Hunting season is almost upon us, and whether you are interested in bagging turkey, deer, elk, bear, or all of the above, you will need to gear up and get ready for another season of productive and successful hunting fun.
And what requires more preparation than bow hunting? Over the years, archery has become increasingly popular due to the innate challenges that this type of hunting provides. Far more than rifle hunting, bow hunting takes a greater level of skill and preparation to hunt and kill your intended game, and if you’re new to bow hunting or are getting back into it after a hiatus, here are some basic tips to help you out.
1. Know Your Bow – Are you new to bow hunting, or a rusty veteran who needs to work out the kinks? If so, familiarize, or re-familiarize, yourself with your weapon. Whether you’re using a compound bow or a recurve, visit the archery range and check that you can shoot in tight groups. You may need to adjust the sights since last season, your draw length may have changed, or perhaps you might not be able to draw as much weight anymore. Hopefully nothing has changed at all, but you want to make certain before you’re in the field and need to take a kill-shot.
2. Mask Your Scent – Since you can’t control the direction of wind and air currents, it’s a good idea to disguise your scent. The goal is to get as close as possible to your game and get a nice, clean shot. Animals with a strong sense of smell, such as deer, elk and bears, will avoid your area if there is a foreign scent in the air. It’s not uncommon for seasoned hunters to spray themselves as well as their gear with some sort of deodorizer that will help to minimize the chances of you accidentally alerting your proposed target.
3. Concealment – Along with masking your scent, you want to be as camouflaged as possible. Wild turkeys are very keen at picking up movement, more so than deer. Wear camo to break up your human outline, and also add face paint or a camo face mask to remove that reflective sheen. Again, the point is to get as close as possible without your prey noticing. A low ground blind provides ample cover, and thankfully allows for a little more movement as well as the freedom to wear less camo. Blinds or stands effectively offer the concealment you will need to draw your bow without disturbing your game, which brings us neatly to our next point.
4. Vantage Points – Location! Location! Location! You want to make sure you pick a vantage point that gives you a wide range of sight and requires very little body movement, perhaps just inside the tree-line of a clearing. Not only do you want to be able to see left and right as much as possible, but you also want to give yourself room to draw your bow. If you’re directly in your game’s line of sight, attempt to draw your bow, chances are the deer will bound off before you can take your shot. Try to reconnoiter the areas you will be hunting ahead of time, and pick two or three good vantage spots that offer the greatest level of visibility. This way, you will have a couple of back up locations in case your primary location isn’t as successful as you had first hoped.
5. Calm Down – The amount of patience, skill, and preparation time required just to get to that all-important moment when you take a shot is the majority of the hunt. Consequently, you don’t want to make silly mistakes at a critical moment that could jeopardize everything. It can be difficult not to get excited when you spot your game, but it is essential that you stay relaxed and breathe calmly. Any inadvertent jitters can cause an unsteady bow, and vibrations in the string could affect the way your arrow flies decreasing your accuracy. Also, remember to keep your aim on your game after taking a shot. People tend to let the bow drop after release, which results in the arrow dropping as well. There are a few seconds in-between the time you loose the arrow from your jaw line to the point the arrow leaves the string when it is still nocked. If you drop the bow in that time, the arrow will drop. To guarantee an accurate shot, keep your aim until you see or hear the arrow hit.
It’s fantastic that so many of the recent advancements in hunting technology have helped to make the sport easier, especially as this can encourage more and more newbies to learn how to hunt. Whatever the reasons you might have, bow hunting puts the hunter much closer to their game, which provides a more personal and intimate connection with nature, while at the same time offering a challenge that requires added skill. With any luck, these tips can help you get that much closer to your target and therefore present you with a richer and more rewarding hunting experience.
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