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