Whitetail Wizard

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Using A Red-Dot Sight

MARION - Help is now available for bow hunters who cannot see well: it is a red-dot sight, which has become a dream come true for people like Dave Richey.

Glaucoma has ruined the vision in his left-eye. He still see reasonably well with his right eye although he underwent surgery today. His switching to a red-dot sight made all the difference in the world between continuing to bow hunt or hanging up his C.P. Oneida bow.

The Pollington red-dot sights are very sophisticated. The scope tube measures 33 mm, and the dot has 11 brightness settings to allow sportsmen to use a brighter dot during sunny hours or dial it down to produce a dimmer red dot in early morning or at dusk.

What makes this red-dot sight so easy to use is it eliminates the need for a two-point aiming method required with a peep sight and a sight pin, It also helps control bow torque, and instantly alerts the shooter if the bow is canted left or right. It can turn a poor archery shot into one capable of superb arrow placement within minutes. I’ve seen many first-time shooters Robin Hood (put one arrow down the shaft of another arrow) after using this sight.

A red-dot sight is capable of helping bow hunters will all types of vision problems. It also can aid those with other medical problems. It’s best to become accustomed to shooting this sight long before any hunting season opens.

Is a red-dot sight needed by all bow hunters? No, but it certainly can help those sportsmen with poor vision or anyone with excellent vision who wants to achieve pinpoint arrow placement.

Granted, the bow mount and sight adds a few more ounces to a bow’s overall weight, but what it gives away in weight is made up for by more accurate arrow placement and increased confidence when shooting.

People who hunt want to make a quick, clean kill. A red-dot sight can make that happen, every time, providing the shooter does everything right. Learn to shoot a red-dot sight, and precise arrow placement is assured.

For more information, contact the Buckpole Archery Shop at 20669 30th Avenue, Marion, MI 49665. Phone (231) 743-2427.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Rehashing Missed Shots

It’s a common fault for most of us. If we miss an open shot on a whitetail buck, and the critter runs off unharmed, we can always dredge up an excuse.

Rather than looking for a place to lay the blame, it’s certainly more constructive to replay the shot in your mind. Often something will occur to you that may have contributed to a shot missing its intended target.

I know hunters who cut shooting lanes in all directions to provide a clear shot. Climb up into the tree stand, and look at the shooting lanes, and it looks like the spokes on the wheel of an old covered wagon. The trails spread out like the frayed ends of a rope.

Deer often are spooked by so many cleared areas. Hunting in thick cover is an art form, and many of my stands are set up in thick cover or very close to it. Some stands obviously are out in the open, but thick-cover stands can be very productive.

They also can lead to some missed shots. Often, in most tree stands, there will be only one good shot and often that is all one needs. However, in thick cover deer may arrive or leave by any number of routes, and knowing where a shot can be taken is important.

I always check for the one good shot, and begin looking for other possibilities. The bigger bucks often hang in heavy cover, and learning how to pick a hole through the cover for a bow shot can be a lesson in frustration. However, do this right, and don’t forget about those twigs over there and the leafy bush that may block a shot.

Picking holes means careful attention to detail. Don’t forget that it takes only a twig—a tiny twig—to throw an arrow off course. Miss a shot like that, and it pays to study where the shot was taken and why it missed.

Almost without exception, the shot missed because it clipped an unseen twig or you shot a perfectly innocent tag alder branch. If shooting through tall marsh grass, it’s easy to have one slightly taller piece of grass snag your arrow. It happens, remember that it happens, and try to pick a hole where it won’t happen. It’s up to you to find the open holes.

Blaming the wind, a piece of weed in the eye, shooting into the rising or setting sun, and hundreds of other excuses are nothing more than an excuse. It pays to study the situation, replay the shot in your mind’s eye, and determine where the wheels fell off.

Studying your misses can be brutal but knowing what you did wrong makes it much easier to avoid a similar problem in the future. Making a mistake is human nature, but brushing it away with a lame excuse simply enables you to make the same mistake again, and the cycle continues to repeat itself.—The Whitetail Wizard

Monday, January 29, 2007

Roading The Ranch

The next best thing to hunting deer is watching them. And talking about deer hunting ranks in third place.

My buddy Roy Rhoades of Lake City often shares a trip with me. We call it “roading the ranch.” It means going for a slow leisurely drive around the ranch, each of us armed with quality binoculars and a spotting scope.

We decided to go “roading” today. It was a nice day without much wind, and we took our time. We moved very slowly, and spotted several deer standing back in the timber or in tall grass, and studied them.

It’s a good opportunity to see what animals made it through hunting season, which deer have dropped their antlers, and which bucks are still carrying a nice rack on their head.

A few does were seen and they appeared skittish but we always kept moving. Some of the bucks would stand when we stopped, and look back at us, and some of the larger bucks seen would wheel and disappear as soon as we stopped.

We moved slowly along, stopping on high spots in my road network to glass longer distances. Sometimes we’d spot a deer a long ways off, and other times a thorough glassing wouldn’t reveal a single animal.

We moved from one field through a funnel and into another field. Ten or 15 deer scampered into the thick cover only 10 yards away when they saw the truck enter the field. Such spottings were difficult to pinpoint actual numbers or how many were bucks.

We spotted several bucks that had already dropped their antlers. The spot where each antler had been attached looked raw as it began to heal. The new set of antlers will begin growing in the spring.

We rounded a turn in the trail, and 40 yards off was a big 10-point. He took one look at the car, and was off on a dead run for thick cover. The bucks are still a bit spooky, but these deer are accustomed to vehicular traffic up and down the roads as we fill the feed stations. They may run off but they don’t go far, and after we disappear, they head for the closest food site.

Every deer that we saw today was an animal we’d seen before, but on occasion, there will be a surprise. We’ve seen a couple of good bucks that neither of us had seen before. Such sightings are always fun because we are good at telling how old a buck is just by looking at it.

If we see a big buck that may be 4 1/2 or 5 1/2 years old, it means that animal has managed to stay out of sight of all of our hunters for a long period of time. And it’s these periodic sightings of a jumbo buck that makes jumping into the truck and going roading that much more fun.

A big buck is always great fun to see in the off-season, but laying eyes on a big buck that has never been spotted before makes each of our roading trips an adventure.—The Whitetail Wizard

Roading The Ranch

The next best thing to hunting deer is watching them. And talking about deer hunting ranks in third place.

My buddy Roy Rhoades of Lake City often shares a trip with me. We call it “roading the ranch.” It means going for a slow leisurely drive around the ranch, each of us armed with quality binoculars and a spotting scope.

We decided to go “roading” today. It was a nice day without much wind, and we took our time. We moved very slowly, and spotted several deer standing back in the timber or in tall grass, and studied them.

It’s a good opportunity to see what animals made it through hunting season, which deer have dropped their antlers, and which bucks are still carrying a nice rack on their head.

A few does were seen and they appeared skittish but we always kept moving. Some of the bucks would stand when we stopped, and look back at us, and some of the larger bucks seen would wheel and disappear as soon as we stopped.

We moved slowly along, stopping on high spots in my road network to glass longer distances. Sometimes we’d spot a deer a long ways off, and other times a thorough glassing wouldn’t reveal a single animal.

We moved from one field through a funnel and into another field. Ten or 15 deer scampered into the thick cover only 10 yards away when they saw the truck enter the field. Such spottings were difficult to pinpoint actual numbers or how many were bucks.

We spotted several bucks that had already dropped their antlers. The spot where each antler had been attached looked raw as it began to heal. The new set of antlers will begin growing in the spring.

We rounded a turn in the trail, and 40 yards off was a big 10-point. He took one look at the car, and was off on a dead run for thick cover. The bucks are still a bit spooky, but these deer are accustomed to vehicular traffic up and down the roads as we fill the feed stations. They may run off but they don’t go far, and after we disappear, they head for the closest food site.

Every deer that we saw today was an animal we’d seen before, but on occasion, there will be a surprise. We’ve seen a couple of good bucks that neither of us had seen before. Such sightings are always fun because we are good at telling how old a buck is just by looking at it.

If we see a big buck that may be 4 1/2 or 5 1/2 years old, it means that animal has managed to stay out of sight of all of our hunters for a long period of time. And it’s these periodic sightings of a jumbo buck that makes jumping into the truck and going roading that much more fun.

A big buck is always great fun to see in the off-season, but laying eyes on a big buck that has never been spotted before makes each of our roading trips an adventure.—The Whitetail Wizard

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Broadheads Are A Personal Choice

Is any one broadhead better than another? It depends on who you talk to, and what their preference might be. Any broadhead will kill a whitetail deer if it hits the right spot.

The problem is that some broadheads being shot by some bow hunters, may not hit the proper spot and may not kill a deer. That is a given.

My thoughts on broadheads have been documented in many outdoor magazines. I prefer and always shoot a two-blade, fixed-blade head. I made the Patriot 100- and 125-grain two-blade broadheads for many years, and stopped two or three years ago because they were too expensive to produce and had to be priced so high for me to make a profit that they didn’t sell ... except to those who’d used them for years.

Years ago I shot Bear two-blade heads and those made by Zwickey. Many of those heads weighed 125 to 155 grains, and I felt they were heavier than they needed to be. Both were great heads, and held up well, but I wanted something a bit lighter to balance out my choice of arrow shafts.

I tried the three, four and five-blade broadheads. They came with replacement blades, and I found some were available in 100-grain weights but I had trouble keeping the blades intact with the head when they went through the rib bones of a deer. One or two of the blades would often break off.

That was a number of years ago, and bow hunters tell me some of those old heads are no longer being made, and those that are currently being made are much better made.

Then came the era of the expandable or mechanical broadheads. These open on impact, and I tried them on the range. I found that some did shoot straight, some did not, and for them who like such heads, use them.

A friend of mine has always used a two-blade broadhead, and he shot the Patriots 100-grain head for years. He tried one of the mechanical heads on an 8-pointer. The buck walked directly under his tree stand, and he shoots often, and knew he could make the hit.

He came to full draw, aimed and sent the mechanical head into the spine of the buck. He not only shot through the spine but went through the heart and exited the chest. It’s not a shot he normally takes, and isn’t one that he would recommend to others, but he knew he could make it and kill the buck in its tracks.

He also has done the same thing with a two-blade broadhead. Many hunters say they have problems keeping two-blade heads flying straight but we’ve never had a problem. If any head has a tendency to plane, it is the three, four or five-blade heads.

We tune our bows, and then paper shoot them. Our two-blade heads cut a perfect hole through the paper. The arrow doesn’t go through nock-high, nock-low or cocked to either side. They go straight through.

One argument often heard is that bigger, heavier heads with multiple blades offer more cutting surface. If the arrow and broadhead hits in the ideal location, which should be our ultimate goal, a two-blade sharp head will kill a deer as effectively as a head with three or more blades.

A buddy bought some two-blade heads, and asked what I thought of their sharpness. I tested them between my thumb and forefinger, and had I exerted enough pressure, I could have cut my fingers. I told him they weren’t nearly sharp enough.

He was skeptical when I took those heads, used a coarse stone first, and then a fine-grit stone, and when I touched them up with a leather belt to remove the tiny burrs, I handed it back to him with a word of caution about them being sharp.

He tested the blades, and decided they were much sharper that when they came out of the factory package. Many replaceable blades are not sharp enough, and it’s why I shoot two-blade heads. I can sharpen them to razor sharpness, and they slice through bone and muscle, through vital organs, and often exit the animal. Most deer hit in the proper location with a really sharp broadheads will seldom go over 75 yards, and they often die within 50 yards.

I no longer make and sell my personal broadheads so it makes little difference to me what others use. It’s not going to put money in my pocket, but my hunt objective is to kill a deer cleanly and quickly.

I know I can do it with a two-blade broadhead ... every time.—The Whitetail Wizard

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Never Stop Learning About Deer

A man stopped in my archery shop today, looked around at some of the mounted deer heads and antlers on the wall, and asked if I’d shot them all.

I assured him that I had, and he nodded sagely as if learning a big secret, and thought for a minute before speaking again. “Tell me,” he asked, “how long did it take you to learn how to shoot deer with a bow?”

He asked the question I though the would, and my answer was on the tip of my tongue. I told him I was still learning, and my goal is to learn something new every day.

“Is it easy to learn something new from whitetail deer every day?” he asked. “Don’t you soon reach a point where you’ve learned everything there is to know about the animals?”

This guy was a deep thinker, and he felt there was only so much to learn, and then the deer start dropping over. Such is not the case, and it never will be like that.

Humans can continue to learn different things about deer hunting on a daily basis if they train themselves to observe, pay attention to what the animals do and why they do it, and keep studying the animals.

Many hunters reach a point after shooting 15 or 20 deer that they feel they have this deer-hunting business down pat. Little do they realize that they’ve merely scratched the surface. After one hunting season when they don’t score, and they spend time wondering why, they start learning about deer all over again.

Almost everyone I know who is an accomplished bow hunter has gone through this know-it-all stage. And then they finally come to believe that everything they thought they knew was wrong or the deer did something they’d never seen before, and the learning process begins anew.

It’s a major point with me. I look at deer hunting as a never-ending lesson to be learned. I want to know why deer travel one trail and rarely travel another one only 20 yards away. Why do deer often travel downwind when everyone tells you they always travel into the wind?

They travel downwind more often than many hunters suspect, and the reason is they can’t get to where they want to go by traveling upwind. It’s such an easy solution, but it takes some hunters years to understand why.

What makes big bucks and does go nocturnal? The easy answer is they have been spooked by hunters. However, in mid-October, with very little hunting pressure, deer will change their patterns.

In many cases it is a matter of switching from their summer mode of travel to preparing for the upcoming rut. Sure, hunters in the woods may cause a bit of change in their travel plans, but other factors enter into the equation.

It’s long been said there is more to bow hunting deer than shooting one with an arrow. A bow is a rather short-range tool, and even though some people can shoot accurately at 75 yards, very few I know can do it. So it means they must allow deer to get close before shooting, and that means the hunters must study deer movements, travel patterns and other things.

The more one studies deer, and the more they experience hunting under a wide range of weather conditions, they more they learn. If their memory is good, sooner or later a situation will arise, and they can draw on past experiences. They may remember when, on a similar kind of day with the same kind of wind, the bucks did this or that.

They put themselves into a similar situation, sit patiently and wait, and soon a buck will come by and provide a similar experience. It happens just often enough for people to pay close attention to what deer do.

Studying deer is a never-ending drill for hunters who wish to become more successful than their buddies. Or for those who care little about bragging rights, but feel determined to learn as much about deer as possible.

Those who spend the most time at it will succeed. They are better hunters because they pay attention in the field.—The Whitetail Wizard

Friday, January 26, 2007

Deer Mannerisms In The Snow

Snow on the ground does different things to different deer. Does are always more skittish until they become accustomed to it.

Bucks, once they get over the firearm and muzzleloader seasons, tend to move when they feel the need. If they are not spooked and jittery, they often walk about with their antlers held high in the air.

Fawns are the most fun to watch during the winter months. They remind of eight to 10-year-old kids. They run, chase each other through the snow, and although I’m not positive of it, I’ve seen fawns slip and slide on the sides or belly in the snow. I’ve often wondered if they do it on purpose.

Does are more watchful because they apparently feel they are more exposed to being seen against the white background. An old mature doe is the sentinel, and watches out for possible danger.

It’s these older does that also guard their turf against intrusion by their kids or other does. I’ve watched big does run heavy-antlered bucks off, and watching two evenly matches does fight over feeding rights is a raw look at how things change when winter arrives.

Both big does will stand upright on their back legs, and kick with this front feet. A 150- to 200-pound doe is a formidable opponent, and it’s not uncommon to see other deer with frayed ears, a chunk of hide and meat missing from the back or shoulder, and more than once I’ve seen young fawns get stomped to death by their mother or another old doe.

When does arrive to feed, and they are content that no danger is present, they tuck into the food. Most of the does have rapidly growing fawns in their womb so they are eating for themselves and their offspring that will be born in the spring.

I once watched a young doe fawn circle behind a cantankerous old doe, and she kicked back with her hind legs and feet, hit that doe fawn in the ribs, knocked it over and it lay motionless for long minutes. It finally regained its feet, teetered and wobbled about 20 yards, laid down and died. The kick had stove in its ribs and probably sent shards of bone into the lungs.

A big doe, on her back legs, will have her head nine or 10 feet in the air. If she slams down with both front feet on a smaller deer, broken ribs and leg bones can spell a death notice for a fawn.

Some deer walk through the snow as if the snow isn’t there. Other deer will mince through the snow as if trying to keep front getting their hooves cold and wet.

Deer often arrive at feeding areas in groups. Often the bucks who were mortal enemies in October and November, are now traveling in loose bachelor groups of three or four animals. They walk through the woods like a squadron of bullies, but they don’t mess much with the big pregnant does.

A doe may make a threatening move at one of the bucks or she may allow them to join her, but it’s obvious she lets them know where her space is and they seem to develop an understanding about not moving into her area. A doe that crowds a big buck may catch an antler tine, and most does avoid a mean buck.

Winter is a wonderful time to study deer. Watch and see how they react to outside stimuli, such as other feed moving in to feed. Watch those bucks that still have antlers, and it’s easy to tell which one is the boss.

A doe will control some things, and a buck will control other things, and among adult deer, they seem to realize where they stand in the pecking order of the herd. Those deer that do not instinctively honor this pecking order may not make it through the winter.—The Whitetail Wizard

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Modern Advances In Bows & Equipment

Back in the day when I picked up my first long bow, took it hunting and shot a buck, there were very few bow hunters around. Guys like Fred Bear were just getting going on making and selling good bows.

We had the choice between a long bow and recurve bow, and that was it. Many people who wanted to hunt with a bow made their own from Osage Orange, yew or other woods.

Many of our early bow were handmade, and they were just so accurate. Accuracy was nothing in those days when compared to what it is today, and I remember our old wood arrows that had a trajectory at 25 yards like a rainbow.

We didn’t have the clothing back in that era like we have today, and our boots left something to be desired. We had very little competition. Few people were terribly excited about trying to shoot a deer with a bow.

Well, folks, the times have changed. We no longer drive Model As and Model T Fords. Few cars have stick transmissions these days, and if you wanted the window down, you rolled it down.

Many of the broadhead of the early archery era were two-blade heads, and I still shoot a two-blade. But almost everything else has changed.

There are still people who believe in the long bow and recurve bow, and wouldn’t hunt with anything else, but the advent of the compound bow a few decades ago, began the new era of bow hunting. Many didn’t want to spend the time needed to learn how to shoot a stick bow, and they greeted the compound bows with enthusiasm.

I’ve been involved with making and selling bows for over 20 years. My C.P. Oneida Eagle Bow Company currently manufactures several models of hunting and target compound bows. The difference between them and the bows of 50 and 60 years ago is like the difference between the Easel and a new Lincoln.

Everything about the archery business (for compound bows) is about change. Hunters today want faster arrow speed, flatter nock travel, a smooth draw, lack of felt recoil when an arrow is shot, and they want that bow to shoot well.

I never bad-mouth a competitors bow, and only worry about making our C.P. Oneida Eagle bows to perform wonderfully. My efforts go in to making them the smoothest drawing and shooting bow in the industry, and each year we seek to make improvements to provide our customers with the finest compound bow that money can buy.

Is it easy? Of course not because we strive for perfection. We strive to make our compounds different and better. We have the only bow with recurve limbs, and that is just one thing that makes our bows different.

Our customer want to be different, and they like the way our bows shoot. We include training lessons with every bow we sell from our Buck Pole Archery Shop in Marion, Michigan, and people who come to the shop to buy a bow, leave with a much higher degree of accuracy than every before.

We don’t just make and sell bows. We teach people how to shoot them, with or without our patented 33mm red-dot sight. Our training methods are much the same as used by instinctive shooters, and learning to shoot the red-dot sight is not only quick but it’s easy.

Within 15 minutes we can have the average person shooting tighter groups than they ever dreamed possible. We’ve had beginner archers Robin Hood arrows during a 15-minute training session. The reason is our system works, and our bows are manufactured to make accurate shooting easier than every before.

You see, making and selling bows is only part of what we do. We also make people better hunters, more efficient and deadly archers, and people quickly learn there is more to deer hunting than shooting a whitetail.

It’s what we do, and we’re very good at it. If you need some convincing, stop by our shop and see for yourself. Our bows, sights and training systems work very well and it’s what makes us and our customers happy.—The Whitetail Wizard

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

When To Draw On A Deer

I’m constantly amazed at the people who tell me they get nailed by a deer every time they try to draw on one. If they indeed are getting spotted, it’s time they changed how and when they make their draw.

