The weather called for 30-mile-an-hour winds, and by the swaying of my bow on a nearby hanger, I could tell it wasn’t too far off. It moved back and forth like a pendulum on a grandfather clock, proving to me it was time to remove it from the hook and place it securely on my lap instead. Hunts like these make me appreciate wearing a full-body harness, especially when you’re 20 feet off the ground.
As the sun began its descent, the temperatures quickly dropped, and I could feel my left cheek slightly burning and my eyes watering from the relentless wind. I began to question whether or not I should have stayed home, but this wasn’t an option. Based on the fact that it was late October, coupled with the deer movement I observed during my morning vigil, was enough to cause these thoughts to vanish.
With darkness about to close in, I finally caught movement to my left. It was a lone doe. She entered my food plot and grazed briefly on some of the available rye and clover. Just a few short minutes later, after she disappeared into the woods, a nice buck entered the plot and followed the same course as the doe. However, he kept walking through and failed to stop until he was out of range in the woods.
Setting up new stands or making changes to existing stands should all be completed well in advance of archery season.
It was my cue to grunt at him. Miraculously, he did a 180 turn and started heading back to where he came from. When his body disappeared behind some brush, I came to full draw. A couple more steps exposed his vitals, and I took the shot.
After my buddy and I spent two hours following the blood trail, I feared the worst. The buck clotted up, and we lost blood to track. To make matters worse, rain was forecasted. The following morning, I called in a deer tracker who had a wire-haired dachshund. Unfortunately, the dog never made progress past the last blood my buddy and I had found a few hundred yards in. When we reached this spot, the tracker said, “Well, that’s not good. She keeps looking up at me as if to say, “What do you want me to do?”
With numerous failed attempts to recover the buck, it was apparent my shot hadn’t proven fatal. The poor shot had cost me a punched tag. It was a bitter pill to swallow, leaving me to face the reality of not being able to put my hands on this deer. I began second-guessing my ability to make consistent shots with my bow. I knew that more range time was in store.
To most hunters, it seems like we have all of the time in the world before we enter into the deer woods with bow in hand, but October 1st will be here before you know it. I’ve found that with age, time passes faster than a deer downwind, and my list of responsibilities and obligations keeps growing longer each year, it seems. The yellow sticky notes plastered on my kitchen table are proof of that.
Although hanging stands, setting up trail cams, planting food plots, and clearing shooting lanes are all important summer activities prior to the archery season, many other tasks deserve our attention. One thing is certain: the above hunt is just one reminder of the many areas in bowhunting where I can improve and increase my chances of success. I’m sure you have some improvements in mind before entering the deer woods this fall as well.
With that said, here are some areas to help you better prepare for the upcoming archery season.
Analyze This
While bowhunting for whitetails during October and November, I often critique each treestand that I hunt in. Can I trim better shooting lanes that extend further? Does this tree provide good cover? Is it a comfortable treestand to sit in? Is there quiet access to and from the stand? These are all just a few of the questions that I ask myself when hopping around from stand to stand throughout the entire archery season. After the hunt, I will jot down any corrections I need to make in my bowhunting journal so I can revisit them the following spring or summer.
Besides treestand-related issues, my thoughts often turn to projects that will make an area more appealing to whitetails. On one particular stand, I noticed the perfect location for a water tank. The area is isolated and has excellent cover in the surrounding area, helping deer feel at ease. A few years ago, I installed a 150-gallon water tank behind my property and watched numerous deer visit this water hole.
Target Practice
It is extremely important to target practice in similar conditions to the location where you will be hunting this season. Are you hunting in a ground blind at eye level or in a treestand at a higher elevation? I prefer hunting deer with bow in hand from an elevated position so I can receive maximum visibility; therefore, I practice shooting arrows from a tree stand that I place in my backyard at home. This allows me to become more comfortable shooting at this height and builds up my confidence for bow season. I also wear a safety harness while practicing to prevent falling and to adjust to releasing an arrow with it attached to my body. It’s also not a bad idea to put the harness over the type of clothing that you will hunt in, like so many hunters do, in order to get a feel for the extra bulk and how this may affect your shooting form.
Target practice with the same weight of arrows and broadheads you will use while hunting is another effective way to increase your chances of success in the field. There are many different weights of field points that can match the weight of your hunting broadhead. However, it is essential to recognize that arrows with broadheads shoot differently than arrows with field points. To help bowhunters, companies have manufactured special foam-layered targets that are broadhead-friendly and allow you to pattern your hunting arrows before the season begins. Your arrows should always be inspected for signs of wear and damage after target practice, especially when using broadheads.
A wide variety of other archery targets exist to suit your needs, and it is up to you to decide which ones you will benefit from the most. A 3-D white-tailed deer target will provide you with a realistic approach for practicing with your bow and arrow. Instead of visualizing a real deer in your mind, you can pick a spot on the vitals area of the replica deer.
Joining a summer 3-D archery league with a buddy is another great way to help improve your shooting. These 3-D courses provide archers with numerous animal targets to fling arrows at, which are set up at varying distances. Many courses have elevated wooden platforms and ground blinds that simulate shooting from a treestand or on the ground. A 3-D range benefits the bowhunter by allowing them to practice while also judging distances and choosing shot placement, which is essential when heading to the woods with bow in hand.
Boots on the Ground
While searching for antler sheds on my family’s hunting property this past spring, I decided to visit each treestand and remove the harness straps, lifelines, and haul lines, which I do at the end of each archery season to prevent weathering and damage from animals. While making my rounds, I came across one of my ladder stands, which was secured to a cherry tree. This tree had a few branches up top for concealment, but not nearly enough to break up my outline while hunting. I hated to abandon this area, though, because of the numerous rubs, scrapes, and nearby deer trails. As I stood back and looked at the surrounding area, I noticed a large white pine tree just north of this stand. Upon investigating this area, I quickly noticed more rubs and a heavily used deer trail running east and west. This stand would be perfect for a north or northwest wind, and the pine branches were full enough to provide concealment.
This short, two-hour antler shed-seeking/scouting session provided me not only with the above discovery but also brought to my attention a few other ways I can improve my hunting areas this summer in other locations on this property.
In my opinion, the take home is that nothing beats putting some boots on the ground when pre-season scouting. Besides looking for rubs, scrapes, food sources, and deer runways, these scouting sessions will open your eyes to making some small changes to your existing stands and also finding new locations to hunt.
