Litte things can change a hunt

Little things count. Wait for the right time to shoot and hit the vitals.

Many hunters think of bow hunting as a huge-antlered buck standing motionless at 20 yard with nothing between you except a few low-growing weeds and empty air.

This so-called calendar pose is what many short-term bow hunters expect to see while hunting. They've been conditioned over many years to expect such a big-as-life pose, no matter how unrealistic such thoughts may be.

The same hunters seldom think of spotting a nice buck, his head held low, as it ghosts through a cedar swamp or tag alder tangle. The truth is that while an occasional shot is taken at a broadside, head-in-the-air buck, the reality is much different than what our imagination tells us to expect. Wishful thinking seldom aids bow hunters in the field.

No matter how insignificant things may seem, the truth is deer rely on instinct.

The little things about bow hunting should tell us that a buck seldom offers an easy, open shot. Often, the animal is partially screened by brush or is standing in thick cover. Deer often stop when their vitals are screened by thick brush, not on purpose but by instinct.

One of the little things hunters must learn, and practice faithfully, is ro develop an extraordinary amount of patience. Hunters who get strung out by a motionless buck that doesn't move are usually unprepared for a shot when the deer does come within range.

Patience is something all of us must believe in. It's always better to sit motionless, and if the buck doesn't move before shooting time ends, chalk it up to another night when the deer outsmarted the hunter. Such things happen far more often than most of us care to admit.

Sitting motionless and silent is far preferable than trying a Hail Mary shot that may make it through the brush to the buck's vitals, but for whatever reason, it rarely does. Taking a low-percentage shot only educates or wounds deer.

There have been countless times when I've spent 30 minutes to one hour waiting for a good buck to move that last 10 feet to offer an open shot. More often than not, they refuse to budge and shooting time ends with the animal still standing motionless in thick cover, still looking around.

Another little thing to remember is to stay in your stand until the buck moves off by himself. Start crawling down out of a tree, and you'll have ruined that stand for the rest of the year. Just hang tight, remain silent, and let him move when the mood strikes him. Wait for someone to come looking for you, and let them spook the deer rather than you doing so.

Building your patience level doesn't occurs overnight. It takes time and a great deal of practice, and blowing some possible shot opportunities, before you acquire the necessary skills to wait out a slow-moving deer.

Don't do something stupid if the buck is slowly making his way to you. Perhaps you are in his travel route, and if you sit patiently, the buck may move to you. If you haven't been calling, and suddenly start calling to a nearby deer, the animal may turn away. It may or may not spook, but if the deer keeps coming to silence, don't introduce something new into the equation because it could backfire.

Keep a clear head, and think about what you are doing.

Be very cautious about dropping things. I've seen bucks and does stop 50 yards away because they saw something they don't like. I once watched a buck come a long ways only to stop just out of easy bow range.

Why the buck stopped was beyond me, but stop he did, and he kept looking on the ground along the edge of a tag alder run between us. I studied him through binoculars, and tried to see what he was looking at, and it remained a big mystery.

He left without coming the 20 yards necessary to provide me with a clean shot within my established shooting distance. He walked off and soon disappeared, and as shooting time fell, I eased from the stand and walked over to that spot.

It took a moment of looking around but I found what had spooked the deer. A hunter had moved through that area while hunting grouse and woodcock near the alders, and apparently had shot at a bird.

Little things can spook a wary buck. Police your hunting area.

I found an empty 12 gauge shotshell, and it was laying somewhat in the open where the setting sun would glint off the brass. It wasn't much, but from where the buck had stood, there was still a tiny glint of sunlight there. The buck knew something was different, and turned and traveled another route.

It's some of these little things that can make or break a bow hunt. Always be aware of what is going on around you during a hunt because it can affect how deer react.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Tips on bow-shooting 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.

Well, some do and some don’t. It’s not quite as easy as some people would make you thing. The December archery season starts in about a week on Dec. 1, and there is still some time left to help a beginning bow hunter develop some skills.

Without a word of bragging, very few people have shot as many bucks as I have, and learning to shoot them consistently means doing several things right and in the proper sequence.

I’ve hunted deer with a bow since 1955.

Practice is very important but perfect practice means doing everything right, every time. Without an exception.

Shooting a buck with a bow is more difficult than simply drawing back and sending an arrow shaft and broadhead downrange toward the animal. A great deal of concentration is required, and it’s advisable to have total concentration when aiming and taking a shot, but telling you this can't make it happen. You must 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 doesn’t breathe and it isn't moving. Nor is it alive and study everything around it for danger.

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 and seemingly exposed nerve endings. They are flighty, suspicious even of birds flying overhead, and require far more skill to arrow than a paper target. They are living, breathing and cautious animals. Scratch your nose at the wrong time and it’s all over, and you’ve possibly missed your only chance of the season.

All good bow hunters develop their own particular shooting style, and it works well for them. Some people have a step-by-step procedure they follow, time after time, and it will produce bucks for them. Each person must develop their own method that works.