Studying a deer is so important, and although I’ve often stressed the need to study the animals, it appears that many fail to pay attention. Deer are quite easy to draw on except for those day when there is no air moving. Any type of breeze can be helpful.

The trick is to study the deer. Look at and watch them, and remember one thing: drawing on a buck walking directly at you will usually result in getting spotted.

There are any number of ways to come to full draw and not be detected, but all require paying attention to the deer you hope to shoot as well as all other nearby animals. If other deer are nearby, and you start to make your draw, a different deer may spot the movement.

The ideal time to draw is when the animal is broadside or quartering-away. Another ideal time to make your move is when the animal is moving slightly, feeding, looking away from you at other deer, or when animals are pushing each other around at a bait site.

A feeding deer may be moving slowly or be stationary, The head goes down to browse, and then it comes up to chew and look around. The ideal time to draw, smoothly and silently, is when the head starts down. Another good time is when the animal takes a step while feeding.

Deer often try to intimidate another nearby animal. They give the other deer “the look,” and that animal either moves away or accepts the challenge. The deer are focused on each other, and are paying little or no attention to things around them.

Deer are easy to draw on when their attention is distracted. A school bus rumbling down a potholed road will often make them look up and away from the hunter. An airplane passing overhead has worked for me on many occasions, and the distant snort of another deer will cause nearby animals to lift their head and look in that direction.

Use natural noises. In October when the leaves are down and dry, a squirrel scampering through the woods will cause most deer to look in that direction. I’ve seen deer look up at the sound of honking geese as the birds head for a feeding field or water. The loud noise of geese passing overhead can give a hunter adequate time to draw, aim and shoot as the deer look skyward.

There are so many ways in which a draw can be made but the hunter must be aware of them, have some idea how long the deer will be distracted, and be able to do it without noise or too much movement.

Standing up to shoot or sitting down is a matter of personal choice. The hunter who can shoot sitting down moves less than a sportsman who is sitting down and must stand to draw, aim and shoot. Just easing yourself up to a standing position creates much movement, and if it is necessary to turn, that is another movement. Raising the bow is a third movement, and all can be easily spotted.

A hunter who sits to shoot makes only one movement and that occurs when the bow is drawn. Many hunters worry that they must move to get lined up for the shot. Proper stand position, and patience, will usually put the hunter in a position where shifting of position is not necessary.

The other key to knowing when to draw on a deer is determined by how much patience a hunter has. Patience, and not rushing a shot, means waiting for the ideal time. That ideal time hinges on the hunter and his willingness to wait for the perfect opportunity.

It’s a fact that many hunters have no patience, and will shoot at a deer in any location, regardless of it being a low-percentage shot. Good hunters, and those who care about the deer they hunt, prefer to wait as long as it takes to obtain the perfect shot.

If it doesn’t come today, don’t shoot, and tomorrow the perfect shot may present itself. The hunter is who controls when a proper shot is taken. Never immediately take the shot a deer first offers because it likely will not be a good one. Wait, be patient, study deer, and you’ll learn when and when not to shoot.—The Whitetail Wizard

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Picking Your Shot

Perhaps the most elementary thing about bow hunting whitetail deer, and the one thing most often stressed, is a three-word statement: Pick your shot.

As often as those three words are bandied about, it’s amazing that more people do not pay attention and follow the rules. A deer walks out, stands patiently while the hunter hurriedly draws and shoots, and often the shot will miss or result in a wounded animal.

“Where did you hit the deer?” is my first question, knowing full well that their reply may or may not be accurate..

“"Right behind the front shoulder,” they say, pointing behind their arm pit. “It was a good hit. Probably took out both lungs and the heart.”

Well ... maybe and maybe not. The whole purpose of shooting a deer with a bow is to take a high-percentage shot. Only two shot placements really fit that category.

One is the broadside shot and the other is the quartering-away shot. Forget about what you see on television shows where the show host shoots the deer in one spot and many of those shots are low-percentage hits with little chance for recovery.

Hit a deer in the heart or lungs, and seldom will the animal travel 100 yards. In many cases the deer is dead within 65 yards.

So we trail the wounded buck, and it becomes abundantly clear after 100 yards that the arrow didn’t hit both lungs and/or the heart. Often it is bright red blood, indicating an a hit in a muscle. Sometimes, after a long and grueling tracking job, we find the deer that was hit in the guts, the back ham, high in the back, too far forward or too far back.

Knowing where your arrow is going is your responsibility. There is no room in deer hunting for guesswork. The hunter must know where he/she is aiming, and once the arrow is released, they should watch where the arrow hits.

A Game Tracker string tracking device is required when customers hunt my deer ranch. The tracking string is blaze orange in color, and is quite easy to follow. Tie the string securely behind the broadhead, and tighten down the broadhead into the insert.

A new item are arrow nocks that light up when the arrow is shot. They make it much easier to watch the arrow hit the deer. If the arrow passes through the deer and sticks in the ground, it remains lit for 24 hours. If the arrow stays inside the buck, and the animal pulls it out, the arrow will be found during the tracking job. One good look will tell the story.

If the arrow is covered with dark red frothy blood up to the feathers or vanes, it will be a short trailing job. If the arrow has white hair on it, chances are good it is a belly or brisket hit.

We all know what follow-through means. A golfer doesn’t stop his club once it hits the golf ball but follows through with the club over his shoulder. A tennis player doesn’t stop the swing when the racquet contacts the tennis ball, but the arm and racquet follows through.

