Whitetail Wizard

Friday, May 30, 2008

Itâ??s Time To Be Looking For Deer

My deer watching actively begins just a bit before all of the snow melts away in the spring. This carries me through that stage when does are heavy with fawn, and then the animals seem to disappear as the fawns are born.

Several weeks go by as this is the fawning season, and then the little ones—long-legged, skinny and spotted—start showing up to feed with their mother. It’s fun to watch fawns run and play and chase each other about.

My daily observations continue without skipping a beat. I’ll sometimes spend hours watching deer, especially if it appears that the antlered bucks, their head-gear all fuzzy with velvet, begin to hang out in certain locations.

Knowing where they are in late spring and early summer gives me a leg up on knowing where to look for deer in October.

Watching deer is a good way to become more familiar with seeing the animals. It helps hunters avoid that dreaded “buck fever” that seems to strike everyone at one time or another. Seeing deer up-close is a major factor in becoming accustomed to them, and it can remove some of the jitters.

Watching deer means more than looking at them. It also means studying their body language, and it enables hunters to know what certain deer actions or postures mean.

This may all sound a bit simple to longtime hunters, but it’s important to remember that many sportsmen are becoming deer hunters for the first time. Few people ever tell them what to expect, and this daily weblog is for the beginning and proficient hunter alike.

For instance: a deer of either sex, that stands with its head held high and with its ears swiveling, is on full alert. The ears are trying to hear any foreign sounds that could mean danger, and the nose is working overtime sorting odors on the wind. An attempt to shoot a wary animal in a head-up position, especially on a calm day, is very difficult. The deer often can hear an arrow gliding over the rest as the bow comes to full draw.

There are ways to reduce this noise: shrink-wrap rubber tubing can be fit over the prongs of an arrow rest, and they can help silence a bow. Some people use moleskin to cover the arrow rest to make it silent, and others coat the arrow shaft with silicone so it travels silently across the rest.

Sportsmen should work with their local archery shop, and take every precaution possible to silence a bow when it is drawn and shot. There isn’t any compound bow that is completely silent on the shot, but the most critical time of all is when the hunter comes to full draw. Little creaks or squeaks as the bow is drawn is what will spook deer.

Studying deer during the summer can teach a hunter how and when to draw on a deer. This how-to-draw business is reasonably easy: draw when the deer is properly positioned for a high percentage shot, and when the deer is occupied with other deer, feeding, looking elsewhere, and when watching oncoming bucks.

Make certain the deer to be shot with a bow is busy doing something else, and that no other nearby deer are looking in your direction. Don’t raise the bow in a herky-jerky manner. Make the draw as smooth as possible with a minimum of movement, and once started, continue until you are at full draw.

Many hunters are caught while drawing on a deer. Intense study of the animals will tell a hunter when to draw. A hurried draw, large amounts of arm and body motion, noisy bows or a squeaky stand as the bow is drawn are just several other things guaranteed to spook deer.

The major thing about spending time afield and watching whitetails is that is allows sportsmen to become accustomed to seeing deer. It allows us to study them as they feed, nurse their fawns, move from thick cover to open crop lands or back to cover, and it enables us to learn how to read what the deer’s body language tells us.

Study deer, learn from their actions, and it can be valuable once the hunting season begins. Keep reading, and if I can keep this computer rolling, we’ll share some good deer-hunting times together.—The Whitetail Wizard

Monday, May 26, 2008

Is Deer Hunting Near Water Productivee?

Years ago it was my belief that if I could find a good water hole, and hunt it wisely, I would waylay some big deer. It didn’t happen.

I spent a good bit of time, perhaps even too much time hunting creeks and standing puddles in low-lying areas whenever I encountered them, but my success ratio didn’t improve. If anything, I saw fewer deer.

It’s my thought now that deer need water, but often can get a great deal of moisture from natural vegetation while traveling at night and at dawn as dew settles over deer habitat. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve seen deer drink at creeks, ponds or waterholes, but such behavior seems somewhat more common in the desert or mountainous west.

I hunt Colorado every fall for elk, and usually manage to shoot a bull at a waterhole I’ve hunted for many years. Experience has taught me where the elk come from, the approximate time they will appear although they can show up at any time, and I’ve watched elk and deer drink on many occasions.

It seems that here in the midwest the deer aren’t all that stuck on going to waterholes. In fact, the deer I’ve seen taking a sip from one of my ponds, always act as if they feel exposed to danger. I know that deer often go to my ponds after dark for a drink but it’s not common to see them at the ponds during daylight hours.

One way of looking at this situation about water intake is to be afield at dawn. Often the bushes, grass, bracken ferns, leaves and weeds are dripping with dew. Deer often nibble as they walk toward their bedding areas, and each mouthful of food they ingest is covered with water.

I’ve got two stands near an old beaver flooding. A tiny creek flows through it, and there have been people sitting in each of those beaver pond coops, and I’ve never had anyone tell me they saw a deer drinking from the pond or the creek.

Another location has a tiny trickle of water running behind it, and that creek bank has tracks going back and forth across it, but one never sees tracks in the creek. The deer step across it, and keep going and fulfill their water intake at night.

I once had a tree stand at a creek crossing, and I shot a good number of bucks from that spot, but not once did I see a buck stop for a sip or a chugalug. They cross it and keep going. They always offered a good shot, and they would usually hesitate for just a second before crossing, and that is when I took my shot.

I’d never discourage someone from hunting at a creek or river crossing, because such spots can be good, but any deer they take there are shot as the animal crosses the waterway, not when they stop to drink. It’s just the way these things work.

And, mind you, I’m not saying that deer won’t take a drink during daylight hours, but they are very cautious and approach such drinking spots with extreme caution. The hunter must be prepared for a shot at an extremely wary animal at such locations.

Me, I’d rather hunt near food any time. Deer are constantly eating, and my ranch gives me ample opportunities to prove that point. Deer will lay down, remain motionless for 30 minutes to an hour, get up, move around a bit and feed, and lay back down again. They repeat this regimen on a continuous basis.

This happens regularly during daylight hours when the animals are not disturbed. They don’t eat much, and are cautious while eating, but the food sources and travel routes are where I choose to hunt.

They are far more reliable than hunting near water, and hunting the food sources often offers better stand locations. It works here on this ranch, and it works everywhere else. â??â?? The Whitetail Wizard.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

What Is A Trophy Buck?

A trophy buck means different things to different people. It’s like beauty: you may not know what it is but recognize the beauty when you see it.

Every outdoor magazine worthy of the name will run cover photos of some truly huge bucks. Most of the television bucks seen would be considered a trophy buck to all but the record-book hunters.

Big-buck photos or videos sell television shows. Sadly, for them, the average 8-point is not considered a trophy buck. They donâ??t know what they are missing but hunting solely for a trophy.

I own a deer ranch. I can shoot whatever buck I want, but hunting always should mean something more to a hunter than shooting a buck with huge head gear.

If someone wants a big buck, and is willing to pay the freight, I’ll let him shoot one. It takes a tremendous amount of money to run an operation as big as mine. Big bucks bring in big dollar figures.

I’ll shoot the occasional big buck but I also shoot small bucks as well as does and fawns. There are some bucks that do not fit the criteria of what I want my breeding animals to be. An 8-point with a basket rack of scraggly antlers is a cull or management buck. It is a small buck that tells me that it is not, nor will it ever be, a trophy buck by anyone’s standards.

So what defines trophy status? Whatever you or I think may be far from what others consider a trophy buck.

A youngster on his or her first hunt may consider a doe or fawn a trophy, and wisely so. For most hunters who can count on one hand the number of deer they have shot and have fingers left over, may consider a fork-horn with a six-inch spread to be a trophy. Perhaps it might even be a buck with long spikes.

On the other hand, many hunters seem to set a basic standard of 8 points. Whether is has heavy mass or is a 1 1/2-year-old with a tiny basket rack makes it a trophy buck to some people. Frankly, I believe any buck should be considered a trophy.

Setting goals is OK but for most people, once that goal is met, they ratchet their standards up another notch. Say they want an 18-inch 8-point with heavy tines, and get it, then they will probably want a 10-point with a 20-inch spread.

If they score on such an animal, where do they go next? Many then lust for a 200-point buck. If they don’t get it, they are disappointed and upset, and therefore have lost track of what deer hunting is all about. The hunt is, and always should be, something more than a dead deer and a mass of antler bone.

Such people soon learn their hunt for bigger and supposedly better bucks will eventually end. It’s hard to keep climbing that bigger and better ladder.

The challenge of the hunt is far more important than the size of the animal taken. Want a really tough challenge?

Start hunting the oldest doe on the property. She will run a bow hunter around in circles. Taking an old doe that knows she is being hunted is a challenge worth tackling.

Hunting is not about winning or losing but it is about how the hunt plays out. It’s not about winners and losers. Hunting is so much more than just dead meat and big antlers.

Some sportsmen compare hunting to a game. This is not a game but it is a matter of life and death for the animal. How we look at hunting is a very important part of the overall experience.

If we are to kill an animal, we must show it all due respect and utilize that meat to nourish our bodies. We must hunt with a passion; respect that which we hunt and kill; and make any deer we kill a trophy, regardless of its size, antler spread or the number of points.

We are hunters, and to us, a trophy doesn’t have to be a huge buck or a buck at all, but it must represent a personal challenge. We must be ever mindful of exactly what that animal is and what it truly means to us.

It is, and must always be, something more than antlers and meat. It must be a deep emotional moment for us, and when we learn to accept that fact, any deer taken becomes a trophy animal.—The Whitetail Wizard

Monday, May 19, 2008

Shooting A Red-Dot Sight

Thousands of bow sights are on the market. All have fans devoted to their favorite bow sight, and I’m no different.

Dave Richey ( http://www.daverichey.com ) attended an outdoor writers conference at Marco Island, Florida in 1984. He returned with what would turn out to be a major innovation for me.

It was a Tasco red-dot sight designed primarily for handgun shooters. He saw the potential for it to be adapted as a bow sight, and brought home a sample to test, and I’d build a bow mount for it. It took less than 10 minutes to see how appropriate it would be for bow hunting or target shooting.

Here was a challenge I could sink my teeth into, and within a week I had made my first bow mount. It held the red-dot sight at the proper height and position to offer a positive sighting device at full draw.

What’s more, it was perfectly legal. It has an internal red-dot, and no external light shines on a game animal. Besides, when properly used, it will tell the shooter if he is shooting incorrectly and whether the bow is canted to one side or the other.

I took it to Ontario on a bear hunt two weeks later, and it worked like a charm. The early red-dot model only had a few brightness settings and was built on a 30mm tube. New models have 11 brightness settings and are made on a 33mm tube.

My first mount for the sight was heavy, and over the 24 years since, it has undergone several generational changes and improvements. The extra weight is hardly noticeable, but it delivers positive improvements in arrow accuracy.

What’s more is that Dave Richey, who put me on this track in the first place, has become a constant user for the past several years. He has glaucoma, and has lost the vision in his left eye, and the disease is affecting his right-eye vision as well.

Regular pin sights, lighted pins, pendulum sights: all have been tried by him, and he still shoots my red-dot sight.

“The other sights no longer work for me,” Richey told me. “I never take a bow shot beyond 15 yards, and at that range with single-eye vision, I shot a buck and doe this year. Each deer shot was hit in the heart or lungs, and none traveled over 50 yards. I owe my ability to continue bow hunting to Pollington’s Pro-Point red-dot sight.”

Richey feels that anyone with vision problems could benefit from the this sight. However, it’s not necessary for someone to have an eye problem. Anyone can learn to shoot better with this sight.

It has 11 brightness settings controlled by a rheostat that produces everything from a large red dot for the brightest days to a tiny dot used during the last 30 minutes after sundown.

Hunters also can learn how to “gap” with this sight. Everyone must know how their arrows will hit based on the poundage being drawn. A hunter pulling 60 pounds with an aluminum or carbon arrow can quickly sight in his or her bow at 20 yards. Once competent shooting is possible, move back to 25, 30, 40 or 50 yards.

Place a target on a round hay bale, and shoot with the red-dot set at 20 yards. Try shooting at 25 yards and see where the arrow impacts. If it is shooting no more than three inches low, let it as is and hold mid-body on a deer at 25 yards and shoot it.

A move to 30 yards may cause more of a drop, but if the drop is six inches, hold just six inches higher on the deer’s body and shoot. Gapping is the amount of hold-over at given distances. When it comes to 40, 50 or more yards, a rangefinder (time permitting) can give you the actual distance. If a hunter has confidence in his bow and shooting ability, the knowledge of gapping can lead to deadly killing shots.

It must be stated that a great deal of practice must be taken to become accurate on longer shots. Each hunter must know his/her capabilities, and never exceed that distance. When Dave Richey says he’s qualified only for 15-yard bow shots, he doesn’t take shots at 20 yards. Respect for the animals we hunt must become a part of our mental makeup.

The red-dot sight isn’t for everyone. I’m not naive enough to believe I can sell one to every bow hunter. However, I’m a good enough businessman to know that a red-dot sight can make people better shots.

And for me, that’s good enough. Hunters who want the finest bow sight on the market know where to come to get one. Right here!

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Idle Thoughts During A Mid-May Rain

These warm days of spring cause me to start thinking that there is only a bit more than five months before we can climb into a tree stand, and start deer hunting again.

That time will pass before we know it, and between now and then, it’s time to develop a wish list. That wish list may include a new C.P. Oneida Eagle bow, a red-dot sight, dreams of a massive 10-pointer at 15 yards, digging a new pit blind, or a whole host of other items.

One of my buddies loves wool clothing. He and I spoke a few days ago, and he is going shopping for another set of green-and-black checked wool jacket and trousers. He wears wool in cool or warm weather, and likes it because it is so quiet. That is the top item on his wish list, and since he loves to hunt from cedar or pine trees, the coloration makes it impossible for deer to spot him unless he moves, which he doesn’t.

Another friend, getting a bit long in the tooth like me, is tired of strap-on tree stand steps and hanging a small stand several times every year. He’s shopping for the sturdiest and most well-built and quiet ladder stand available. He wants arm rests on it, a large enough platform to move slightly if necessary, and something that is easier to climb than going up and down strap-on tree steps. He fears falling, and wants a ladder stand because they are the easiest and safest of all tree stands to use but it still takes two people to put it up.

Still another hunter is looking for one of those fabric covers that enclose a tree stand, and he wants one that has an umbrella-like cover to allow him to hunt on rainy days. He tends to be a bit fidgety, and he knows it, and wants to help conceal his small motions.

Another of my hunting buddies is trying to figure out an easier way to dig a pit blind than with a shovel. He’s tired of having to chop through tree roots, dig out big rocks, and I’ve recommended that he pay some kid $25 to dig it for him. He’s warming to that idea, but figures the kid will probably want $50 or more to dig it to his specifications. It’s one of the key items on his spring wish list.

OK, enough about them. What about me?

I’m impossible to buy for. If I want something, I go out and buy it. So what is it that trips my trigger, and is there something I’d like?

I’m still working on the idea but I want a way to eliminate all human odor from an elevated or ground-level coop. I’ve messed around with 30-foot pieces of metal chimney sections secured to a tree, and it carries scent away from the stand.

But once a window is opened to take a shot, human scent can seep out. Some have suggested a sealing the window opening with a thin layer of plastic similar to Saran Wrap, and that might work if the Game Tracker string would pass through the hole. I’ll have to experiment with it a little bit, but one question is how to keep the plastic in place so it doesn’t come undone and flap around and spook deer. I’m also concerned about the shiny colored wrapping that may spook deer.

