Gain Greater Deer Knowledge

Hunting whitetail deer has been my a;;-consuming passion for 50 years, and I've been fortunate to have taken many nice bucks over those years. As time passes, and our hunting skills increase, veteran bow hunters soak up hunting knowledge like a kitchen sponge sucks up water.

The deer hunting season is still going on for most people as we approach the firearm opener, unless they travel south for some Dixie deer action, but hunters begin learning  learning more about hunting from the many deer stands.

Once a person has racked up 40-50 years of deer hunting, they are filled with knowledge. The one thing I constantly keep telling myself is that younger hunters, with far less knowledge, are just starting to bow hunt for whitetail deer they use.

Hunters are starving for tips that will help them produce nice deeer. Some of the tricks that I will reveal are trose that were learned the hard way -- by making serious mistakes at a younger age.

Here is one to try on for size. Many hunters have ground or elevated coops, and often they put in shooting windows on all four sides. This can be a major mistake. A hunter only needs one, and it should be on the proper side

A deer's three defenses -- ears, eyes and nose -- must be defeated before a hunter can shoot a nice buck.

If you have four windows, all should be covered with camo netting or black felt. The netting or felt can be lifted aside, but once a hunter gets used to looking through it, deer can be easily spotted without revealing your presence.

One common mistake is when hunters spot a deer, and prepare for a shot. but fail to consider what is behind them. If an uncovered window is behind you, it provides a light background. Any hunter movement, even drawing the bow, can result in breaking-up or blotting out the light source, and the deer will spot the movement instantly.

Many hunters wear a face mask and brown Jersey gloves to cover up their skin. That works fine, but any light shining through a window behind you will produce a moving silhouette that can and will spook deer.

Deer spooked from a ground or treestand coop may not return. It's possible to fool doe fawns and button-bucks, but not a wise old deer. If he spots any motion, even from 100 yards, he will spook.

Beware of any light that silhouettes you to a deer.

It makes sense to paint all walls of a ground or elevated coop black. Do it long before the season opens and leave the windows open so the coop airs out all paint fumes. You may have to remove hornet or wasp nests, but that is a small price to pay for having a dark background behind you at all times.

Never use metal chairs in a coop. In the cold you'll freeze your butt, and the chairs will squeak whenever you move.

Treestand hunters have much the same problem. It's easy to allow yourself to become silhouetted against the sky.

Whenever possible, place your stand in a cedar or pine tree. There is some natural aroma to both needles, and the green cover stays green all winter. Shy away from tamarack trees because the needles turn yellow and and then fall off, leaving the hunter exposed to a sharp-eyed deer.

Always sit in front of the tree, and position a stand so the deer approach from behind. Do it early, and once you know where deer travel, put up a stand and install some pine boughs strategically around both sides and overhead.

It's not important to shoot at 360 degrees from a treestand. Do your homework, and learn where the deer travel. A deer that moves down a trail from behind will offer an ideal quartering-away shot as it passes.

Cedar and pine boughs can break up the human outline.

Put pine boughs to each side of your treestand, and leave one choice spot to shoot through. Pine boughs tied horizontally three feet over your head will put you in deep shadow. It's important to have the tree trunk behind you, pine boughs on both sides and overhead. It does hurt to tie pine boughts to the legs of a ladder stand as well.

A hunter who can sit still with this type of arrangement, and who positions his stand downwind of where deer travel, will have it made. Learn to optimize your camouflage, don't put stands too high in the air, and you'll be in business.

Careful attention to detail will keep deer from spotting you regardless of whether you are in a ground blind, elevated coop or a treestand. Think out all of the possibilities, and remove any that would spook deer, and next season could be much better. You may soon find yourself always in the right spot. The trick then is to learn when to drawn and how to shoot accurately, and that will be the topic of a future blog.

Scout bucks like this during the summer.

Study deer habits, learn what deer can see, find out how to remain motionless, know when to draw and shoot, and shooting a buck becomes much easier. Take it from me. This may not be the answer you hoped to get, but if a hunter learns what works and what doesn't, most of the time will be spent getting ready for a close shot.

That's when you really begin to believe you've arrived as a serious whitetail deer hunter.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors