Whitetail Wizard

Friday, February 29, 2008

The Art Of Sitting Still

Anyone who has bow hunted more than one day knows the importance of being able to sit still and quiet. Knowing that, and doing it, are two different things.

I seldom hunt with another person, but in the past when my kids and grandkids were young, they would go out with me. Most adults can�??t sit still, and even fewer children can do so.

One of my grandchildren was fidgeting when I whispered to him to sit still. He whispered back that he was sitting still.

Your idea and my idea of being motionless and quiet may not jibe. My buddy Dave Richey has mastered the art of silent sitting. He has taken more black bears than he has fingers and toes, and he has learned some of the tricks to sitting as still as a stone for long periods of time.

�??The first bear I shot,�?� he said, �??was on Sept. 10, opening day of Upper Peninsula bear season. This was well over 30 years ago, and tree stand hunting wasn�??t legal. I sat downwind alongside but downwind of an active bear trail, my back against a big cedar root-wad on a warm day.

�??Sometime later, I awoke from my dozing and cracked one eye to see a black bear walking past at eight feet. The animal walked past, and a smooth draw and an clean bow shot took that bruin behind the front shoulder.�?�

The bear didn�??t go far, and Richey said he was absolutely motionless when the bear walked by because he was asleep. He admits that was an accident, but he�??s since learned to sit without movement or sound.

I�??ve found one trick to being still while hunting is to be comfortable, and a hunter must learn how to relax and be comfortable if he hopes to be motionless and still. The first step is to remove anything that can cause discomfort while sitting. Richey says his chief problem is he must remove his billfold from his back pocket. If he leaves it in, he can sit on it for 30 minutes before it starts to bother him.

Sit on the ground, and a root an inch under the dirt will put a crease in your butt, and you�??ll start moving to get comfortable. I make certain if I�??m in a tree stand that no branch stub is digging into my ribs or spine. A stone in the dirt under you butt will feel like a boulder after 30 minutes.

Check out each spot where you hunt. Remove offending branches or broken branch stubs. Many tree stands have uncomfortable seats because the seat is too low, and your knees are up under your chin and that makes for an uncomfortable seat. Just as bad or worse is a seat that is too high, and you have to sit on the edge of the seat to keep your feet steady on the platform. This cuts off blood flow in your legs, and your toes and feet go to sleep, which leads to movement.

Learn to get comfortable first, and then learn to relax your body and mind. Richey told me once that he meditates while in a stand, and although his eyes are closed and his heartbeat and respiration slows down, he can hear the rustle of bear hair against bracken ferns or the faint twig snap of a wandering buck.

This isn�??t recommended for someone unaccustomed to meditation. What works for most of us is to free our brain of all thought, to feel comfortable and relaxed, and to will yourself to being motionless. I�??ve had bucks approach to within several feet of me without seeing any movement, and that is part of the secret. Keep your mind uncluttered by unnecessary details, and it�??s much easier to remain motionless.

Fix your attention on a distant object, and stare at it. It will blur, come back into focus, and blur again. Stick with it, and don�??t think of deer or work or anything else, and try to become one with your surroundings.

This works for me and some other people I know, but it may not work for you without a great deal of practice. The first and foremost thing is to be comfortable. Once the human body is comfortable, start working on the mind.

Soon, with continuous practice, it will be possible to sit motionless for 30 minutes. Then start working on being motionless for an hour. If you can get up to two or three hours, many of your hunting problems will be solved.

You won�??t be moving so you won�??t be making a sound (unless you snore). Without movement or noise, the only thing you must worry about is being winded. Stay downwind of where deer travel, and you will have removed most of the key things that spook deer.

Practice now, long before bow season opens, to sit still and motionless in a non-hunting environment. If you can pull that off for two hours, and you follow the other rules of hunting, there won�??t be a deer that will be safe around you.�??The Whitetail Wizard

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Dreaming The Bow Hunting Dream

The spring dreams of one bow hunter may be totally different than those of another. While one may lust after a buck with a huge nontypical rack, the next person may dream of taking a high, wide and handsome typical rack.

This is my dream, and it’s one I hold dear to my heart. It’s one I wish to share with like-minded sportsmen. My dream is to help people learn more about bow hunting, and it’s the primary reason I’m working hard on my book which hopefully will be completed in the early fall.

Everyone believes their hunting methods are proper and productive. Many people have learned what they know from their parents and grand-parents, and some have learned from siblings or other friends and relatives.

Sadly, some who teach and others who learn about deer hunting, are not being taught properly. Times change and hunting methods change, and in many cases, the hunter doesn’t change with the times. They often keep hunting the same places, sitting in the same spot year after year, and haven’t realized that the deer have moved to different locations to bed down and feed.

Michigan’s deer numbers in much of the upper two-thirds of the state have been greatly reduced. Some indicators show the deer numbers are coming back but we’ll probably never see a deer population like those of 10-15 years ago. Many hunters stopped hunting when deer numbers began to plummet.

Hunting whitetail deer has changed, even over the past five years. Areas that once held large numbers of deer have disappeared, and fewer animals are being seen. I see many older hunters who should know better plan their hunt around one particular stand. They hunt that spot whether the wind is right or wrong for that location, and this happens on a daily basis.

Deer catch one whiff of human scent and that day’s deer hunt is over long before the hunter realizes he/she is wasting his time. The modern deer is a bit more edgy, more alert to possible days, and often spend time looking for hunters. Years ago, deer never looked up but now they do because they’ve been frightened by too many hunters in trees.

Deer, after generations of bumping into hunters in the woods, can be a bit more difficult to fool. Hunters must be more knowledgeable about stand placement, how to walk into and out of the stands, and how it is positioned.

Learn to study the prevailing breezes at each stand, know how to stay downwind of where deer travel, don’t brush up against bushes and trees with clothing, and wear rubber boots and clean clothes.

Everyone I know who is serious about deer hunting wears rubber boots, and I know a few guys who wear rubber hip boots or rubber waders.

There are two main groups of deer hunters. Those who hunt the way their Daddy and Gran’Daddy did, and those who have learned to adapt to changing deer patterns and changes in wind directions. The first bunch don’t hurt the deer population very much, but the second group is as serious as a heart attack about hunting these animals.

Bow hunting is an offshoot of how I make my living by manufacturing the various models of C.P Oneida Eagle bows. The hunting is a big part of my lifestyle, and what makes me feel really good about my life is I can teach people how to accurately shoot a compound bow.

I also enjoy teaching people how to hunt deer. Anyone who wishes to learn how to hunt can continue reading these daily weblogs. This writing is part of my teaching process.

Hunters should consider buying a copy of my paperback book. It is called �??The Life Of The Legendary Whitetail Wizard.�?� It is $35 postpaid by sending a check to Claude Pollington, 20669 30th Avenue, Marion, MI 49665.

I�??m closing in on my third year of writing daily webblogs, and there continues to be new and different things to write about whitetail deer and how to hunt them.—The Whitetail Wizard

Saturday, February 23, 2008

What Is A Bow Hunter?

The above title is a question that has often been asked of me, and it’s always a very difficult one to answer. A true bow hunter is a combination of many things, all of which are upstanding and good.

A bow hunter is ...

*A person who revels in nature, loves the outdoors, seeks a difficult challenge, equals the odds between hunted and hunter as much as possible, and who is finely tuned to the ways of the game we seek.

*One who seeks his or her game on a one-on-one basis, and who strives to get close enough to deliver a quick and certain death from a well-placed arrow.

*A person who masters accurate arrow placement, and one who spends long hours testing personal mettle against a whitetail buck that is more attuned to its surroundings than we are. This person shrugs off rain, forgets about windy weather, and laughs at a snow storm. Deer hunters hunt deer, and weather conditions are meaningless. We become one with the weather, and use it whenever possible, to our advantage.

*A hunter who thrills to the small things, and takes brief moments each day to savor the wildness of the animal being hunted and the land where such game lives. We don’t live for the kill; we live to have had the opportunity in this free society to hunt in a well regulated and legal manner.

*Someone who knows that getting close to game means knowing and playing the wind, studying the habits of deer, knowing how and when to move, and being one with his bow and the land. He or she finds more love in the act of hunting than in the act of killing although the two are ever-entwined and a respect for the game we hunt is most important.

*One who enjoys the fine feel of a smooth bow, the effortless drawing of the string, the smooth feel of a carbon arrow, and the “whisst” of a arrow leaving the bow. It’s the silent but straight flight of an arrow, and seeing the broadhead hit where we aim.

*Having the knowledge of deer habits that allow us to defeat the most important protections that deer possess: the sense of a deer hearing the faint whisper of clothing against rough bark; a flicker of movement as a hunter comes to full draw prior to a shot; or the deer’s sense of smell that allow them to pinpoint a careless human presence.

*More than just someone who takes but gives nothing back to nature. A bow hunter is more than a person dressed in camo clothing with a hunting license in his pocket. We are caring, giving folks, who pursue deer with a passion. We are superb hunters because we must be to get close shots at 15 to 20 yards. We are the supreme hunting predator, and we take pride in our accomplishments without having to brag.

*It is teaching our children, and our grandchildren, this ancient art of bow hunting. What we do is a time-honored tradition, and it is a way of life for us and for others who will follow the bow hunter’s creed.

*We, as avid bow hunters, are above-average in our hunting skills. We rely less on luck, and work hard to elevate those hunting skills that allow us to succeed. We hunt, not because our friends do, but because we must. We need to hunt and we must hunt in order to achieve these skills, and it is through long hours of practice that we become proficient.

We are bow hunters, and we are most proud of it.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Don�??t Hunt Angry

Deer hunting, like so many other things, is always good. It’s just that some hunting days are better than others.

And, if you trust nothing else, know this: hunting success can get worse. Success depends, in large part on wind, weather conditions and hunting pressure. It’s easy to control hunting pressure on my land, but I know other people always hunt on federal or state land. Wherever we hunt, we cannot change the wind or weather conditions.

Anglers have the same problems. Too much rain or snow can affect how deer move. The same happens when the wind swirls, or when lightning and thunder start shaking up the sky.

So our hunts have been planned for a week and the weather doesn’t cooperate. We spit and sputter, gripe and complain, and then we go out and hunt angry.

Hunting angry doesn’t help a thing. If anything, being mad about something we can’t control doesn’t do anything except mess up our hunting judgment. It makes us make mistakes.

We mess up. We get mad, and that makes us feel worse, and we begin to fidget. We move around, make the occasional noise, and any deer that may have come to us is long gone.

Why get mad? I’ve hunted deer for too long, and over many years, have become somewhat philosophical about bad weather. Learn to take the good with the bad, and think happy thoughts than thinking how angry you are. That line of thinking only make people madder, and that only increases their problems.

Don’t sweat the small stuff. Instead of focusing on the things we can’t control, change your thoughts and think about those things that can be changed.

Climb a tree, if need be, and set in an elevated coop and do whatever can be done to beat the wind. Or ... do what some hunters do and that is to go home and take a nap. There is always tomorrow.

Taking the good with the bad doesn’t always mean that a bad day can’t be productive. I’ve sat out, and had the wind ripping leaves off the trees, and about 30 minutes before shooting time ends, the wind gusts taper off and die. It then becomes whisper quiet, so quiet you are soon wishing for a soft breeze.

If some light rain falls when the wind dies down, there can be some very good deer movements. It seems as if the deer are happy to see the weather change as they move out to feed.

Caution often is more likely when deer move after a strong wind and rain storm. Hunters must learn to keep their cool,
and take the good with the bad even though we seem to be having more bad weather in the early season than ever before.

Last-minute weather changes have paid off for me more times than I can remember. Heading in to the house, and skipping the evening hunt, often means hunters quite possibly will miss the finest 30 minutes of the day as the wind and rain dies.

It’s far better to consider the weather, whether good or bad, as part of the deer-hunting experience. Such last-minute weather changes don’t happen often enough that we can plan around them, but they can pay off often enough that they should be one more trick in our deer-hunting repertoire.

It’s an awesome feeling when we’ve rode out the bad weather, and than see the last-minute change that we’ve hoped for. We no longer are mad at the weather, and things start looking up. When the bad weather suddenly changes, and the good weather moves in and the deer start to move, we fell blessed as we sit in a ground blind or tree stand.

Look up at the sky, nod and say “thanks,” and get ready for a nice buck to step out of heavy cover and be within easy bow range. Just remember: it never pays to hunt angry.—The Whitetail Wizard

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Find The Holes In Heavy Cover

The fog finally disappeared last fall after nearly three days of ground-hugging pea soup that drifted and snaked its way through heavy cover. Drifting fog has a nasty habit of changing the looks of whatever the deer hunter can see, and seeing anything can be a challenge.

I took a break from some of my usual haunts and tried a new spot in some cedars. I set up near a small clearing on a ridge within 50 yards of the thickest part of the swamp.