I hunt with knee-high rubber boots, and they are such a hassle to put on and take on when wearing two pair of bulky socks

What else do I need?

Nope, my raggedy coveralls still have some life in them. My heavy December furry hat is just fine, and my bow and red-dot sight works perfectly. I hunt my own land so have no other special needs.

I think about October quite a bit, but frankly, we have half-a-year to go before the season opens. I may take interest in some other item, but I try to keep my hunting life as simple as possible. If I can’t carry it in my pocket, I don’t need it.

It’s my thought that I’ll continue giving the scent-free elevated or ground coops more thought. If it can get this thing right, it will be great news for deer hunters because it will eliminate any possibility of a deer getting your scent while hunting.

Let’s see now .....

Friday, May 16, 2008

Hunches Donâ??t Always Pay Off.

I’ve hunted my land for so many years that I know where the travel routes of big bucks are found, and sometimes I play a hunch and it doesn’t pan out. Here’s just one example.

We had a dozen hunters one day last season, and I knew the bucks would be moving. I had each hunter in a great spot for bow or firearm hunting inside my enclosure, and we had moved a new coop onto a high piece of rolling ground in the middle of one of my big open fields.

I drove to it with several stops along the way. I had a Bushnell range-finder, and stopped at a dozen places where I knew bucks would cross the field. One location was 301 yards, another was 311, one was 266 yards, and all the others averaged 200 to 275 yards.

Someone asked if I write down the yardage of each location, and I told them they are stored in my head. If I spot a buck at a certain location, I know it is 311 yards. My rifle is sighted in to be dead-on at 300 yards, and it wears a quality Swarovski variable power scope and I’ve had a bunch of practice shooting at long distances with it.

The new coop had two major problems, and both needed fixing. One was that it was a hunting coop with windows on three sides, and those windows had screens on them. A hunting coop doesn’t need window screens for any kind of hunting.

Two of us quickly removed the screens. I tried to call Jeremy Castle to come and cut a door window in the coop for me. I couldn’t raise him so we went looking, and found him finishing up a repair on another coop.

“I’m going to sit in my new blind tonight and see if I can spot that big buck,” I told him. “I need a hurry-up window cut in the door, and a piece of Plexiglass installed.”

Castle drilled four holes, connected the dots with a battery-operated saw, and the window was cut. He’ll install the Plexiglass tomorrow, and the coop will be ready for me whenever it is needed.

After sitting there tonight with my binoculars I thought that perhaps I’d need a hunting partner. There are so many areas from that coop where a 300-yard shot would be possible, but the major problem is being able to keep watch in all four directions at the same time.

I saw a bunch of bucks but not the one I was looking for, and quite a number of does were seen. The animals were freely feeding throughout the field, and were seen to all points on the compass.

We’ll get the Plexiglas installed tomorrow for the door window, and I’ll probably set there again to see what is moving through the area. While I was playing my hunch, and hoping to see the big buck move across the field, three fine bucks were shot by hunters at places I’d picked for them to try.

One was a massive 11-pointer, another was a big 10-point, and one hunter shot a heavy wide-beamed 8-pointer. From the looks of things, would next season should be excellent.

And I’ll spend it, alone or with someone, in my new coop on the hill. Perhaps the big buck will show up sometime this fall. —The Whitetail Wizard

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Use Extremely Sharp Broadheads

Most people who shoot a broadhead feel the blade is sharp enough. Little do they know.

For years we manufactured the Patriot broadhead. It was a two-blade, fixed-blade head, and it was sharp when it came off the factory machine that put an edge on them.

As good as that head was, I could make it even sharper. And therein is a lesson for many hunters.

I talked with a guy the other day who told me he shoots a four-blade replaceable blade broadhead. He thought it was sharp enough to cut hairs off his arm.

We conducted a small experiment. He used his factory edge on the replaceable blades and I used my Patriot head. It really wasn’t much of a contest.

He tried all four of his blades, and the forearm hair rolled over but the blades, none of them, would cut hair. Well, he said, I shoot enough poundage to blow this broadhead through a deer. He maintained it would cut under the force of the arrow passing through.

