the does. The buck stops and sees me as I'm closing the distance. I put a small tree in front of me and hustle to it.

"I looked around the tree and ranged him at 52 yards. During my practice sessions, shots to 65 yards are common, so I felt comfortable with the shot.

"He is now broadside and I come to full draw, settling the 50-yard pin behind his shoulder and let it fly. The arrow disappeared and the buck jumped, turned and headed up hill, then turned again and headed down the hill for about 80 yards and dropped; big buck down."

Court used his experience of spotting only part of a deer, the tip of an antler in this case, to spot the animal, plus his long-distance shooting practice to down a truly trophy mule deer buck.

Way to go Court.