The Oglethorpe Echo
Local hunters will get a deep dive into the strategy and science behind deer season during a seminar hosted by veteran outdoorsman Steve Scruggs at the Georgia Farm Bureau on Saturday, Aug. 22.
The event, hosted by Stewart Sanders and Oglethorpe Feed and Hardware Supply — his family’s business — has filled its 75-seat capacity and will focus on how deer think, move and react during hunting season.
“It’s not a one-upmanship seminar,” Scruggs said. “It’s not something to make the hunter feel bad. It’s to educate him so that he has much more enjoyment doing what we need him to do.”
Scruggs and his wife, Sharon, manage the Hardigree Wildlife Sanctuary in Watkinsville, and he has been studying whitetail deer since 1971. Scruggs has spoken to hunting clubs, school programs, on the radio and for national retailers.
The program will cover pre-rut, rut, and post-rut behavior, as well as lures, grunt calls, wind direction, entry and exit strategies, and human scent control.
“Most of the hunters today, their idea of deer hunting is go out, get in the stand where they got it made, and want to kill a 160-class, 170-class buck — it doesn’t work that way at all,” Scruggs said. “This is a very smart animal. Humans have 5 million scent receptors. A dog has 220 million, but a deer has about 300 million. If you touch anything in the woods, you’ve left a scent there for him from 3-5 days. Once he knows you’re there, he knows how to avoid you.”
Scruggs said he hopes to see hunters of all ages, and for each one to walk away saying, “Not only did I have fun, but I learned something.”