And, up to a point, he was correct. However, I took my two-blade Patriot and used one edge to shave hairs off my arm with ease. I offered him the other side, and he cut hair from his arm.

“So, why is your head so much sharper than mine?” he asked. “Why don’t they make these replaceable blades sharper?”

Two good questions. We stopped making the Patriot because the machining process became far too expensive. We had to sell a three-pack of heads for $30, and most people didn’t want to spend that much money when they could buy a four-blade head for less money.

The other problem was that most people never take the time to make their blades as sharp as possible. Another item we used to make until it became too expensive was a honing system. We used diamond stones placed at the precise angle to rough-sharpen the blade.

Once the rough-sharpening process was done, most people thought they were done. The opposite side of this tool also had a diamond stone designed to remove that tiny burr on the blade that forms while a broadhead is being sharpened, and once they ran the blade over the fine diamond stone, they could shave with that head.

Archers know that arrows kill deer and other game when the broadhead cuts through the skin, begins to cut arteries, capillaries and veins, and causes massive destruction to internal organs. A less-sharp broadhead may kill but it takes much longer.

A buddy of mine shot a very nice 8-point last season. That buck ran only 50 yards after being hit with a well-placed arrow, and from arrow impact to death was less than three seconds.

Sharp broadheads are needed, and when it comes time to shoot an antelope, bear, caribou, deer, elk, moose or other animal, an extremely sharp head will do a far better job than a less-than-perfectly sharp head.

We owe it to the game we hunt to shoot arrows tipped with the sharpest broadheads possible. And for me, that means hand-sharpening them until they meet my expectations. Anything less shows a major lack of respect for the animals we hunt.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Mother’s Day Kicks Everything Off

Mothers Day means more than overcooking breakfast for Mom as she lies in bed, buying her flowers and a Mom’s Day card, and all the other little things we do to show our appreciation.

Traditionally, it marks the approximate peak of the fawn drop on my deer ranch. Some years it’s a bit early and other times it can arrive later, but on average it’s when we start seeing newborn fawns.

It also marks the peak of the morel mushroom fruiting season. Come to think of it, it’s about the best time to catch bluegills on their spawning beds, and it’s a favorite time of year when bow hunters start chasing carp and other rough fish as they come inshore to spawn.

It’s a great time for me because I enjoy seeing the young fawns, standing on wobbly legs for the first time as they stare out at a brand-new world.

Fawns are constantly trying to nurse, and after some time, they are brushed away with the does’ leg and she walks off 10 feet or so and stands. The fawns, not steady on their pins, walk herky-jerky to their mother. It doesn’t seem like much but it builds a bond between doe and fawn, and when she moves, the fawns will follow.

However, if danger seems to threaten, they instinctively drop to the ground, remain motionless and their natural camouflage makes them very difficult to see. There isn’t much natural odor to a new-born awn, and if necessary the doe will run off in an effort to lead danger away from the fawns.

The fawns seem a bit shaky for a few days but soon they are seen gamboling around like young children. It is a sight I enjoy watching.

Bow-fishing is a sport many hunters enjoy, and two C.P. Oneida Eagle bows—the Osprey and Talon—are made to order for this sport. Look for rough fish such as bowfin (dogfish), carp, gar, goldfish and suckers to move inshore to spawn in shallow water.

Bows are set up with a reel with 100 feet of heavy line wrapped around the bow-mounted reel, and a glass arrow with a special fish-holding head is attached.

There are any number of ways to hunt. Some enjoy wading through the shallows, spotting fish, and shooting at them. Bow-fishermen must remember to shoot below the fish to allow for refraction. This distortion of the water causes shots to go high. Hold underneath the fish and it will result in a killing shot.

Another way is to tow a small flat-bottom pram behind you, and wade the shallows. Shoot the carp, take them off the arrow, and put them in the pram. Some farmers will plow them under to be used as fertilizer, but there often are people nearby who wish to smoke the fish. Look around for someone who needs fish to smoke and eat, and give them all the carp you get. The resource is not wasted this way.

Actually, bow-fishing when the shallows is swarming with carp wears me out. It’s legal to take these fish, but after a while, it begins to wear on me.

Develop some means of getting these dead fish ashore. Don’t shoot them and leave them in the water. Sooner or later they will wash up on shore and create a stinking mess.

Some bow-fishermen make a contest of it. They search for the biggest carp or goldfish or gar, and then they go looking for the smallest of these species to shoot. Some try for all the different species of rough fish available. Most times, it is limited to bowfin, carp, gar, goldfish and suckers, and quite often, suckers have already spawned and headed for deep water.

Much happens on and after Mothers Day, and it doesn’t all relate to Mom. Buy her a nice card, perhaps a bouquet, and a nice quiet dinner at a fine restaurant in the evening.

Just don’t forget to study deer and bow-fishing. The latter is great practice during the spring months.—The Whitetail Wizard

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Learning To Shoot Bucks

The above 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 other members of my staff.

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 advise 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 doesnâ??t breathe and 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 style, 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 mental checklist she uses. 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 deep 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, unhurt.

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 they 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 will become much easier.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Maintain Your Mental Focus

My mind seemingly has tunnel vision. The only two things i seem to focus intently on is bow hunting and studying deer.

It doesn’t make me all bad. I could care less about ball parks, Nascar races, or tournament golf. Whitetails excite me; almost everything else is far less interesting.

People question how I can only think about these two items most of the time. It must be easy because both passions have consumed my thoughts for more than 60 years.

Both thoughts are of equal importance, and without the study, there would be less success at hunting. A number of years ago, Dave Richey, the outdoor writer with Michigan’s largest fishing-hunting blog < http://www.daverichey.com > was asked a question while waiting to get a new string put on his bow.

Another customer recognized him and asked if the only thing he thought about was writing. He gave the man a straight answer.

“Writing is what I do,” he said. “It’s how I make a living, and to do my job properly, I’m always thinking about the next story. It has to be what I think about on a daily basis. I’d be dead in the water without the next story idea.”

I could easily steal his answer, but why? My answer is based on the same reasons he gives people. For me, hunting whitetails with a bow, and studying the animals at every opportunity, is what I do. To stop studying deer is to stop learning about whitetail deer. To stop learning means less success.

When I hunt, I become totally focused on my surroundings, and what the deer are doing. I never lose my concentration on the deer, but I continue to focus and watch other deer. I can solve all kinds of deer hunting problems while sitting in my ground blind or in an elevated coop.

When working, my thoughts are always on deer hunting or trying to figure out why a particular deer did what it did the night before.

Some people find it hard to think about two things at once or have trouble chewing gum and walking. That often happens when deer hunting: I’ll be trying to solve a knotty little deer travel pattern problem, and a nice buck walks out. My reflexes take over, and I can shoot the buck while shifting gears, and then I will shift back to the mental problem.

Solving any problem with either the machine shop or the archery business is always easier while bow hunting. Any hunting area always has some natural noises, but out there, the phone doesn’t ring unless I take the cell phone with me. I often manage to leave the silly thing home.

Years ago Richey told me that many of his award-winning articles and columns came to him while he was asleep. One part of his brain kicked in, he would wake up, slip out of bed, head for his office and write it while the idea was fresh in his mind.

The same thing happens to me. A problem may bother me for weeks, and then one night while sound asleep, the answer to the problem wakes me up. I suspect that being asleep allows the subconscious to kick in, provide the needed answer, and usually the answer is so simple I wonder why it didn’t come to me much sooner.

I’m able to study deer, think about various deer patterning problems, and be ready and able to shift gears automatically, and shoot the buck. It’s what I’ve trained my body and mind to do, and anyone else can do it providing they’ve learned the basic fundamentals of drawing and properly aiming a bow and making a smooth release. Do those things long enough, and do them properly, and it becomes simple.

