Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Much Of Bow Hunting Is Mental
Those sportsmen who think bow hunting for whitetail deer is mostly a physical endeavor should think again. The truth is that much of what a bow hunter does while hunting is more mental than physical.
The easy way to look at this is that drawing a bow, aiming and shooting is mental and physical. However, there is much more to this sport than meets the eye.
Bow hunters who score on bucks year after year are people who have come to accept the mental aspects and challenges of the hunt as being most of what a hunt is all about. Granted, we walk into the woods, climb into a tree stand or ground blind, nock an arrow, and then draw, aim and shoot if an opportunity presents itself.
This pull-aim-shoot crowd misses much of the magic of a hunt if they do not use their mental faculties to filter all the information required to turn a possible shot into a kill.
It’s not my intention to force my thoughts on someone who isn’t prepared to accept them. However, the mental part of the hunt begins long before a hunter enters the woods while dressed in camo.
We must consider the wind direction and velocity, and use that data to determine where to sit that morning or evening. We need to factor in information about known travel patterns, whether we will accept a buck, doe or fawn, and to pre-judge our windows of opportunity to keep us within bounds of making killing shots.
The hunter must think about shooting lanes, note any obstructions, and know where these limited shooting areas are even when the woods is growing dark just before shooting time ends. We must always be cognizant of our shooting abilities, and respect our limitations.
We must consider, as a legitimate hunter, our role in helping manage our natural resources, including whitetail deer, for the greatest good of the resource and the habitat in which it lives. Loosely translated, this means that we should consider taking a doe at some point in the season. To shoot only bucks is to be selfish.
A buck, or a doe or fawn, comes walking within easy bow range. We must think out our shots, and be always responsive to the need to take only high-percentage shots, which are broadside or quartering-away. Any other shot is a low-percentage opportunity and should be avoided.
We’ve noted out shooting lanes, and know the animal is within our capability restrictions. Now we must wait, and allow the animal to stop and turn to provide us with the shot we need. We must not rush our shot, and should understand that we usually have more time for a shot than we think. This means not taking hurry-up shots.
We must study not only the deer we will shoot at but any other nearby animals. We must know when to draw, aim and shoot and when not to. This comes from experience, but it pays to make your draw when the deer of choice is positioned properly, head-down and eating or looking in another direction, and every other deer should be relaxed and not looking in your direction.
We must think all of these things out, and all can be considered and accepted or rejected in far less time than it takes to read this sentence.
Shooting a deer means killing the animal, and this must be something you are prepared to do cleanly. This means you must be capable of making a killing shot every time. Wounding and losing a deer is not what sportsmen should do, and the hunter must practice enough to become sufficiently adept at shooting to place the arrow accurately.
This killing-a-deer business is mental. It requires thought, and that thought must be translated by the brain into action at the proper time. Don’t rush a shot, but don’t dilly-dally around when the ideal shot offers itself, and good hunters hold their bows. They don’t lay them down or hang them up, because most shots allow several seconds.
Thinking about deer hunting and killing a deer is no light and easy experience for the first-time bow hunter. Killing a deer means just that; taking that animal’s life with a bow and arrow.
So now, if the little over two weeks before the bow season opens, give this deer hunting business some serious thought. Hunting means seeking the opportunity to legally kill an in-season animal.
To do it, and to do it right, requires some skill and much more mental thought than most hunters believe. Hunters who think, and study the animals they hunt, are more successful than any others.—The Whitetail Wizard