My brother is an avid Deer hunter in Tennessee. He has noticed in the last couple of years Coyotes following him in to his tree stand. Once he is in his stand, they will curl up under a bush or something along his trail. Once he has shot a deer they will move up and watch him dress it out. As he drags the deer out, he can look back and see them hitting the gut pile.
OK now for something that is down right scary. Brown Bears in South East Alaska have become conditioned to run to gun fire. They have learned that gun fire means a fresh killed Deer. Fresh killed deer means gut pile. Did not take them long to realize that if they hurried fast enough they could sometimes beat the hunter to the Deer, or at least run the hunter off and grab the Deer. Now here in the Interior we have been having some large Cow Moose hunts. The Grizzlies have started equating gun fire to fresh gut piles. Everyone is real nervous now when they shoot a Moose, wondering how long it is going to take the resident Grizzly to get there. I got real nervous this August when I had shot a Caribou. We were in brush ranging from two to four feet high, all around us. As we were dressing out the Caribou we could see flashes of brown in the brush out 200 and 300 yards away down wind. All kinds of thoughts run through your mind. How patient are they? Is the Big Boss Griz of the area here yet? How afraid if us are they? How hungry are they? Is there any cubs out there that could cause problems? How many are trying to sneak up on us right now? Is my gun ready to fire, did I put a fresh shell in the chamber? Is my gun in reach? Was that sound my partner across this Caribou, or something in the brush behind him? Why do the Ravens just fly by, look around the brush and then leave? Can the Raven see something I can't? Your mind can be your worst enemy!