Develop a personal checklist, and do everything right, every time.

I know a woman who uses a step-by-step mental checklist. 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 open, come to full draw, center the sight on a specific hair behind the front shoulder, double-check that a firm anchor point has been 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 more than 125 bucks, and still she follows her step-by-step procedure … every time. It ensures that she doesn't miss a step, and the mechanics of doing so enables her to calm her nerves before making a killing shot.

I know many hunters who have a similar procedure when it comes time to shoot. One piece of advice is that once you establish the deer is a buck, and once you decide to shoot, forget about the antlers on its head and concentrate on where the arrow must hit the animal for a certain killing shot.

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 very possible that they will shoot at the antlers.

Establish that the deer is a buck, and then forget about 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 but much wiser.

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 to see where the arrow hits. Lift your head and you’ll miss the animal.

More deer are missed because the hunter lifts 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 fairly 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.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Remembering some very long shots

Granted, we are already in the archery deer season, not the firearm season, but one recurring thought today kept running through my head like a needle stuck in the groove of an old 45 rpm record.

I got to thinking of several of my long shots. Long shots made with a rifle on caribou, mule deer and whitetails. The ones that tell you that you've practiced long-range shots, know how the rifle shoots, and are capable of taking and making such shots.

A long shot means different things to different hunters. There is a television show that specializes in one-shot long-range kills. I've watched it several times in the past, and they've stretched things out a bit farther that I have but not by much.

Long shots requires lots of practice and a flat-shooting rifle.

I own a Winchester pre-1964 Model 70 in .264 Winchester Magnum, and my first scope was a 1.5X8-power Weaver with fine crosshairs. It hit the market, if memory serves me right in 1961 and I bought the rifle and scope  in 1962 and 48 years later it still shoots better than I can hold it.

Back in those days I did all my own reloading of ammunition for that cartridge, and I played with loads ranging from a 77-grain Norma to a 165-grain Hornaday. Each bullet weight would shoot to the same point of impact, and my vision was keen back then, and I could shoot.

One year, while hunting the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore sand dunes, I had my son David with me. I told him where to lay on the ice-cold dunes, and where to watch, and that if a buck came out on a deer drive, it would almost run over top of him.

I saw the buck come out, and just as straight as a string, it ran at my son. No shots, and it went past him on a dead run, only to stop between 325 and 350 yards away on another dune. I took a quick sitting position, locked in on that buck and sent a 140-grain airmail package at him. He dropped, and that was it.

Another year, while hunting near the Platte River, I spotted one of the biggest does I'd ever seen walking on the far bank of the river. It was an honest 300 yards away, and when the rifle cracked, the deer fell to a well-placed shot.

A few years ago, while hunting the Kaibab along the north rim of the Grand Canyon, a good mule deer jumped up at 200 yards, went bounding off in that bouncing pace of theirs. Contrary to popular belief, mule deer bucks don't always stop to look back. This one never stopped.

He ran down a valley that led down into a side canyon. My guide and I ran just below the rim on one side, and we could see the buck and a doe running across the opposite side of the canyon. The buck and doe finally stopped when they felt it was safe, and started browsing.

We worked as close as possible, and this was the last day of my hunt, and the guide said: "That buck is 400 yards away. Can you hit and kill him at that distance? We can't get any closer."

Could I hit that muley buck that far away?

I found a scrub tree nearby, scraped some pointed rocks away so I could sit down to hold the rifle steady. I cranked up that Swarovski  scope to 12 power, studied the buck with a firm rest. I settled the crosshair at the top of his back (my rifle was sighted in to be three inches high at 100 yards), took a deep breath and shot downhill at the buck. A second passed before I heard the bullet hit that mulie buck, and down he went. It was a clean one-shot kill.

The longest shot I ever made was in Canada's Northwest Territories a dozen years ago. I was hunting Central Canada Barren Ground caribou, and the guide and I found a huge herd of 3,000 to 4,000 animals down in a big mountainous bowl. There was no cover for a stalk.

My guide held my ankles as I leaned over a steep cliff, and I shot free-hand at the largest bull that was bedded down directly below us. I had no support, and it was a dumb thing to do but I hit that huge bull.

The caribou -- every last one of them -- left that bowl, climbed a ridge across from us, and finally my bull stopped. We went down into the bowl, made our way across it, and eventuall we ran out of cover, and the bull was staring at us.

"I say 500 yards," was my guess while the guide thought it was farther. I took a firm rest after laying my backpack on the last big boulder of the right height, and I studied that great stag. I'd be shooting into a stiff cross-wind at a wounded animal at least 500 yards away.

I know my rifle, know what it can do, and in my early 20s when the rifle was purchased, I shot crows at 300-350 yards in an open field. I felt this shot was possible, and with great patience, I leaned into the stock, settled the crosshairs for where I thought I should hold, and squeezed.

Two second later came the sound of the bullet hitting that bull and down he went. I paced off the distance, and I was doing my best to take 36-inch steps, and 535 steps later, I walked up to that great bull.

