The Epistemology Of Deer Hunting

 Skilled deer hunters that get a deer or trophy buck every year may seem to be lucky, and perhaps they are for luck is always a factor in all our plans and undertakings. More than likely, those that consistently get their deer year after year are skilled, not lucky.

Here is how that skill or epistemological competence unfolds.

1. The hunter knows how deer think and behave. This allows him to be able to see, anticipate, see, and shoot their surprised deer, shocked and amazed (too late) that a human could be as woods worthy and elusive as his prey.

2. The hunter applies his thorough knowledge of how deer think and behave to the specific site of the hunt. He knows where deer sleep, their lanes to their feeding grounds, and their runs to water, etc. That is where the hunter builds his stand or his ground blind.

3. The hunter then applies what he has learned about deer and the unique features of the local hunted habitat, so that his hunt will likely be successful, due his competence more than his luck.