Following through on an archery shot means holding the bow hand up, and continue looking through the red-dot scope sight. Watch the arrow until it disappears into the deer. Drop your arm at the arrow release means either a missed shot or a bad hit. Watch the arrow until contact.

Arrows with nocks that light up make it easier to follow the arrow flight. You should immediate know exactly where the arrow hit. Watch the deer and see how it reacts. A deer that kicks out its back legs when the arrow hits usually means a mortal heart-lung hit.

Pick a spot. That doesn’t mean an area on the deer but the precise spot where you want the arrow to hit. Forget about body size, antler size, number of points and everything else except for that one spot.

Don’t allow you attention to waver. Once the deer has been identified as a buck, and you know how many points it has, forget about it. Don’t linger with thought about its rack or you may shoot it in the antlers.

Concentrate your entire focus on that one spot. Make certain your anchor point is in the right spot, aim carefully at the chosen spot, and shoot. If your bow is accurately sighted in, and you don’t lift your head at the release, and don’t drop the bow as the release is made, the arrow will go where where it is supposed to go.

All you’ll have to do is follow a relatively short blood trail, notch the license in the appropriate locations, and attach the tag to the dead deer. How much simpler could it be?—The Whitetail Wizard

Monday, January 22, 2007

When A Kill Isn’t Necessary

There are so many things that make up the deer-hunting experience. So many decisions that must be properly made.

If one considers what thoughts must go into hunting, and how much of the experience is mental, it’s a wonder anyone goes deer hunting. But we do, and we muddle through, and some of us shoot a deer or two while others seldom or ever do.

The hour before I go hunting is spent in determining where I will hunt that day, based on deer movement and wind direction. For years I had a weather vane on top of my house, and I’d watch it religiously to see what direction the wind was coming from and where it was blowing to.

And then I hung a big colorful wind sock off one of my 10-foot-high fence posts, and it is sensitive even to the faintest pull of breeze. I always carry one or two milkweed pods, and once in my stand I release some of the fibers to determine which way the breeze carries them. This helps me know exactly where my scent is going, and it too is part of the decision making process on where to sit.

Based on my observation of the wind sock I start eliminating this or that stand for a variety of reasons. The wind is the hunters biggest problem, and I’ll not hunt if I can’t find a spot where my scent won’t be carried to approaching deer.

If I get a general sense of a good spot, I’ll drive fairly close and check it out more closely. It sometimes may take 10 winds to make a final determination, and it is time well spent. I try to leave early so I can go through all of in-field checks needed before I head into a stand.

The breeze will be tested not once but several times before I decide to sit in a spot or not. If a last-minute check shows the wind beginning to swirl or change directions, I may stay to see what it will do or quickly move to another area.

Swirling winds are of major importance to dedicated hunters. They don’t want to crawl into a tree stand, and just about the time the deer show up, the wind shifts and comes from a different direction.

Our basic wind patterns have changed dramatically in recent years. Ten years ago, if the wind was from the west, it would stay that way on most hunting days. Now, we are seeing far more east and southeasterly winds than every before.

There are days where the wind will drive a hunter crazy. It seems impossible to pin down a constant wind pattern, and a sportsman may climb into a tree with the deer trail upwind and the breeze in your face. Fifteen minutes later the breeze may have done a 180 and be blowing from you to the well-used deer trail.

It’s on those nearly impossible days with winds swirling from one quarter to the other, swinging around in a full circle, and when the wind conditions become so bad, I hop into one of my custom-made ground or elevated coops.

These coops are almost air-tight. A hunter who sits down, doesn’t move around, doesn’t bump the edge of the coop to make noise, may well have a deer approach within fairly easy shooting distance.

There are other days when there is no breeze at all, and your bow better have all of the squeaks tweaked out of it before climbing into an open tree stand. Deer are very alert on a still day, and sometimes drawing an arrow across the rest with a whisper-quiet move, will be heard by an alert deer.

My preference is for a day with a soft breeze that rattles the leaves a tiny bit but not enough to spook deer. If leaves are on the ground, and the deer moves through, they create some noise of their own. A draw can be made, and held until the deer is perfectly positioned to shoot.

Shooting a deer is easy (well, relatively easy) if the wind cooperates. It’s those days when the wind doesn’t do as it should that we start looking for a blind to sit in.

I’d rather sit outside, but when the wind fails to cooperate, it doesn’t bother me one bit to sit in a coop with the windows closed, and wait for a deer to walk by.—The Whitetail Wizard

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Trailing Whitetails: A Winter Study

A word of caution before we get too far into this topic. Too much human exposure to deer during periods of deep snow can cause too much stress on the animal. If deep snow is present do not practice this method.

There are people, particularly in New Hampshire, Vermont and even here in Michigan who have learned the art of trailing deer. They wait for a fresh snow, circle around the area, and pick up one lone track, often of a big deer.

They study that track, memorize everything about it and take off walking along the tracks. The deer will meander all over the place until it determines that a human is following along behind.

You’ll know when that happens because the animal, which often is a buck, will dash off and try to put distance between it and the person following along. That spurt may take the deer 300-400 yards before it slows down and stops. It usually will stop in an area where it can see its back-trail.

Along comes the hunter, and now the deer will start circling. Often the animal will circle around and be standing in thick cover as it watches the hunter mosey by on its track.

