Ergonomics and Deer Hunting Part 1

This is the second blog in the series on deer hunting and Lean, Ergonomics (Human Factors, Six Sigma and Systems Thinking (L.E.S.S.).

There are many factors deer hunters must consider when choosing their equipment—their own body and physical characteristics as well as the environment in which they hunt, i.e. location (woods vs. swamp, brushy vs. clear), temperatures, hunting from the ground or a stand, etc.  A hunter must be keenly aware of their physical size and abilities when choosing equipment so that it fits and supports their hunting abilities instead of being a hindrance.

Hunting equipment

At first glance it may seem that there is or maybe should be relatively little gear that is needed to go deer hunting.  That may be true initially but if you want to have consistent success you need to get more serious about it and get the necessary gear.  When choosing hunting gear it is imperative to consider the ergonomics and human factors prior to purchasing.  This applies to the selection of clothing, boots, weapon (shotgun, rifle, and bow), assistive technology like binoculars and range finders, pruning shears, folding saws, etc.  The majority of hunting clothing and boots is made for men; however there are now a few options made specifically for women.  Obviously having clothing that fits and is comforting is important for moving, sitting and the motion/position it takes to get the gun/bow in position to shoot.  In addition, one needs to be aware of the number, location and size of pockets in the jacket and pants since those pockets end up holding many different items.  I can tell you that my camouflage clothing has much better pockets (number and size) compared to my blaze orange clothing; however the comfort and fit of both is pretty much equal so from a usability standpoint my camo is better than my orange.

Aside from clothing the other key equipment almost goes without saying—and that is the weapon of choice—gun or bow, and then shotgun vs. rifle and compound bow vs. crossbow.  A hunter must check state laws to determine which weapon is allowed and the qualifications for use.  My husband and I both bow and gun hunt.  My first deer hunting experience was 8 years ago during the opening weekend of Wisconsin’s gun season.  I hunted with my husband’s grandfather’s old 300 lever action Savage.  It was very heavy for me and I had great difficulty seeing out of the scope.  It wasn’t “ergonomically” correct for me but since it was my first experience and we didn’t know if I would like deer hunting or not it was a logical choice to use.  I absolutely fell in love with deer hunting after that weekend (I got a doe on the afternoon of my first day hunting!).  Now that we both knew that I loved deer hunting it was clear that I needed a rifle that fit me—it needed to be lighter weight and to be left-hand compatible since I’m left handed.  After much research and consulting with the gun personnel at sporting goods stores we decided on the Browning Micro-hunter left handed bolt action.  The decision on the scope took a little longer.  I wear glasses, which isn’t a big factor but how I look through a scope must be different than most since for me to see clearly through it I need it mounted closer to my eyes than normal.  The very helpful person at the store behind the rifle case stated my set-up isn’t “standard” but it works great for me!  (which is the purpose of ergonomics—fitting the scope to the user!)

The next thing I’m going to share I know is quite unique to me.  Even with a light weight rifle I still find it heavy when holding it up for a long period of time (waiting for the deer to come to just the right place).  As my arms get fatigued I’m not able to hold the rifle steady enough to shoot which initially cost me a few opportunities as I wasn’t about to take a poor shot.  I tried using hunting a single pole and then a bi-pod hunting stick but I didn’t find them easy to use with our tree stands.  So I looked at what I use on my crossbow, which is must heavier than my rifle in comparison, and thought why not try it on my rifle.  On my crossbow is mounted a Steddy Eddy.  It is a single pole but instead of having the end of the pole rest on the ground/stand I have the length adjusted so that it rests near my waistline.  By using it that way I am very steady and accurate with my bow shots.  Long story short, we bought another Steddy Eddy and took my rifle to a gun shop and told them that I wanted it attached to the stock of my rifle.  The gun smith said he had never done such a thing in the past (again, I’m a non-standard hunter!) but he could do it.  I picked up my rifle a week later with the Steddy Eddy attached and went to the target range.  It made all the difference in the world.  I no longer needed to hold the rifle up as that was done by the Steddy Eddy and since it was anchored to me the small size of our tree stand platforms was no longer an issue.  In a word—success!  I was able to fit the rifle to me instead of me trying to fit the rifle—ergonomics on its best!

In the next blog I will continue to explore other aspects of ergonomics and deer hunting by looking at stands and my crossbow.