Maintain a tight focus while deer hunting

Harold Knight & Rob Keck (l-r) are both as good with bucks as wild gobblers.

My mind seemingly has tunnel vision. The only two things I seem to focus intently on now - and later - is bow hunting and studying deer.

It  doesn't make me all bad. I could care less about ball parks, Nascar races, or tournament golf. Whitetails excite me; almost everything else is far less interesting.

People question how I can only think about these two items most of the time. It must be easy because both passions have consumed my actions and thoughts for more than 60 years.

Both thoughts are of equal importance, and without the study, there would be less success at hunting. A number of years ago, I was asked a question, regarding this very thing, while waiting to get a new string put on my bow.

Another patron recognized me and asked if the only thing I thought about was writing. I gave him a straight answer.

"Writing is what I do," I said. "It's how I make a living, and to do my job properly, I'm always thinking about the next story. It has to be what I think about on a daily basis. I'd be dead in the water without new story ideas all the time."

My answer was based on the reasons I give people. For me, hunting whitetails with a bow, and studying the animals at every opportunity, is what I do. To stop studying them is to stop learning about whitetail deer. To stop learning means less success and eventually an end to spending the entire autumn and early winter doing something I love much less than being in the deer woods.

When I hunt, I become totally focused on my surroundings, and what the deer are doing. I never lose my concentration on the deer, but I continue to focus and watch other deer. I can solve all kinds of deer hunting problems while sitting in my ground blind or in an elevated coop or tree stand.
When working, my thoughts are always on deer hunting or trying to figure out why a particular deer did what it did the night before.

Some people find it hard to think about two things at once or have trouble chewing gum and walking. That often happens when deer hunting: I'll be trying to solve a knotty little deer travel pattern problem, and a nice buck walks out. My reflexes take over, and I can shoot the buck while shifting gears, and then I will shift back to the mental problem.

It’s easy but I’ve been doing it for many years.

Solving any problem is always easier while bow hunting. Any hunting area always has some natural noises, but out there, the phone doesn't ring unless I take the cell phone with me. I often manage to leave the silly thing home, and I’m content with that. Phones interfere with my mental attitude and hunting thoughts.

Years ago many of my award-winning articles and columns came to mind while asleep. One part of my brain would kick in, I would wake up, slip out of bed, head for the computer and write while the idea was fresh in my mind. I’d then go back to bed, and sleep like a baby.

The same thing can happen while deer hunting. A problem might bother me for weeks, and then one night while sound asleep, an answer to the problem would wake me up. I suspect that being asleep allows the subconscious to kick in, provide the needed answer, and usually it was so simple I wondered why it didn't come to me sooner.

I'm able to study deer, think about various deer patterning problems, and be ready and able to shift gears automatically, and shoot the buck. It's what I've trained my body and mind to do, and anyone else can do it providing they've learned the basic fundamentals of drawing and properly aiming a bow and making a smooth release. Do those things long enough, and do them properly, and it really becomes quite simple.

This sort of thing often happens while I'm hunting. When my two main thoughts meld while aiming at a big buck, it is one of the easiest things to do to shoot a nice buck.

That’s what focus does for a hunter. Without complete focus, hunters can and will make mistakes. Doing so on a big buck will either cure you of a bad habit or you’ll take up watching television.