By J.B. Salter

For The North Jefferson News



Editors note—the following article first appeared in the Sept. 27, 1991 issue of The North Jefferson News.

Several years ago a scientist set out to prove a theory. His belief was that an animal could be trained to respond to certain sounds or scents and that the animals would only be reacting to certain chemicals secreted by their glands.

To prove his point, he experimented with a dog. The dog was fed at exactly the same time each day, but before the dog was feed, the scientist rang a bell.

After a few days, he noted the dog would become excited anytime he rang the bell and the animal would begin to lick its chops. In other words, the little pup was salivating every time he heard a bell.

To further prove his point, the scientist diverted the dog’s saliva glands through a tube to outside the dog’s mouth.

The results were clearly evident, no matter time of day or night the scientist rang the bell, the tubes attached to the dog’s mouth began to drip saliva.

In recent years, certain outdoorsmen and conservation workers have begun to use the same principle while performing their jobs.

They use solar-powered deer feeders. They learned that when the feeders were activated by their automatic timers, deer and other wildlife would respond to the noise of the sound. Oftentimes the animals could hear the feeders from a great distance.

Since I’m a bow hunter, I also fish with a bow and arrow. Us bow fishermen are restricted to shooting rough fish, such as carp, gar, drum and suckers. We’d probably be tarred and feathered if we were ever caught shooting a bass or any other game fish.

One early summer, while I was trying to find a place to try out my bow and fishing arrows, I went to one of the fishing camps out on Smith Lake and asked the attendant if he knew where any carp where.

The attendant picked up one of those little sculling paddles that no one uses anymore and banged on the bottom of the floating service station.

In the middle of the floor, they had cut a hole and built a box over the hole, which was open on top.

As I looked down into the clear water, the attendant banged a few more times, I saw some of the biggest and healthiest carp I’ve ever seen.

I realized immediately that even as dumb as a carp is, the fish could be trained to respond to a certain sound, if the fish were fed every time they heard the sound.

I grinned at the attendant and he grinned back at me because he knew what I was thinking and I knew what he was thinking.

He let me know that if one of his pet carps came up missing he’d feed me to the hogs.

Deer season is now under way and many hunters will be hunting each and every day they’re not working.

Most hunters know the importance of a sound in the deep woods, but you may want to try this trick.

I’ve lured deer to my tree stand from a few hundred yards away, just by dropping acorns on the ground from the stand.

On the other hand, I’ve also scattered deer like a covey of quail by making an unnatural sound for the woods, such as nervously rattling an arrow against a tree branch.

Remember the sounds you make in the woods should be as natural as possible. Pay close attention to the wind direction, a deer might hear you and think you’re a squirrel.

He may see you and think you’re a big stump, but if he smells you the hunt is over, you can’t fool his nose.

There are some scents out now, which if used correctly can be a great help. The scents have a way of calming a deer because they seem natural.

I once asked a fellow hunter what the most important thing was during bow season. He gave me a one-word answer, “patience.”

If you hunt from a tree stand, as most of us do, you should practice the same way.

Try to sound natural and look natural with the surroundings. Just remember, ring a dog’s bell and he salivates, ring a deer’s bell and he’ll be gone.