Once the animal is certain that a human is silently following its track it will often take off. It may jump a creek, walk through tag alder thickets, and dart into areas where travel is difficult. The animal will stop periodically, look back to check its trail, and once the hunter shows up, off he’ll go again.

I’ve done this in the past, and once when I was a kid, me and a neighbor man covered almost 20 miles on the track of a big buck we’d seen from the road. Hunting season was underway at the time, and I got a shot at the animal just before sundown but the deer was really too far away. It was a clean miss.

The trick is to keep moving the deer. On that occasion, the buck had made a huge circle and was heading back to where we’d first seen him. I tried to run through the snow, and when a person is running, he doesn’t see as well as when they are walking, and it’s too easy to bump the deer.

Ideally, what a hunter wants to do is keep the animal moving slowly, and once it begins making what appears to be a big circle, he is usually heading back toward home. Now it pays to get off the track, but keep it in view, and spend more time looking ahead for the animal.

Deer will become curious, and will stop to study the following hunter, and then run off again. I’d never advise it now that there is a fair amount of snow on the ground, but this method can work during the regular hunting season when deer are in their prime.

One thing to bear in mind is that deer do not respect the boundaries of private property but humans must obey the law. If this sounds like it could be a great deal of fun next season if the snow falls earlier than it did this year, hunt federal or state land. If crossing onto private property make certain you have the blessings of the property owner.

Once deer begin going back and forth on either side of their line of travel, get off the trail and move slowly. The deer is trying to lose the hunter, and he may be more intent on watching his back-trail than looking for a hunter moving slowly through heavy cover.

This method works, and I know a few guys that practice this method. They may walk two miles in a day or 15 miles. Much depends on the deer they are after, but when they bag a buck by tracking it, they’ve done something they should be very proud of.—The Whitetail Wizard

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Winter Practice Is Good For Hunters?

Many of my clients come from all over the state, and some tell me they shoot in an archery league at home to stay sharp during the winter. Others stop by an archery range, and for a few bucks can shoot if the shop isn’t busy.

The primary function here is to shoot enough to pick up the bow, draw, aim and shoot without feeling any discomfort. Stay away from shooting of any kind for a month or more, and the bow often feels a bit uncomfortable in your hands.

Shooting a few arrows makes the bow feel five pounds heavier than it really is, and the back and shoulder muscles get sore easily. Shooting is the best cure for any of these problems, and it makes accurate shooting much easier.

A buddy does his shooting out in his cavernous garage. A target is set up at one of the garage, and he can shoot at distances from 15 to 25 yards. Of course, on a bitter cold day like yesterday, five or six shots is about all he can handle.

Another friend has a 17-yard archery range in his basement. He is talking about cutting a hole in the wall which would allow him to shoot at 25 yards, and it would more closely simulate shooting from an enclosed hunting blind.

He practices standing up and sitting down while shooting, and this is good. As a rule, he normally shoots while sitting. He can don some fairly heavy clothing similar to what he would wear for December hunts or he can wear lighter clothing to simulate shooting in October.

Still another gent I know does shoot some, but he walks around his house, comes to full draw, centers the red-dot sight on the nearest light bulb, telephone or drawer pull, and he finds it is excellent practice.

Most people when they draw on a deer have to fiddle around a bit to get their sight pin or red-dot sight on target. All of that uses up some time, and if the buck is walking away, it makes people hurry. When they hurry, they usually do something else wrong, and make a bad shot.

Not this guy. He practices all winter drawing an empty bow and concentrating on putting the red-dot where he wants it. He works hard at it, and when he is shooting he will do the same thing with an arrow on the string. The bow comes up and back, and the arrow is on its way.

Such practice makes target acquisition quick and easy. He always nails his anchor point, and if he is on his anchor point and the red-dot is on the target, a twitch of the finger on a release sends the arrow downrange to where he wants it to go.

Practice can take many forms, but it’s important to become somewhat committed to handling your bow during the winter months. I shoot all the time at the archery shop as I demonstrate my no-nonsense method of drawing, achieving my anchor point, aiming and shooting.

It gives me the daily practice that I want, and the result is that when it comes time to shoot a deer during bow season, I am ready.

Many hunters wait until two or three weeks before the season opens, and start practicing. It’s better than nothing, but the people who are the finest shots practice shooting on a regular basis.

Their muscles are all tuned up, and their eyes automatically center on the aiming point, and all it takes is to reach up, touch the trigger, and the arrow goes where it should. It’s simple.—The Whitetail Wizard

Friday, January 19, 2007

Time Is Always On A Buck’s Side

A single belief is a continuing thread that runs through the management of my deer ranch. A buck needs time to grow to produce big antlers.

Big-antlered bucks don’t just happen. In much of Michigan, a buck never lives long enough to really produce big antlers. Often, the first buck with bone on his head that walks past a hunter gets shot.

There is little or no deliberation. Many hunters that see antlers of any size will shoot that buck, and check for size later. The vast majority of these bucks are 1 1/2-years-olds with their first set of antlers.

They get shot with a bow or firearm long before they have any potential for serious growth. For many hunters, killing a buck of this size is just an ego stroke. It offers the hunter bragging rights. Nothing more.

Wow! They get to brag about shooting a little basket rack 6-pointer. Or, even worse, they drop a spikehorn. It allows them to brag “I got my buck, did you?”

