Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Develop A Pattern For Shooting
The mechanics of shooting a whitetail can be reduced to several important steps. It’s possible to stretch it out to a dozen or more steps, but in reality, the whole process is a fairly simple.
Hunters looking to shoot their first buck or doe this fall with a bow have an exhilarating experience coming up. If they can remember several key facets of the process, and their bow is accurately sighted in and they don’t suffer buck fever or flinch at the shot, the result should be a dead deer.
*Step 1—Know your bow, what it can do, and shoot arrows spined properly for your draw length and weight, and have sharp broadheads. Many factory-made broadheads are not sharp enough. I shoot a two-blade, fixed-blade broadhead, and it is very sharp.
*2—The buck (or doe) walks within bow range, and here you should know your effective accuracy range and never exceed it. Study the deer, decide if it a buck or doe, and if it is a buck, forget about the antlers. Don’t look at them again and concentrate on that area one-third the way up from the bottom of the chest and just behind the front shoulder. Be very careful about choosing your aiming point, and if the opportunity presents itself, wait for the near-side front foot to go forward, which will better open up the path for your arrow to hit in the proper spot and miss the shoulder blade. It’s one reason why many savvy bow hunters prefer a deer that offers a quartering-away shot. P-i-c-k y-o-u-r s-p-o-t!
*3.—When the time is right, and no deer are looking your way, ease your bow back to full draw, and place the sight on the proper spot. Take a deep breath, let it out, allow the sight to settle again on the proper spot, and make a conscious effort to hold your head still during the shot.
*4.—Make absolutely certain your anchor point is locked in. If it is an inch off, you may miss or wound the deer. Achieving your anchor point should be automatic, and it should be the absolute same spot on every shot, whether at a deer or a target. In the imagined rush of shooting, many hunters fail to hit their anchor point. This requires supreme concentration, and the hunter shouldn’t be thinking about anything else except hitting the proper anchor point. Don’t rush a shot. In most cases, you have plenty of time. Rushing a shot often results in a miss.
*5—Develop a prolonged follow-through. Hold your bow arm steady until you see the arrow hit the deer. Do not lower the bow immediately after the shot, and do not raise your head at the time of arrow release to see if you hit the animal. You will either hear or see the arrow enter the deer, and at this point pay extremely close attention to where the arrow hit. Too many people don’t know. Follow the arrow into the deer. If you raise your head at the shot, the arrow will go high and you’ll either miss or wound the animal.
*6.—If you are using a Game Tracker device, you will hear the flutter of the line going out of the canister. That means one of two things: you hit the deer or missed and the deer’s feet are tangled in the line. However, if you pay attention to the point of arrow impact, you’ll know the deer is mortally wounded.
*7.—Listen closely as the deer takes out line and watch the animal as long as possible. Often, it’s possible to hear the running deer breaking branches and the crash as it falls to the ground. All of these things are important to the eventual recovery of the animal.
*8.—Give the animal 10-15 minutes, and unscrew the Game Tracker canister from your bow and leave it laying on the ground. If the deer goes down, the line stops going out, but if the deer gets up it will take out more line. Follow the deer by following the string, and look for blood. Don’t rush things, and follow along the edge of the trail to avoid stepping in the blood. With luck you’ll walk right up to your fallen buck, but never approach a buck from the front. Approach it from the rear, move off to the side and view the eyes. If the eyes are open, the buck is dead.
The entire process should become mechanical. Commit these steps to memory, and follow each step in order. Do it right, and you’ll tag your first whitetail buck. It’s that easy.—The Whitetail Wizard