A turkey feather dangling in the wind near a well-used deer trail will often cause passing deer to stop long enough for you to shoot. Photo by Bennett Kirkpatrick

There is more than one way to "skin a cat"; this same principle holds true for hunting deer. Most deer stories cover hunting the rut, scrapes, rubs, stand placement, raffling, grunt calls, food sources, scents and strategy. These subjects need to be covered, but there are other subjects that Game & Fish deer hunters need to be aware of, too. Tips that I have used, and ones gathered from successful deer hunters, sometimes boggle the mind. Some of these tips are listed below.

MUSIC SOOTHES THE SAVAGE BEAST
Deer are inquisitive by nature and will react to certain new elements in their environment - if they are not frightened. Try this on your next hunt: Take along a portable AM radio. Tune it to a weak station or to white-noise static and set the volume on low-to-medium.

Don't laugh. It sounds strange, but if you hang the radio on a limb just off a good deer trail within easy view and range of your stand, many deer will stop to investigate. Deer don't know what is making this sound, and curiosity makes them seek it out. This unusual strategy has been the downfall of many a buck.

SEE WHAT YOU LOOK AT
This may not, strictly speaking, be an offbeat tactic, but so few hunters systematically look at what's around them that it deserves mention. Most of us have heard stories about deer that just suddenly appear 20 yards from a hunter's stand. Deer are very good at quietly moving through the woods, but they can't materialize out of thin air, and the best way to see more deer is to examine the brush around you carefully as you sit.

Anytime you see movement back in the woods, check it out; it just might be the Mr. Big that you have been waiting for. The same goes for horizontal lines. Not many trees grow parallel to the ground. When you spot a horizontal line in the woods, give it close scrutiny. The chances are high that it is a deer. When you look into cover, there's a natural tendency for your eyes to stop at the edge of the cover. Force yourself to look into the cover as far as you can see.

Also, buy the best optics you can afford. A good quality scope can add as much as 15 minutes more shooting time to your early-morning or late-evening hunts when low light situations exist. Older bucks didn't get old by being stupid. They know they are safe from hunters when it is dark at night. Pre-dawn and late evening, when light conditions are marginal but legal shooting hours are still in effect, are prime times to catch a trophy buck slipping to or from his bedding area. He feels safe because he doesn't think a hunter can see him. A good set of binoculars will let you look back into the trees to see deer waiting for darkness to enter a field.

TICKLE THEIR CURIOSITY
In the early part of the 20th Century, in lightly hunted areas of the West, cowboys would attach a white handkerchief to trees or sagebrush to attract antelopes into range. Whitetails tend to see white objects as a warning sign, but that doesn't mean they aren't interested in investigating subtle changes in their environment. Try attaching a turkey wing feather to a string and tying it on a limb beside a well-used deer trail. The fluttering of the feather attracts a deer's attention; it will stand still, observing the feather long enough for you to have an easy stationary target. This works best if you already have a good idea of the movement pattern of the deer - and when you tie the turkey feather in a position that will give you a good shot if the deer stops there.