Bucks don’t just hit the ground at birth with a big set of antlers. It takes time for them to grow, and on average, 3 1/2 years is the minimum. If a buck can reach 4 1/2 years, there is some possibility of seeing the great potential this animal has.

Drop a 1 1/2-year-old buck with his first rack, and that animal will never get any larger. The hunter would be far better off, and do the local deer herd a favor by letting the little buck walk and shoot an anterless deer instead.

I’ve long maintained that shooting an old doe that has been around for several years is much more difficult than shooting a buck. Bucks can gain some instincts over time, and they may go nocturnal, but stick with a buck long enough and he’ll make a mistake. Old does seldom make a life-threatening mistake.

Time, or if you prefer, age is one major factor in a buck living long enough to grow a big rack. It takes three or more years for a bucks antlers to grow thick and long beams, a wide spread and long points.

The only way that buck can live in today’s society where they will wear the rack of a big monarch is for hunters to give them a break by shooting a doe instead. Another possibility is if they travel the first year near thick cover, and jump into it at the first gunshot. There, if they are naturally cautious, will keep their head down and not venture out until long after dark.

Everyone talks about deer “going nocturnal,” and heavy hunting pressure causes that to happen. If the deer smell too much human scent, see too many sportsmen walking to their stands, or catches a hunter moving while on stand, it sends them scurrying for the nearest patch of thick cover.

If it happens twice to a decent buck the animal may choose to hide out until all the people have left the woods. The bucks then come out, feed and jump back into their sanctuary. Hunting pressure and hunter errors forces deer into this nocturnal feeding-travel pattern.

The bottom line for sportsmen today is to spare some of the younger bucks, and if everyone in the immediate hunting area subscribes to and practices this form of deer management, there will be more and larger bucks within two years.

Hunters can remove excess doe numbers, spare the button bucks, and other young bucks, and in time their chance of seeing and shooting something with an antler spread of at least 18 inches will be better.

Cut these young bucks down when they still have a puny rack, and you’ve accomplished nothing toward trying to build a local herd of better than average deer.

It’s a tough sell because there are countless people who listened to their Daddy and old Grandpa who continue to mutter the old folklore idiocies, such as: “You can’t have more deer by shooting the mother deer.”

That old saw has been proven wrong for so many years it’s a wonder anyone still believes it. I raise deer for a living, and do a great job of it, and we shoot does and doe fawns. We let young bucks live, and shoot only larger bucks.

The bucks we shoot are major-league whitetails. We let the young bucks live, and if you want good bucks on your land, you’ll do the same.—The Whitetail Wizard

Practice All Winter With A Bow

Many of my clients come from all over the state, and some tell me they shoot in an archery league at home to stay sharp during the winter. Others stop by an archery range, and for a few bucks can shoot if the shop isn’t busy.

The primary function here is to shoot enough to pick up the bow, draw, aim and shoot without feeling any discomfort. Stay away from shooting of any kind for a month or more, and the bow often feels a bit uncomfortable in your hands.

Shooting a few arrows makes the bow feel five pounds heavier than it really is, and the back and shoulder muscles get sore easily. Shooting is the best cure for any of these problems, and it makes accurate shooting much easier.

A buddy does his shooting out in his cavernous garage. A target is set up at one of the garage, and he can shoot at distances from 15 to 25 yards. Of course, on a bitter cold day like yesterday, five or six shots is about all he can handle.

Another friend has a 17-yard archery range in his basement. He is talking about cutting a hole in the wall which would allow him to shoot at 25 yards, and it would more closely simulate shooting from an enclosed hunting blind.

He practices standing up and sitting down while shooting, and this is good. As a rule, he normally shoots while sitting. He can don some fairly heavy clothing similar to what he would wear for December hunts or he can wear lighter clothing to simulate shooting in October.

Still another gent I know does shoot some, but he walks around his house, comes to full draw, centers the red-dot sight on the nearest light bulb, telephone or drawer pull, and he finds it is excellent practice.

Most people when they draw on a deer have to fiddle around a bit to get their sight pin or red-dot sight on target. All of that uses up some time, and if the buck is walking away, it makes people hurry. When they hurry, they usually do something else wrong, and make a bad shot.

Not this guy. He practices all winter drawing an empty bow and concentrating on putting the red-dot where he wants it. He works hard at it, and when he is shooting he will do the same thing with an arrow on the string. The bow comes up and back, and the arrow is on its way.

Such practice makes target acquisition quick and easy. He always nails his anchor point, and if he is on his anchor point and the red-dot is on the target, a twitch of the finger on a release sends the arrow downrange to where he wants it to go.

Practice can take many forms, but it’s important to become somewhat committed to handling your bow during the winter months. I shoot all the time at the archery shop as I demonstrate my no-nonsense method of drawing, achieving my anchor point, aiming and shooting.

It gives me the daily practice that I want, and the result is that when it comes time to shoot a deer during bow season, I am ready.

Many hunters wait until two or three weeks before the season opens, and start practicing. It’s better than nothing, but the people who are the finest shots practice shooting on a regular basis.

Their muscles are all tuned up, and their eyes automatically center on the aiming point, and all it takes is to reach up, touch the trigger, and the arrow goes where it should. It’s simple.—The Whitetail Wizard