This sort of thing often happens while I’m hunting on my deer ranch. When my two main thoughts meld while aiming at a big buck, it is one of the easiest thing to do to shoot a nice buck.

Thatâ??s what focus does for a hunting. â?? The Whitetail Wizard

Friday, May 02, 2008

Hunt The Hard-To-Reach Spots

The hunter who pays attention to deer movements will soon find some out-of-the-way spots where big bucks like to live. Some of those locations are easily hunted and some are not.

Some of these out-of-the-way spots are found while hunting other species. Some of the little hidey-holes where bucks lay up are so small that one wonders if there is enough cover for a cottontail rabbit to hide. Take it from me: it doesn’t take much cover to hide a big buck.

Some of my friends hunt in widely scattered locations. Many also hunt upland game birds, cottontail rabbits and snowshoe hares, wild turkeys and other game. The observant ones find hard-to-hunt buck hideaways.

A friend pays attention to such things, and as he walked past an overgrown apple orchard after a hard rain, he spotted a big deer track going over the fence. He’d tried to get his pointer to work into it in search of birds, and the dog refused to go.

Being a patient fellow, he walked his pooch around the orchard, and found the way the buck left that orchard. He also noticed that the tracks went past a big pine tree. Two days later he scaled that tree in the late afternoon after putting the dog in the truck kennel, and took his bow with him. Thirty minutes before the end of shooting time a buck that grossed 152 points jumped the fence and walked past his tree.

He’s no stranger to seeing big bucks. This one passed the tree at 22 yards, and my friend shot him. It is still his largest buck, but it points out the reasons why hunters should be attentive to deer sign.

Another guy was out chasing ruffed grouse, and walked past a sumac patch on top of a hill with a good view in all directions. The man stopped to re-tie his boot laces, and was 20 feet from the sumac patch, and out busted a big buck. He was laying up there because most people walked past the sumac without stopping, thinking the cover was much to small to hold a deer.

Outdoor writer Dave Richey tells the story of hunting ringneck pheasants near Montrose, Michigan, years ago. He was hunting along the edge of the Flint River. A rooster flushed wild at 30 yards ahead of the dog, and he swung and winged the bird.

It caught its balance in mid-air, cocked its wings and soared part-way across the river and landed on a tiny island of marsh grass and a few stunted trees. He checked the water depth, and it was only shin deep, and he crossed. His dog caught some scent, pointed, and as Dave approached the dog, a big buck jumped up and bolted across the river. He watched the buck splash across, crisscrossed the tiny island, and kicked up the pheasant and downed the bird.

He kept that oddball sighting in mind, and once the firearm season opened, he and his twin brother George, waded across to the island. One went to the upstream end while the other walked through, and sure enough, they jumped the buck and killed it with one shot. Read Dave’s fine daily outdoor columns at < http://www.daverichey.com >.

Talk to some farmers, and they all have tales of bucks laying up in tall weeds along their line fences or next to a barn. They push deer out of swampy little tangles perhaps 20 feet across. These bucks hold in such tiny bits of cover because few people think to look there.

I have an elevated coop that we call the Viewing Coop where deer congregate every night to feed. There is a tiny, narrow strip of brush 20 feet from the Viewing Coop, and many people have seen big 10- and 12-point bucks get up out of that brush and move out to feed.

The thing is that bow hunters can dare to be different. They don’t have to follow the doctrine everyone throws at them. They can walk through an area so small that it takes less than 10 seconds to get through, and often they find the home of a big trophy buck that no one knows about.

Cattail marshes hold bucks, and I remember a nice buck that my friend Larry Barrett shot as it came out of the cattails. He knew that buck was there, and when he shot it, the buck wheeled and dove back into the cattails and died there.

Don’t stick with the status quo. Check things out. Know where the tiny patches of heavy cover are in your hunting area, look for those little nooks and crannies, and try to figure where a buck will come from or go to when leaving. That information is knowledge that you can put to good use this fall.

Try it this year. It may produce a nice buck that you’ve probably overlooked for years.—The Whitetail Wizard