Friday, November 04, 2005
Learning To Bow-Shoot A Buck
The title may be misleading to some hunters. Everyone who owns a bow, and who hunts for deer, thinks they have it figured out.
Without a word of bragging, few people have shot as many bucks as I have, and learning to shoot them consistently means several things.
Practice is important but perfect practice means doing everything right, every time. I sell bows for a living, and everyone who comes in to buy a C.P. Oneida bow, gets a large measure of personal attention from me, my son Matt or my grandson Will.
Shooting a buck with a bow is more difficult than drawing back and sending an arrow downrange toward the animal. A great deal of concentration is required, and we can tell you to have total concentration when taking a shot, but we can’t make you do it.
Total concentration only comes from many, many hours of practice and countless hours in the field studying whitetail bucks at bow range. Hitting a paper target consistently is quite easy because it isn’t moving.
A buck often has his head up or down, is moving or standing still, is listening intently for anything that may represent danger, but deer are basket cases of raw nerve endings. They are flighty, suspicious even of birds flying overhead, and they require far more skill to arrow than a paper target. They are living, breathing and cautious animals.
All good bow hunters develop their own shooting program, and it works well for them. Some people have a step-by-step procedure they follow, time after time, and it produce bucks for them.
I know a woman who has a step-by-step method. Here is what works for her: Keep both eyes on the buck, wait until the deer offers the best broadside or quartering away shot, know the exact yardage to the animal, watch the buck with both eyes, come to full draw, center the red-dot on a specific hair behind the front shoulder, double-check that a firm anchor point has be attained, take a breath, let it out, double-check the aiming point and anchor point, and touch the release trigger.
These specific steps come into her mind as Step 1, Step 2, etc. She has shot over 100 bucks, and still she follows her step-by-step procedure. It ensures that she doesn’t miss a step, and the mechanics of doing so enables her to calm her nerves before the shot.
I know many hunters who have a similar procedure when it comes time to shoot a buck. One piece of advice I offer is that once you establish the deer is a buck, and one you wish to shoot, forget about the antlers and concentrate on where the arrow must go.
All too often, a hunter spots a big buck, gasps at the size of the antlers, and hurriedly rips the bow back to full draw and whistles an arrow toward the deer. If they have been awed by the mass of antlers, it’s possible that they will shoot at the antlers. Forget the head gear, and aim for a killing shot. I’ve never seen a hunter kill a buck by shooting it in the antlers, but have seen bucks that were hit in the antlers run off.
Mechanical skills are exceedingly important, but so too is the art of total concentration. Let everything in your mind drift away, and concentrate on making a smooth and deliberate draw. Keep the head up with both eyes open, and concentrate only on the target area. Don’t lose your focus, and don’t lift your head when you shoot.
More deer are missed because the hunter lifted his/her head at the shot to see if he hit the deer. I know I hit the deer when I see the vanes disappear into the buck’s chest and hear that fluttering sound as the wounded animal takes out my Game Tracker string.
Properly done with the required amount of shooting skills and mental concentration, shooting a buck is easy. Hunters with a one-track mind, and the ability to focus on the job at hand, are the ones who arrow a buck every year.
Those who get caught up in the moment, and allow their mind to wander while aiming and shooting, are those who require more practice and must acquire a higher level of patience. Never take a hurry-up shot, and never lose your concentration.
Practice, and keep all of these little things in mind, and shooting a buck becomes much easier.