'Next year' applies to hunters too

"Wait until next year" isn't just a refrain for the Razorback football team. It is common with Arkansas deer hunters as well.

Many of us spend a day, several days or even most of the season realizing that we could have done something differently, could have prepared better, could have made some better choices all along the way.

Deer hunting should be a learning and developing experience along with being an annual highlight and a camaraderie that goes beyond words.

We're just touching on a few points here, most of them from our personal activities of the past few days.

One, do more shooting. A rifle or whatever your deer weapon may be, is a tool. Practice makes a person more efficient with tools. This means shooting, more shooting that the vast majority of us do over the course of a year.

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Some time at a shooting range should be a necessity for us, and this can be with a .22-caliber rifle several times over the months then with the deer rifle close to next season. Ammunition for the .22 is fairly cheap, but the practice will make a hunter more familiar, more comfortable with the act of raising, holding, sighting and squeezing off the shot.

Two, improve the place you hunt.

Most Arkansas deer hunting is on private land of our own, our family or a friend. Give some thought to making it more deer attractive and more hunter-friendly. There are no one-fits-all plans here.

Look around and see if your stand, an elevated box structure or whatever, provides ample looks in several directions. Deer have a way of not appearing where you expect them to. You may have just a second to adjust, turn and get a bead on the target. Are tree limbs in the way?

Arkansas deer hunting tends to be on edges of fields, on the edges of openings in the woods. Planting a foot item to attract the deer is logical, and it can be small scale or extensive. Just a little clover seed, turnip seed or something like them can be sprinkled by hand close to your stand.

We talk about and look for rubs and scrapes. These are "deer sign." Sure, we know that. But rubs and scrapes are made by bucks, not by doe. Doe do leave signs in the form of paths, and bucks follow does during the breeding season. Find a game path, put your stand close by, and you've improved your chances for next time.

Three, think about what takes place after you kill a deer. Did you labor this time getting a deer out - your own or helping another hunter with the task? Did you wish for a rope instead of hauling the deer by its legs or antlers?

Ropes do help with this. So do harness rigs you can guy fairly reasonably. Deer carts are a step up but should last several seasons and can be shared with other hunters. Getting a four-wheeler to the dead deer is what we all want, but this is not always doable. A wheelbarrow can be useful.

So can a travois - the Indian rig of two long poles and one short one tied into the shape of the letter A. One hunter can transport a 150-pound deer with ease and it's a breeze with two hunters sharing the load.

The wheelbarrow or the travois can be left at your parked vehicle. It makes more sense to leave the carcass, walk out to get the hauling rig and return than it does to put immense physical strain on yourself dragging the deer several hundred yards.

Finally, if you hunt on someone else's land, consider doing a little favor for that person beyond sending a Christmas card.