It looked like a natural but it brought to mind many other hunts in similar cover. It meant finding holes through thick cover, and then determining where a shot is possible and where it isn�??t.

My stand was in a cluster of saplings with a thick cedar at my back. Some low brush grew up in front of me to a height of several feet. I settled back, leaned my back against the pine tree, and surveyed my surroundings.

An opening lay in front of me, and a heavily wooded ridge curved from behind me, around my left side, straightened out in front of my position, and curved around to my right. The deer often came from the dense swamp behind me and followed the ridge from left to right and crossed through the 20-yard-wide clearing.

Look for the holes was a recurring thought. Don’t expect a decent buck to walk openly through the clearing; look for him to ease around the stand. Find the holes, the openings where a bow shot would be possible.

Openings are common in most woods but this was close-in hunting. It was important to look for a small opening in the timber where a shot might be taken, but it also involved looking at the brush between me and the dark timber behind it.

There’s a hole, I thought. It’s two feet wide and a foot high near me but only a foot square in the woods. I found another hole, an opening 25 yards away where the ground sloped up to the ridge. It would offer an opening one-and-a-half feet in diameter should a buck pass through it. Still another was where a birch had toppled into another birch, and hung up about four feet off the ground. A deer that passed through that area would be framed in white at 15 yards.

The first 20 minutes were spent finding the holes. It then became important to memorize their locations, and check each area out with binoculars to make certain that no tiny twigs would be in the way of my arrow. Two of the spots were eliminated because of unseen twigs or branches that were revealed once the binoculars were used.

I found all the holes that could offer a possible shooting lane. I’ve seen some shooting lanes that hunters cut that look like the spokes on a bicycle wheel, and I’ve found that deer dislike crossing such openings. If they do cross, the hunter has only a split second to aim and shoot.

My idea of an opening or hole, if you will, is just large enough to thread a carefully aimed arrow through to nail a deer. It takes a calm hand.

That night’s hunt was a great night to be outdoors. There wasn’t a deer heard or seen, but somehow it didn’t matter. It was a night of hole finding, and it’s good practice for future hunts. Keep hole-hunting in mind the next time you hunt in really thick cover.

Heavy cover is where good bucks travel, and it takes patience to accurately shoot an arrow through a small hole. It’s where 3-D archery ranges, with targets at various distances through cover, can help make a bow hunter a much better shot.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Make A Winter Lists Of Things To Do Next Spring

It’s an easy thing to do. Most of us, including me, know that certain lists must be made and kept up to date. If we don’t write a thought down when we think of it, that chore is easily forgotten.

It has happened to me many times in the past. I’ll make a list, be driving to the shop, and suddenly I think of something else that has to be done to one of my ground or tree stands.

Driving and writing notes isn’t a good idea so I postpone writing down the thought until I get to work. A customer then asks a question, or a problem needs to be solved, and the thought disappears in an instant.

Planning ahead for spring chores with hunting stands means writing them down. Some stands need very little care, but others always require some preseason attention.

As I’ve noted in the past, many of our elevated stands are enclosed coops on stilts or somewhat open box blinds. The stress of changing seasons from hot to warm to cold and back to warm, plus rain and snow and high winds, can take its toll on wood stands.

We pay particular attention to wooden stands. We check to see if the wood is worn, if nails or screws are starting to pull lose, and whether the railing is stable. An unstable railing, and a slip, can throw a person against the railing. It could break or tear loose, and lead to a bad fall.

My insurance is a hefty amount every year, and we’ve never had a claim. We don’t want one, and that is why we are so picky about checking out each stand before hunting starts.

We climb into the stand and check the chairs or stools. We check the carpet on the floor, and we grab hole of a wall or shooting window, and push and pull it. We are trying to locate any squeaks. A loose nail or screw can lead to a creaky board, and that can mean a sound being made as a hunter comes to full draw on a good buck.

We like our stands as air-tight as possible, but it’s difficult to do when windows must be opened to shoot. We check windows to see if they make noise when opened. We make sure that doors close tightly.

We double-check the wooden steps that lead up to the elevated stand. We test every step to make certain it is safe, and if we have an extra heavy hunter, they usually will hunt from a brand-new stand that is sound. This doesn’t mean that some stands are not sound; a new stand hasn’t been through one or two hunting seasons. The chance of a problem is minimal with new stands.