Of the estimated 350,000 to 400,000 Arkansans who are hunting deer this season, most are participating in traditions of one sort or another.

True, the primary objective is to get a deer. Whether you take all the meat for your own use, share it with others or give it away, perhaps to the Hunters Feeding the Hungry program, the other aspects of a deer hunt usually stick around longer than that meat.

Except for buying a license and obeying the proscribed regulations, there is no “right way” to hunt deer. Participating in some of the traditions, however, can add to the fun of it all.

How in the world did the practice of cutting off shirttails develop? This is the ritual of taking a knife or scissors to a garment worn by a hunter who shoots at a deer and misses. The cutting of a shirttail, as you can expect, is accompanied by extensive hooting and joking and ridiculing.

Some deer clubs with permanent buildings have displays of shirttails on walls, the donor of the cloth remembered by a penciled or penned name and date.

Another long-standing deer hunt tradition is the smearing of a dead deer’s blood on someone who has killed his or her first deer. Yeah, it’s kinda gross, but there have been instances of youngsters getting their first deer over a weekend and wearing the blood smear to school the following Monday.

Both the shirttail cutting and the blood smear are strong Arkansas traditions, but neither is limited to our state. They are southern traditions and extend to other areas as well.

The deer stand is a tradition.

Deer stand in common hunting lexicon means an area more than an actual structure. “Jerry’s Stand” can mean a neck of the woods where someone now departed named Jerry liked to hunt. Jerry’s Stand can also mean a metal structure affixed to a tree. It can be a plywood box atop a light but strong metal frame moved into place in the back of a pickup truck.

“Stand” has significance in hunters arranging their activities for the day, telling others where they intend to hunt – “I’m going to be on Jerry’s Stand early, and if nothing is going on there, I’ll move to the creek bank about mid-morning.”

“Stand” can be an important item in a deer club’s procedure. Some clubs assign or draw for stands for the next day. In these cases, the stands are named or just numbered on pieces of paper, put in a hat and drawn at random. A club hunt administrator may also assign a particular stand to a guest, to a new member or to an elder in the group.

Eating is a major part of deer hunting, and here there can be no quick summary.

Deer hunt food ranges from the quick and easy to the health-ignoring heavy menus to ? in a few cases ? quality food prepared by a traditional and talented camp cook. Some deer clubs hire cooks for the hunt.

One common tradition is that hunters don’t argue with the cook or bad-mouth what is given them to eat. Violate this unwritten rule, and you are likely to be chained to dish-washing chores.

Meals at a deer camp many times are just two a day rather than the customary three. Getting up before dawn, a hunter will probably get a mug of strong coffee and some form of bread, even leftover corn bread from the night before. After a few hours of early hunting, the group comes back to camp for a filling and extensive breakfast ? eggs, bacon, sausage, grits, hash browns, biscuits and more coffee.

If there is midday or early afternoon eating, it’s often just a snack. The night meal is after dark and can be heavy and extensive as well as creative, depending on the all-important camp cook. This meal may also involve something brought from home ? a pot of chili, a stew, a hearty casserole.

The deer hunting group may also pile together into a vehicle and drive to a convenient restaurant for that night meal.

“It’s Thursday night; we’re going to Ruth’s Caf?” also can be a tradition.



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Joe Mosby is the retired news editor of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and Arkansas’ best known outdoor writer. His work is distributed by the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock. He can be reached by e-mail at jhmosby@cyberback.com.