Tony Davis, chief information officer for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, says hunting license sales soar when the temperature falls.
Conversely, sales stagnate when temperatures stay hot.
I would add that deer hunter enthusiasm also soars in cool weather. We still go afield when it's hot, but we almost dread killing a deer.
If you're successful, heaven forbid, you work up a mighty sweat wrangling your deer onto a cart or a four-wheeler. Then, you have to skin and dress the animal while fighting off flies and yellowjackets. The stench seems more pungent when it's hot and humid, too.
We dread it so much that many of us opt not to kill a deer if the opportunity arises.
That was the case Saturday when the Private Lands Only Antlerless Modern Gun Deer Hunt opened across the state. For a couple of weeks leading up to the hunt, Mike Romine and I fired each other up with plans to hunt only with 20-gauge shotguns. It was an offshot of the "Purple Hull" duck hunts with Jess Essex, Jim Rowe, Connie Meskimen and Glen Chase.
I was excited when I rose at 5 a.m., but then I went outside. It was warm enough for short sleeves. A rational man who is still drowsy would chalk one up to advancing age and wisdom and go back to bed.
But hunters are not rational. We are driven, and we are habitual. I climbed into my old hunting truck and cranked the ignition.
I parked at the Romine Camp and exited the truck in the gathering light of dawn. I took a swig of coffee and texted Romine: "You in the stand by the gate?"
The sheepishness in his reply was almost palpable. He was home. He'd gotten busy the night before and would come down later to finish working on a new stand.
Translation: "It's too hot to hunt."
I went to my favorite stand and finished my coffee. I read the news on my phone and checked all my various email accounts and caught up on my social media updates.
Crows and a few songbirds were the only signs of life. Deer were having their breakfasts in bed.
I soon got bored, which made me even sleepier. I wadded a flannel shirt into a pillow and proved that I can sleep anywhere.
I woke up refreshed at about 10:30 and sensed that the hunt was finished.
My walk back to camp was refreshing. I noticed how much the cutover between the camp and my thicket has grown during the year, and I wondered how many deer it shelters. A bunch, I bet. There's another thicket just like it on the other side of the older age thicket where I hunt, which puts my stand in a very good place. It gets better every year.
Romine was at camp when I returned. He said he could have killed a doe early, but he had too much work in front of him to mess with a deer.
We spent the next few hours visiting and driving around the lease. We visited another of my stands that was once a favorite, but I didn't hunt it last year.
In that time, the oaks on the margins have spread their branches and formed an oval canopy over my shooting lanes. The oak tunnel funneled a cool breeze through the entire bottom, and acorns carpeted the ground. The leaves were just beginning to change color, giving the appearance of stained glass. In fact, the place does kind of resemble a chapel.
"I had about written this place off, but it is absolutely gorgeous now," I said.
"It wouldn't take much work at all to get this place in prime shape," Romine said.
I showed Romine a two-wide deer trail. Deer enter the hollow from the south on the bigger trail. They enter from the aforementioned cutover on the smaller trail, and they come in from the east at the end of the longest shooting lane. It has always been a prime early season spot, and I found myself eager to be there Saturday for opening day of muzzleloader season.
Wednesday morning dawned cool and bright, classic October deer hunting conditions. I hope they continue through the weekend.
Sports on 10/19/2017