CHAPTER 1 FROM STALKING TO STANDS It is still dark You walk down a forest path and climb up into a tree stand You put on a safety harness and use a rope to pull up your unloaded rifle Then you load your gun and watch for deer After just a few minutes a buck walks into the clearing You raise your rifle and pull the trigger A good place for a tree stand is along a deer trail 5
People have been hunting deer for thousands of years American Indians hunted deer with handmade bows Some American Indians wore disguises made of deer hide These disguises helped hunters stalk into range of feeding deer Other early hunters hid along deer trails They waited where deer came to drink When European settlers came to North America they also began to hunt deer These hunters used rifles known as muzzleloaders The rifles were loaded from the barrel Hunters poured gunpowder down the rifle's barrel They used a rod to push down a bullet Then the gun was ready to fire
The Hawken muzzleloading rifle was popular during the 1800s The settlers also cleared land for farming They destroyed much of the deer's habitat As a result deer became scarce By the early 1900s hunting deer was illegal in most of the United States Hunting seasons stayed closed for several years Eventually deer numbers began to rise Today deer are common across North America Hunters can once again enjoy pursuing deer such as whitetails and mule deer
