Details, details. Bowhunting for whitetails is a game of details. As much as we might want to believe in our prowess as mighty hunters, our bowhunting success depends less on machismo than on how well we can manage annoying little details.
How many times have you heard someone describe a hunt, ending with, “If it wasn’t for that dang twig, I’d have gotten my buck,” or “He was right where I wanted him, and then my stand squeaked.” They seem to believe it was a brutal thunderbolt of misfortune that dashed their dreams, when in reality failure was their own fault — preventable, had they minded the small details.
I’ve learned, mostly the hard way, some important nuances required to take a whitetail with a bow. I learned a few more just last season, to which a couple very healthy whitetails can attest.
Here is my list of a dozen details that can add up to the major accomplishment of taking a whitetail with a bow.
1. Acquire the right equipment:
While you don’t want to start thinking you can buy your way to whitetail bowhunting success, the right gear can make all the difference in the world. And when it comes to equipment, perhaps the most important tip I can give you is to use the best broadhead you can get. The one place where you don’t want to pinch pennies is in broadheads. If you must, use a hand-me-down bow and Salvation Army clothes, but only the best broadheads money can buy.
2. Become a better bow shot:
I’m not talking about shooting a quarter-size group at 20 yards on an indoor range; I’m talking about becoming more skilled at shooting in hunting situations. Learn how to draw undetected, get off a shot quicker, maintain your aim and follow-through in the stress of a big buck encounter, and develop accuracy at longer ranges. Being able to make the shot at 30 yards as opposed to 20 will more than double your chances because of the greater area you are covering. And when it comes time to hunt field edges, a 40-yard shot may be all you get.
3. Beat the buck’s nose:
Deodorize yourself and your gear. You can’t eliminate your odor entirely, but you I believe can reduce a deer’s ability to scent you by 90 percent. This means that instead of detecting you at 200 yards, the buck will have to get to 20 yards to smell you. If you can make the shot at 25, well, you get the picture.
4. Set up tree stands carefully:
Aside from putting a stand in the right place, it has to be positioned correctly. How many times have you heard of hunters getting within 20, 10, even 5 yards of a deer and not getting a shot, or missing? More often than not, it’s a result of an improperly-positioned stand.
5. Be ready — physically and mentally:
Bowhunting whitetails is challenging, demanding peak performance. If you’re tired, cold, uncomfortable or not alert, you won’t be operating at 100 percent of your ability. Your odds of success take a nosedive.
6. Don’t move:
No, I mean really, don’t move! Most hunters think they are keeping still on stand but really aren’t. One trait that all of the really best whitetail bowhunters that I know have in common is the ability to keep stone still. Work on it.
7. Become an itinerant hunter:
Keep scouting for new stands, and hunt from a different stand each time out. This accomplishes several things — it keeps you from wasting day after day in a stand that looks good but isn’t; it prevents the local deer herd from identifying your location and avoiding it; it keeps you monitoring changing deer patterns and matching hunting strategies to each situation; it keeps things interesting.
8. Bring deer to you:
You may have a prime stand, but there’s lots of room for a deer to bypass you. You can persuade it to come closer with promises of companionship or food — which means employing calling and scents. Calling usually doesn’t work. But once or twice a season is all most hunters need, and it usually works better than that.
9. Use scents:
My luck with attractant scents has been even better than calls. Almost all the deer I’ve shot in the last few years with a bow have been brought in or at least positioned by scents.
10. Become a master of trailing after the shot:
Most of us are pretty poor in the follow-up department. Get good. The most important element of this in my book is the ability to wait as long as possible on hits too far back — at least 6-10 hours if you can. Skillful blood-trailing or diligent searching will almost always turn up the deer within a few hundred yards.
11. Adapt:
Deer behavior and patterns change significantly throughout the season. Match your tactics to the changes and you’ll be way ahead of the game.
12. Get out — and stay out:
Nothing ups your odds of success more than good old-fashioned time in the field. Get there earlier, stay longer and find ways to hunt more often!
There you have it — the dozen details that have improved my whitetail hunting the most. Add your own little tricks that shortstop mistakes and up your odds, and you’ll have accumulated the building blocks of success.
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12 Deadly Bowhunting Details
