Comfort makes a difference in woods

Whenever I write about hunting from a certain reclining chair, readers always want to know where to get one.

I don’t know. I bought it about eight years ago from a local sporting goods store for about $50, and I’ve not seen anything like it since. However, it is one of the most valuable pieces of gear I own.

It’s made of tough cloth with a camo pattern over a light aluminum frame. It has wooden arm rests and adjusts with pegs that rest in notched jigs under the armrests. When deployed, it sits about a foot off the ground. It produces zero leg strain, and it reclines way back if you want to take a nap. It also has two shoulder straps, and since it’s scarcely wider than my body I can carry it easily through woods. I also carry it on overnight canoe trips.

An excellent alternative is the Alps Outdoorz Browning Woodland Turkey Hunting Chair. I use it a lot because it is smaller and in some ways more convenient. It doesn’t recline or have arm rests, but it is extremely light, portable and comfortable. My sole complaint is that it comes with only one shoulder strap. It needs two, so I fashioned a second strap from some spare webbing.

Being still is crucial when hunting from the ground or from a pop-up blind, and you can be still if you’re comfortable. For this reason, a good, low chair is money well spent.

A reader wants to use a pop-up on public land, but he said he’s worried that the commotion from putting it up and taking it down every day will spook deer from his spot. The traditional narrative on pop-ups is that one should be in place for awhile so deer get accustomed to it, and that is true to an extent.

I use pop-ups mostly for turkey hunting, but I use them for deer in western Oklahoma where cover is often sparse. Deer notice it and they look at it often, but they aren’t afraid of it. However, there is always one skittish doe in a herd that stomps and blows at it, but it seems like the other deer are more annoyed with her than they are the blind.

I have come to be skeptical of a lot of the deer hunting “gospel” I read in magazines about concealment and scent. As I mentioned in Sunday’s column, a doe came within five steps of me on opening day of the muzzleloader season while I sat on the ground wearing hunter orange. I made no effort to mask my scent, and either the doe didn’t smell me or my scent didn’t alarm her. Only when I moved did she bolt.

In 2004, near Mary’s Home, Mo., a deer came to within two arm lengths. I was turkey hunting and made no attempt to mask my scent. Covered head to toe in camo, I sat in the middle of a downed oak top. The tangle of branches made a perfect blind.

Instead of a turkey, I called in a mature doe and her fawn. Erect and stiff, the doe crept toward the hide. Then she stomped, wheezed and ran away. She kept coming back,a little closer each time. This little routine continued until she was almost in my face.

Finally I said, “Boo!” and lunged at her. She tried to run about four directions at once, but instead of frightening her away, it seemed to make her mad. She came back and pranced all around that treetop, stomping and wheezing. I finally had to get up and leave.

While turkey hunting on the same farm in 2002, I called up another doe. She only came to within about 20 yards, and she came back after I a threw a stick at her. She was such a nuisance that I got up and chased her away.

I sat back down and got comfortable, and danged if it didn’t sound like she’d come back again. I whirled to fling another stick at her, but it wasn’t a deer. It was a gobbler, and it sped off without any encouragement.

Which brings me back to pop-ups.

For deer, I’m not sure they help all that much for their trouble. When hunting deer in the woods, I prefer open air. I can see and hear better, and if I must relocate I can move unencumbered.