It was the longest shot of my life at a wounded animal.

That animal was big, but I had no clue just how big he was until we later put a tape measure to him. He wound up the first year in the No. 9 position in Boone & Crockett. The last I looked he was down to about 100, and I could care less. Whenever I look at him, and the great long rear points, I relive the long-range shot of my lifetime.

Long-range shooting isn't something I encourage. There is too much risk of missing, but if a hunter shoots often and knows his rifle and where it will hit at 250 yards, making a 350-400-yard shot is fairly simple. Luck was riding on my shoulder on the 535-yard shot even though I was confident I could make it.

In the end, people don't ask "Can you?" Instead, they ask "Did you?" And I did.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Tunnel Vision Can Ruin A Deer Hunt

Tunnel vision occurs when a person is in a high-stress situation. It can happen often while deer hunting.

A big buck is seen approaching, and ever so slowly it moves closer, and after watching it for moments, the hunter decides he want to shoot that deer. There is a very strong desire to take that animal, and tie his license tag on its antlers. It's the great American deer hunting dream.

The deer  stops, rubs a tree briefly, stands back to admire his handiwork, hits another lick on the bark, checks it out again, and then continues toward you. He stops, and can't smell the sportsman downwind of him or any danger, but he is in no hurry. He is being very cautious.

Anxiety can be your downfall. Fight it.

The anxiety level builds in the hunter after the third or fourth stop for the deer to putter around doing big-buck things, and then he moves forward again. He is now 50 yards away and will soon have his date with destiny if he stays the course. Your breath is labored and ragged, and you feel a bit light headed from anticipation, adrenalin shock and stress.

His antlers are big, possibly the largest whitetail buck the sportsman has ever seen in the wild. He stands, out of bow range, and surveys the area ahead. He doesn't smell or see any danger, but he didn't grow a rack with 10 good long points and a 20-inch inside spread by being stupid.

He stands, motionless, head up and looking around. He's not overly spooky, just being very careful.

Satisfied, he moves to within 40 yards. The rack seems to grow even larger the closer he gets. The hunter is sucking air, and begging silently for a 20-yard shot. The thought of shooting this buck makes him dizzy with excitement, and his heart is racing, beating like a trip-hammer.

Adrenalin rushes cause problems.

A full load of adrenalin is streaming through his system, and as the buck closes to 35 yards and then to 30, he stands behind a thin screen of brush. Jolt after jolt of adrenalin has the hunter as wired as a person drinking 10 cans of Ya-Hoo.

He offers a brief 25-yard shot but your eyes are riveted on that rack, and you don't want to make a mistake. He's coming, just let him move into the 20-yard range and wait for a broadside or quartering-away shot at this huge buck.

Finally, he steps into range, turns to offer a quartering-away shot at 20 yards. The buck stares off toward other deer 100 yards away in the field, and you slowly raise your bow, stare at the antlers again, come to full draw, aim carefully and turn loose an arrow.

The moment of truth.

There is a tremendous "twhack", and the buck races off while the arrow and broadhead sail off into the brush.

Excited, feeling you made a killing shot, you climb down and follow the Game Tracker string to the arrow. There isn't a drop of blood on the arrow.

Tunnel vision had set in and when the hunter aimed and shot, he aimed at the major focal point on that buck -- the antlers. He forgot to force himself to pick a spot behind the front shoulder. His continuous focus on the buck and his majestic rack was his undoing, and that is where he aimed, nullifying any chance of killing that deer.

Total concentration is paramount during the aiming process. Once I know a buck has antlers, and decide to shoot, I never look at the antlers again. I focus on the heart-lung area, shoot and the deer dies.

A buddy of mine went on a wild boar hunt to Tennessee with me many years ago, and I warned him against studying the length of the boar's tushes.

These big curved teeth are fascinating, and my friend looked at the teeth, aimed and hit the boar in the top of the head. It wasn't an immediate killing shot, and I hollered to him to "shoot for the heart-lung area." He did, and the boar died a quick death.

Tunnel vision doesn't just happen to police officers in a fire-fight with the bad guys. It happens to hunters all the time, and most often to sportsmen with very little hunting experience. Believe it or not, it can happen with firearm hunters during the upcoming Nov. 15-30 season.

It can ruin a bow or firearm hunt, but there is no reason for that to happen. The trick is to determine whether it has antlers, and if so, is it what you want? Once that has been confirmed, forget about the head gear, and intently focus on the vital area.

Don't let tunnel vision ruin your shot.

Once you draw back an arrow and aim, or look through a firearm's scope or iron signts, do not look at the antlers again. Pick a tiny spot behind the front shoulder, concentrate on that spot, make a smooth release or trigger squeeze, and do not drop your bow or rifle hand until the arrow or bullet makes contact with the deer.

Big bucks come often to the television hunters, who never seem to miss, but for most bow or firearm hunters like you and me, it can be a once-in-a-lifetime situation. The timing is too important to waste by missing an easy shot. Deep concentration, and not tunnel vision, is the key to hunting success.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors